Shoah : The Complete Text of the Acclaimed Holocaust Film [Paperback]

This book is exactly what the title says -- the complete text of the Holocaust documentary, SHOAH, transcribed into a convenient printed form. A very valuable aid for anyone viewing the film or for teachers using it in a class. The book enables a discussion leader to re-read sections of the testimony for discussion, etc. without having to constantly re-wind the video. It's also a good book in itself, for those who prefer to read the words of the Holocaust survivors and witnesses from a book, rather than view them on the screen. Highly recommended!

I have taken a Holocaust class before and read many of the so-called classics in the genre, (for example, "Night" by Elie Wiesel), and prior to reading this book, I had thought, "This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Borowski as the best piece of writing to explain something as unexplainable as the Holocaust. "Shoah" changed all that. This book, in a nutshell, explains the matter completely and throughly without pretense or melodrama. It captures the horror matter of factly, as Borowski had done in "This way for the Gas. . ." Still, if someone were to ask me if I could recommend one book about what happened or what I would make requred reading for all human beings, it would be "Shoah." I understand that "Night" is required reading for many high school students. Its power is unforgettable, and no one can deny its narrative power, but for me, "Shoah" was even more powerful because all the different voices gave me an idea of the enormous implication of the numbers. Not abstract, but real voices, person to person, all witnessing, all remembering. If I could make everyone on earth read just one book, this would be the one. Then people might understand where their views might lead them to. I can only hope, although "Shoah" does not really allow that hope. It allows me to bear witness. I have. I recommend others bear witness as well in this powerful document. One of the best books I have ever read. I recommend it without hesitation.

The problem with Lanzmann's " Shoah" is that it is not a history of the Jewish Holocaust but a story based on it. By staging several scenes, Lanzmann has reduced the film to a biased docudrama based on the Jewish tragedy. Lanzmann is not a historian but a journalist, an avowed Zionist and a political activist. Shoah suffers from the same faults as Holocaust Studies in general, namely putting WWII and Polish experience in WWII into a flawed Zionist version of the Jewish Holocaust rather than the reverse. The Poles are portrayed by Lanzmann as anti-Semitic voyeurs and casual observers of Jewish suffering rather than the primary victims of Hitler's aggression. Then there is always an insinuation that Poles were Nazi collaborators. To an uninformed public, Shoah may be the sole source of information about WWII and Polish experience. And there lies the malice in this film.

I don't think that anyone can truly understand Poland's experience and the Jewish Holocaust without an understanding of Hitler's geopolitical aims in Poland. Therefore, let me put this in a perspective. As Hitler and Stalin stated in signing the Ribbentrop-Molotov Treaty, they were going to erase Poland from the map of Europe. Hitler did not invade Poland to kill Jews but to annihilate Poland as a nation, and thus Polish Christians were the first victims of Nazi mass executions. Here is what Hitler said about his reasons for invading Poland:

"I have issued the command and I'll have anybody, who utters but one word of criticism executed by firing squad - that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain line, but in physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my main death formations (squads) in readiness - for the present, only in the East- with orders to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space that we need. " (Aug 22, 1939 as reported by Louis Lachner, AP Bureau Chief in Berlin and cited by Bogusia Wojciechowska in "Waiting to be Heard" Author House, IN, USA, 2009). Any portrayal of Poles as voyeurs and Nazi collaborators is a fantasy of anti-Polish mind.

Having viewed Shoah when it was first shown in the US, I doubt that anyone who saw that film could tell when the Holocaust began for Polish and German Jews? Not from Lazmann's "history". It began in September 1, 1939. Most significant, what part of Poland was Lanzman talking about? Poland was partitioned in 1939. How many of readers or viewers even know what "General Government" of Poland (GGP) was? Yet this is the part of Poland that Lanzmann is talking about. The "General Government" of Poland (GGP) was less than 2/5 of pre-war Poland which was occupied by the Nazis in 1939 but not incorporated into the Third Reich. It was inhabited by 22 million people, 10% of them Jews. Unable to find a Quisling, the Nazis chose to govern it from Berlin. They created from GGP one large concentration camp which was occupied and guarded by 35,000 Uniformed and Secret Gestapo Police (85% of the total number of Gestapo), countless CRIPO or criminal police, 235,000 auxilliary police (Kruger's police), and several SS divisions. In addition, it was occupied by a quarter million Wermacht troops. The SS administered the Ghettos and concentration camps. Poles were not accepted into SS unless they claimed German nationality.

Why such an overpowering force? What was the Nazi goal? The answer lies in Nazi geopolitical goals. Poland was to become part of the Third Reich. Hitler wanted the land but not its people. Pre-WWII Poland was a nation with large national and religious minorities, a legacy of its history. Historically it was a multinational State. If Poland had less than 30,000 Jews instead of 3 million, then there would not have been a Jewish Holocaust, but there still would have been a Polish Holocaust. According to Hans Frank, the Governor of GGP, the Nazi plan was to reduce the Polish Christian population by 6 million (out of the total of 22 million), exterminate all Jews, Gypsies and other minorities, and replace them with Germans from all parts of Europe. I might add that Frank was the best educated Nazi and the most prolific writer. The Polish Christian survivors were slated for slave labor and eventual Germanization. Far from being voyeurs of the Jewish Holocaust, the Poles were victims of The Polish Holocaust which claimed about 2 million victims. Here in the US, it is one Holocaust that it is legal to deny, and even politically correct to do so. The Polish Christian population was subjected to curfews, dragnets, random executions, and mass deportation into Nazi Germany. The vast majority of prisoners in Auschwitz-I were Polish Christians and 70,000 of them were killed there. Auschwitz II was the site of the extermination camp for Jews.

Lanzmann is using Shoah to purge himself of his prejudice against Poles and Poland and thus diminishes his intended message. There is a lot of good footage in that film. Not being a historian, he is guilty of all the sins of scholarship, namely being very selective (cherry picking) and staging of events rather than reporting them. "Staged history" is false or creative history. How selective was he? Lanzmann had six hours of interviews with Jan Karski, but selected less than fifteen minutes. He should have at least reported the gist of his views, which he did not. In reporting on the round up of Jews in the Poznan province, which was incorporated directly into the Third Reich in 1939, he taints the Catholic Church by suggesting that a Cathedral was used to round up Jews with permission of the Catholic Bishop ignoring the fact that all Catholic Churches were already closed in both the Poznan province as well as in GGP and that most Bishops and Priests in Poznan province were already either killed, or deported to GGP, or sent to Dachau the primary Concentration Camp where Polish Priest were killed. He resorts to a cheap lie when he stated that the Polish Underground did not help the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) during the Uprising. ZOB from its inception was affiliated with the Polish Underground and worked with it. The arms that the Ghetto fighters had came from the Polish Underground. Polish volunteers from the Home Army fought in the Ghetto and helped rescue Jews and 56 of them died in the fighting. Like all left wing Zionists, Lanzmann credits the Russians for help which they did not give, while at the same time denying the help that did come from the Polish Home Army.

As for staging, one may ask - how did he select the "Poles" that supposedly reflected the views of Polish population? He had to have the help of Communist Government "helpers". Watching Shoah one would think that Poles were always gathering around the trains which were carrying Jews. Assuming that the groups of "Poles" that he interviewed were randomly selected I would have had no problem with exposing some of them as being anti-Semitic and very poorly informed (keep in mind that he was aided by authorities in Communist Poland who were always ready and willing to taint Poles with anti-Semitism). However, most Poles are much better informed than that, and I believe that the purported "witnesses" were NOT representative of the Polish population and that they were not randomly selected and that the scenes were staged. Nothing in Communist Poland, under the Soviet boot, happened by chance. Lanzmann was working with the Communist Authorities and its Security people and not around them. For viewers who are not familiar with Soviet pre-WWII, WWII and post-WWII propaganda, let me say that Lazmann's "Shoah" portrayal of Poles mirrors Soviet propaganda. Most if not all the accusations of Polish collaboration with the Nazi's is rooted in Soviet propaganda. Keep in mind that the Soviets probably murdered around 400,000 Polish Jews, therefore one has to wonder why so many people believe this propaganda?

As you view Shoah keep in mind that it is not a true history but one man's biased view.

Walter Orlowski