Series for Film Group Discussions

The Consequences of Prejudice and Hate

THE HOLOCAUST:
DRAMATIC AND DOCUMENTARY REALITIES

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

General Questions
•What does each film convey about the history of the Holocaust? What assumptions does it make about the viewer's knowledge of the period? Were there gaps that made it difficult to follow?

•What do you learn from each film? From watching two films about the same topic?

•Did you come away from the film with answers, or with more questions?

•What does the film add to what you could have learned about the subject from a history book?

•What choices does each filmmaker make in creating a film about this era?

•How does the Holocaust world depicted in feature and documentary films differ? What is the contribution of each form?

•What do features achieve that documentaries do not, and vice versa? Which seems more "real"?

•What might other films contribute? What can no film tell?

Questions for Terezin, the Fortress Camp
•How does the reality of Terezin compare with the picture created by the Nazis for their propaganda? Why do you think they had success in their efforts to convince the Red Cross that they were treating the Jews well?

•In what ways was the situation of inmates in Terezin different from, and similar to, those of prisoners in other camps?

Questions for Uprising in Warsaw
•What were the circumstances that led to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?

•How did ghetto dwellers view the young people who organized resistance? What do you learn about the attitudes of Poles toward the ghetto and its Jewish inhabitants?

•Why did the organizers continue, despite the odds stacked against them?


Questions for Protectors or Betrayers
•What was the situation for the Jews in each country depicted in the films, and how did circumstances differ in different countries?

•Non-Jews risked the same punishment as Jews if they were caught in rescue activities. What were the motivations of these individuals who risked their lives to protect Jews?

•What effect does contact with the Jews have on the attitudes and personalities of the protectors? What tensions are created for the protectors by helping Jews? How do you explain the friendships that evolve?


Questions for Ultimate Justice
•How do you assess Adolf Eichmann's role in the Holocaust? What about the other numerous figures who had a hand in the extermination of the Jews, from the trainmen who transported the Jews to the guards at the camps? What do you consider to be grounds for their responsibility or their lack of responsibility?

•How do you compare Eichmann's trial, which occurred 16 years after the end of the war, to the Nuremberg Trials?

Holocaust Introduction

Terezin, the Fortress Camp

Uprising in Warsaw

Protectors or Betrayers

Ultimate Justice

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