Die USA und der Holocaust

This Ken Burns documentary was not up to the standards of his previous documentaries. Peter Coyote is a fine narrator and always pleasant to listen to. It was interesting in the first episode dealing with the prejudices and racist attitudes in the US with the influx of immigration concerns.

There were a number of historical inaccuracies that took away from what the documentary was attempting to portray. Historical documentaries need to do more than tell the viewer what happened; they need to ask the question why certain incidences occurred in order to better understand the issues being presented. There were a number of historical omissions that would have explained things more in depth. For instance; how the slaughter of 66 million Christians and Russians by the Bolsheviks influenced the mindset of the Germans during this time. The documentary also lost some credibility by having Deborah Lipstadt as a voice of authority as her input took away from some of the plausible historical accuracies with her repetitive accusatory conjecture presented as fact.

Other than that, there wasn't much revealed that hasn't been covered countless times before.

Essential viewing. Even if you think you know this history and have heard it all before, or that it's too depressing to devote 7 hours of time to, this is so masterfully crafted and has so much range that you're bound to learn something while being moved to tears. It puts the rise of fascism and what would become the Holocaust in context with attitudes in America and those around the world. The interviews, photographs, videos, etc reflect a high caliber of research; the narration and editing, a brilliant distillation. This is unvarnished, non-whitewashed history, simply stating the facts and remaining balanced. The interviews with survivors, descendants of survivors, American servicemen, and historians are simply extraordinary.

The parallel to the rising tide of hate and what may become fascism in America and other countries today is harrowing, and the filmmakers were wise to include a summary of what happened after war (hint: anti-Semitism didn't just vanish), and connect the dots to the present day. The parallel to the eugenics movement, Jim Crow, and anti-Semitism in America at the time, is incredibly damning. There is a reason Hitler simply looked to America with admiration for examples in the form of Native and African-Americans and how they were systematically killed, confined, or denigrated to second class citizens. The voices in America that not only encouraged isolationism but were outright hostile to the idea of providing aid to Jewish refugees, with officials in the State Department lying about what was known to be happening, is disheartening to say the least. On the other hand, how FDR navigated the choppy political waters, Elanor Roosevelt responded with such humanism, and how people like Raoul Wallenberg and John Pehle worked to save lives is stirring.

In a documentary filled with fantastic quotes from a wellspring of wisdom rooted in bitter experience, one that sticks me was Eva Schloss (née Geiringer) suggesting that Anne Frank would not likely have said "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart" after she had been captured and shipped off like human cattle to Auschwitz. This is not some pre-packaged rehash of history, it's presented with thought-provoking nuance. Another example are the arguments presented for and against the bombing of Auschwitz late in the war, and there are countless others, really putting us into the minds of people at the time.

With a shockingly high percentages of people who deny or aren't educated about the extent of the horror of the Holocaust, and with MAGA being a new "America First" movement also rooted in white supremacy, the timing for this documentary is perfect. One of the bitter ironies is that despite people working so hard at the time to ensure that the world knew the extent of the atrocities, overcoming skepticism in part because they were so mind-boggling, there are now new waves of people, fed misinformation and conspiracy theories, who don't believe it happened. Ken Burns and the other filmmakers strike at the heart of the importance of history, to understand and learn from it.

This film presents an interesting take on Jewish immigration during World War Two. Ken Burns et al do a good job of giving us the backstory of how FDR's administration approached the situation and the constant barrage of anti semitic forces working to keep the United States out of the war for as long as possible. The documentary is raw, graphic , and in your face but people need to see this to realize that life is precious. Man's hatred and cruelty knows no bounds but if we are reminded of it by films such as these, hopefully we can keep ourselves in check to try never to repeat this type of heinous cruelty.

Mr ken burns for his ever so connective and brutally consistent narrative talents and partner in the direction crew together with lynn novick and sara botstein. This documentary doesnt just put the magnifying glass on the usa, indirec tly it tells the story about how the entire globe positioned itself on the jewish and other surpressed minorities going under the term of refugees during the nazi era.

Its just a pitty mr burns (et.co.) that you didnt make this series in 1985 when the war generation still lived, the year you famed the brooklyn bridge forever. I think that the number of reciepients are highly diminished due to digital media platforms, the topic of ww2 is alien and the subject of the jewish destiny is a heavy subject to elaborate and devour for the fast food and fast news generation x and z'ers of today.

I really admire the efforts done searching archives for pictorials and film reels used in this 3 part series, loads of material i havent seen in the past, and i, the grumpy old man, have a sofisticated interest on an amateur level the ww2 history and have seen almost everything that has been issued from english, french, german and japanese language spheres + the italian, and loads and loads of norwegian war history.

Im glad mr burns that you still have many productive years to come, i can not praise enough the impact and inspiration youve released in miself as your products have appeared

so to everyone sceptical to the harrowing title making usa seem like a crook, well then watch and learn, cause the refugee problem will always be there. Its an overwhelming recommend from the g.o.m..

Perhaps it's because, unlike others like Lanzmann, Resnais, Spielberg, et al., Ken Burns and his crew of expert documentarians come to the subject with all their finely-tuned skills in presenting important historical events, this is, for me, the most powerful, and upsetting rendering of the subject I have ever seen. Although the subject is, ostensibly, the role the United States played--or did not play--in dealing with the murder of millions of innocent civilians merely because they were Jewish, what I found most impressive was the focus on the transformation of ordinary, often happy lives throughout Europe into a brutal, horrifying nightmare. As one of the interviewees puts it, the emphasis on the death-camps, while certainly justified, tends to overlook the everyday brutality of innocent men, women and, equally, children being routinely and heartlessly ostracized by their "friends," humiliated, beaten, thrown from the rooftops of building, burnt, and, if lucky, merely shot.

It's very hard to talk about this film, but one must acknowledge the great achievement of these filmmakers.