Q&A: Ken Burns on his new series, ‘The U.S. and the Holocaust’ J. – The Jewish News of Northern California
Posted By admin on September 9, 2022
The poster for The U.S. and the Holocaust, a six-hour docuseries airing on PBS Sept. 18-20, shows arms reaching toward the stars on a distorted American flag.
It is a haunting representation of the series, which is directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein and considers why the United States did not do more to help European Jews escape the Nazis.
In total, the U.S. admitted 225,00 Jewish refugees, more than any other nation, according to the series. Yet widespread anti-immigrant sentiment stoked by antisemitic figures such as Henry Ford and Father Coughlin, and codified in laws such as the Immigration Act of 1924 hampered President Franklin Delano Roosevelts ability to liberalize the countrys immigration policy. As Gunther (Guy) Stern, a German survivor, says in an interview in the film, The golden door was not wide open.
Burns, 69, recently spoke with J. about his new series by phone while walking near his home in Walpole, New Hampshire. Though he is not Jewish, he said, Novick, Botstein and producer Mike Welt are as are Burns wife, daughters and several close friends.
The interview has been lightly edited.
There is obviously no shortage of Holocaust books and films out there. In terms of documentaries, Claude Lanzmanns Shoah (1985) stands as one of the greatest and, at over nine hours, longest documentaries ever made. Why did you feel the world needed another Holocaust film?
This is one of the central topics of humanity. And [today] theres new scholarship, theres new ways of understanding, theres new images, theres new survivors [to interview].
Sarah, Lynn and I make films in a certain way. In this case, we wish to tell the story about the U.S. and the Holocaust, and paradoxically, by narrowing that focus, I think it gave a clearer picture of the Holocaust in its historical totality. Also, it forces us Americans into a kind of profound reckoning, particularly as the echoes of this are so prevalent in our daily lives.
Speaking of echoes, the series draws a line from the xenophobia of 1930s America to the resurgence of white nationalism and antisemitism in recent years. Why did you include footage of the Charlottesville rally and news coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at the end?
We started the project in 2015. Our job is just to tell a good story. But you cant help but notice that the ADL reports an unusual spike in the number of antisemitic incidents over the years we worked on the series.
We are in no way equating todays events with the Holocaust, but there are signs that seem eerily familiar rhymes, Mark Twain might say that permit us to say, Hey, theres smoke, if not fire. The assault on [government] institutions, which was a familiar tactic of the Nazis, and the undermining of fact-based reporting and just sort of subscribing to big lies all of these become central to how you turn an entire country into killers.
What would you say is the films call to action that you want to resonate with viewers?
We have to weed our own garden right now. It has become overgrown. And were obligated to weed it. And we have to say, even though its been said and become clich, we have to say, Never again. Never again. Never again.
Shoah famously did not use any historical footage in recounting the events of the Holocaust, instead relying almost entirely on interviews with survivors. This series includes lots of old film reels and photos, along with commentary from several Jewish and non-Jewish scholars and writers. Why did you choose that format?
The scholars are a kind of intermediary or bridge to the complexity of some of these stories, and an amplification of the importance of one aspect. For a film like ours that would require a lot of scholars, theyre only in it a modest amount.
Rebecca Erbelding [an educator and archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum] is a major presence in the film, and a really wise and thoughtful one. Nell Painter [a retired Princeton professor] makes an extraordinary contribution by helping us think about our own sense of ourselves.
Another person who makes an important contribution to the film is Daniel Mendelsohn. [In his book The Lost], he took six of those 6 million victims his great-uncle and his great-aunt and their four daughters and found out what he calls the particularities of what happened so you can put stories to each one of those six people. And you begin to realize about the human potentiality that was snuffed out, the lives not lived, the children unborn, the cures to diseases undiscovered, the symphonies not written, the gardens not tended all of these things that infuriate me to this day.
Can you share some insight into what it was like on a personal level to make such a heavy series?
Im the scratch narrator. Do you know what that means? I read for years the narration for the film until the very, very end. I do this with all my films that have narration, and nearly all of them have narration, so we listen to my voice ad nauseam. But if we change two words in a paragraph, I have to reread it. So I have read every sentence 25 times over. Its the only script in which in the reading of the first draft, I broke down and cried about five times.
When were 99% done, we call on [the narrator], Peter Coyote in this case, and have him read it. And he was incredibly moved, as well, by what he was reading.
Listen, if were going to tell complicated stories in American history, were going to have to experience it, at least, at a remove. And its painful. Its not like doing Country Music [a 2019 PBS series Burns directed]. But I have to say that [the process of] making the film is the same.
See more here:
- On the History of Antisemitism | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - September 18th, 2023
- Renaissance of Italian synagogues and cemeteries showcased at Ferrara Jewish museum - The Times of Israel - September 18th, 2023
- The lesson of history & hate: Is Holocaust 1.0 the new Holocaust ... - New York Daily News - September 18th, 2023
- Catholic institutions offered shelter to Jews during the Second World ... - Jesuits Global - September 18th, 2023
- How I learned to fill in the gaps in my family's Shoah story - The Jewish Chronicle - September 12th, 2023
- The Zoryan Institute Issues an Open Letter to the Rabbinical Centre of Europe - Armenian News by MassisPost - September 12th, 2023
- Village View: USC Shoah Foundation to celebrate 30th anniversary - Main Line - August 22nd, 2023
- 78 years after the Shoah, Israels air defense system to protect ... - JNS.org - August 22nd, 2023
- Sidney Itzkowitz fought with Jewish partisans behind Nazi lines ... - The Globe and Mail - August 22nd, 2023
- Oprah Winfrey Net Worth 2023: What Is The TV Host Worth? - HotNewHipHop - August 22nd, 2023
- Holocaust survivor whose family were ripped apart during the Shoah ... - The Jewish Chronicle - August 14th, 2023
- Deny and Distort | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - August 14th, 2023
- The ultimate Jewish guide to Milan: What to see, eat and do ... - Jewish Unpacked - August 14th, 2023
- Antisemitism and Radical Anti-Israel Bias on the Political Left in ... - ADL - August 14th, 2023
- Remembering the Treblinka rebellion - JNS.org - August 14th, 2023
- From Nazi Camp to Memorial Centre: In Serbia, the Transition Isn't ... - Balkan Insight - August 14th, 2023
- Controversy swirls around Bollywood romcom and use of Shoah ... - JNS.org - August 3rd, 2023
- A Film About the Holocaust Survivor Who Helped Make Abortion ... - Kveller.com - August 3rd, 2023
- Our doors are open: York gets its first resident rabbi in more than 800 years - The Guardian - August 3rd, 2023
- Making a difference in the community - Australian Jewish News - August 3rd, 2023
- Seven weeks of consolation! | 7 - Arutz Sheva - August 3rd, 2023
- Letters to the editor, 4 August 2023 - The Jewish Chronicle - August 3rd, 2023
- Rabbi Uziel and the Holocaust: New Readings for Tisha b'Av - Jewish Journal - July 20th, 2023
- Why Germany Struggled to Reckon With the Nazi Past - Jacobin magazine - July 20th, 2023
- The fight against British extremism is never over - The Jewish Chronicle - July 20th, 2023
- David Shulick Promoted to Vice President of Corporate Affairs for ... - PR Web - July 20th, 2023
- Keep the Postal Service Out of the Booze Delivery Business - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- In-N-Out Burger Employees Forbidden to Wear Masks Unless They Have a Doctors Note - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- In Sweden, they burn Torahs - Religion News Service - July 20th, 2023
- Nazis in the cellar: is antisemitism coming out of hiding? - Prospect Magazine - July 20th, 2023
- Why this vegan activist's Holocaust analogy has angered the Jewish ... - SBS News - July 20th, 2023
- CA High-Speed Rail Gets Busy in 2023 With Five New Overcrossings - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- The 25 Highest-Rated Movies of All Time on Letterboxd - MovieWeb - July 20th, 2023
- Diary shows hardships of post-Shoah refugees - The Jewish Star - July 14th, 2023
- Virtual Reality Brings New Look at the Holocaust - The Media Line - July 14th, 2023
- Peter Moffat to adapt The Escape Artist - Televisual - July 14th, 2023
- Preserving histories: Teaching the Holocaust to future generations - Worcester Mag - July 14th, 2023
- Roundup: Bears In The Woods, Hiro On The Mound - 06880 - July 14th, 2023
- I dreamed of joining the IDF growing up and finally donned the ... - The Jewish Chronicle - July 14th, 2023
- As Tree of Life trial enters final phase, 6 Jewish scholars on what text and tradition say about the death penalty - Forward - July 14th, 2023
- USC Shoah Foundation Testimonies - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - July 9th, 2023
- The riots in France have become antisemitic - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - July 9th, 2023
- Obituary: Sidney Cyngiser, 99, shared his story about the Shoah ... - The Canadian Jewish News - July 7th, 2023
- Parisian Holocaust Memorial Trashed The European Conservative - The European Conservative - July 7th, 2023
- Reunion of Torah Scrolls | Community | thejewishnews.com - The Jewish News - July 7th, 2023
- How Donald Trump convinced the son of Jewish refugees to ... - The Jerusalem Post - July 7th, 2023
- How a master of understatement conjured up the horrors of the Shoah - Forward - June 29th, 2023
- How Jewish is Stacey Solomon? Star's hebrew heritage revealed - The Jewish Chronicle - June 29th, 2023
- What Is The Longest Movie Ever Made? - The Script Lab - June 29th, 2023
- A Strong Man and a Warrior - Jewish Journal - June 29th, 2023
- Megan Fox Claimed Misogynistic Hollywood Only Wants Her to Play ... - FandomWire - June 29th, 2023
- J'lem Film Festival to feature films on Libyan Holocaust and Kiryat ... - Haaretz - June 23rd, 2023
- A Change Is Needed in How We Remember the Holocaust - Jewish Link of New Jersey - June 23rd, 2023
- Column: The Flower Communion | News, Sports, Jobs - Daily Mining Gazette - June 23rd, 2023
- He used to be a Christian Holocaust scholar. Now hes a Jew - Forward - June 23rd, 2023
- We cannot abandon them in their old age - The Jewish Standard - June 23rd, 2023
- Why a gripping new movie about the aftermath of a terrorist attack is personal for its director - Forward - June 23rd, 2023
- LETTERS: Weaponizing the Holocaust; Carlebach and the perils of ... - The Jewish News of Northern California - June 23rd, 2023
- What Is a Political Film, Anyway? - The New Republic - June 23rd, 2023
- Dimensions in Testimony The Most Interactive Holocaust Exhibit to ... - The Link - June 23rd, 2023
- Berlusconi and the Jews: Pro-Israel, but soft on antisemites and ... - Haaretz - June 12th, 2023
- Spiritual Resistance in the Holocaust Mosaic - Mosaic - June 12th, 2023
- The Tonys honored plays about antisemitism the winners were eager to talk about anything else - Forward - June 12th, 2023
- Shows about antisemitism win big at Tonys + ADL chief wants Tucker Carlson off Twitter - Forward - June 12th, 2023
- 92-year old Shoah survivor Eve Kugler honoured with live sculpture - Jewish News - June 10th, 2023
- Shoah education first as extended reality (XR) experience offers ... - Jewish News - June 10th, 2023
- Special Screening of Remember This | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - June 6th, 2023
- US weighs in on Roger Waters controversy, says artist has long track record of using antisemitic tropes - EL PAS USA - June 6th, 2023
- Holocaust remembrance and the indomitable spirit of Holocaust ... - The Jerusalem Post - June 6th, 2023
- You Should Know...Andrea Heymann - Jewish Exponent - June 6th, 2023
- The 'unwinnable' video game that lights a path for Shoah education - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- The rebbes beard: An original short story - The Jerusalem Post - June 4th, 2023
- Head of Yad Vashem decries a new low in efforts to gloss over Polands complicity in the Holocaust - Forward - June 4th, 2023
- New Rabbinical recruits at top college span science and art - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- 'My mum was rounded up by Hitler's henchmen whilst games were ... - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- Testimony of the Multitude | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - May 29th, 2023
- Jew-Hatred Struts the Stage in Berlin - Algemeiner - May 29th, 2023
- Jonathan Glazer's hot Cannes title 'The Zone Of Interest' secures ... - Screen International - May 29th, 2023
- Unearthing the Past - richmondmagazine.com - Richmond magazine - May 29th, 2023
- 64 new inscriptions on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register - UNESCO - May 29th, 2023
Comments