Close ☰
Menu ☰

Events

4th February, 2013

Book Launch: First Films of the Holocaust

Event Details

Date:
4th February, 2013
Time:
6pm
Venue:
Arts One, G.19 (Hitchcock Cinema)
Price:
Free, but booking required

 

Cinematic representation of the Holocaust is usually thought to begin with US and British footage of the liberation of the camps, in 1945. This book examines films made prior to that, by Soviet filmmakers, who began to make movies condemning Nazi Anti-Semitism in the late 1930s, and started to depict the Nazi mass murder of the Jews after the June 1941 German invasion of the USSR.

These first films to depict and denounce the Holocaust constitute cinema’s initial attempts to grasp the enormity of what was happening. They are pioneering, but deeply flawed, as the Soviet official account refused to accept the Jewish dead as a separate category of the Nazis victims, instead viewing them as part of the overall Soviet death toll. This attitude towards the war and Holocaust meant the films have been forgotten or ignored in Russian archives, and by the wider world. Even where they were seen they were discounted and distrusted as the product of the Soviet propaganda machine. The end of the Cold War and use of unpublished archive sources means First Films of the Holocaust now brings these neglected works to public attention enabling a reassessment of the history of Holocaust cinema.

Dr Hicks will talk about his book, showing clips to illustrate the footage he has found. He will be joined in conversation by:

Professor James Gow, Kings College London (Co-Director of the War Crimes Research Group at King’s College London)
Dr Toby Haggith, Senior Curator, Department of Research, Imperial War Museum

The event is free, but space is limited, so please email to confirm attendance: j.g.hicks@qmul.ac.uk

For more information please click here and to buy the book click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Refine Results

  • Select date range (from/to)

Upcoming Events

TCCE

You've been waiting for it and our May newsletter is here! -> bit.ly/3M9ICG6 pic.twitter.com/Iug9eWimQQ

in association with