Thursday 24 October 24, 2024
Dear Student:
Your request for additional literary books and/or movies about World War II and the Holocaust both pleased and frightened me. I interpreted your question for more literature from this era as an optimistic and reassuring evaluation of my teaching about war and genocide studies. However, I was scared for those very same reasons: the material you are requesting is about war and genocide.
Sometimes, professors face a difficult and imposing challenge: how do we motivate students to read long books on depressing subject matter? Because you asked for more long books on a depressing subject matter, your request tells me that you didn’t find the World War II and Holocaust book we just studied—Irene Gut Opdyke’s memoir, In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer—to be “long” or boring or depressing; in fact, I think you had discovered something encouraging and life-affirming in that book. Unlike the other course texts that we already studied and will study later this semester, In My Hands demonstrates what is possible—meaning, a seemingly ordinary young woman can and did perform great acts of courage by saving dozens of Jews from Hitler’s genocidal factories of death. Yad Vashem recognized Gut as a Righteous Gentile for a reason!
Nonetheless, as I was trying to offer you in the moment, during class, some book and movie titles, I worried that I would run out of time, frustrated that the only titles that came to my mind were ones that were awfully bleak and demoralizing. As a professor, I always feel “on the spot.” I feel this way because I want to answer my students’ questions right away… no stalling, no circumventing, no misgivings. I want my students to feel that their questions should be, must be, can be answered.
And I didn’t immediately give you, Student, a recommendation list. I think you may even have noticed my hesitation. I think you saw how I was debating with myself, whispering loud enough for you and classmates to hear: “Agh! I can’t tell him to read Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, or watch Klimov’s Come and See.” If you, Student, remember… on the first day of class I shared with you my experiences of teaching both that book and that film and the enormous psychological damage I sustained while teaching them for several years. And I think you also heard me mutter: “That other book—and I was thinking of Levi’s If This Is a Man—absolutely not!”
I thought, for what felt like a long time, how to answer your question. I worried that you, Student, may have had the wrong impression concerning my awkward silence. I was trying to think of a book or film to satisfy quickly both your intellectual curiosity and my own professional ethical demand as a teacher.
“Well…,” I began, if you, Student, recall, “many of the titles I have taught about World War II and the Holocaust in the past aren’t American or British books and movies. For some reason, they don’t move me; however, …. Now that I think of it… the American film, The Thin Red Line is a damn good movie. Its themes… existential crises, nihilism, and on and on… the soldiers and officers struggling on that Japanese mountain… trying not to get killed and live through the war… it feels very European to me. Let’s start there. Next… no way should you read the book or watch the film that’s based on it… The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. What an insult to the people who perished in the camps! To the children who were murdered! I refuse to teach it. And I hesitate to mention the film, Schindler’s List, because of the ending… I have misgivings….” I paused, unsure of what to say next.
Not bad, I thought. I spoke again, “Honestly, The Thin Red Line is a film I would like to teach; however, it is a long movie… as is the novel that the film is based on,” I stopped to think. Do I mention any of the Andrzej Wajda movies, the great Polish film and stage director; do I mention the so-called War Trilogy? A Generation, Kanal, and Ashes and Diamonds. Do I suggest he watch Korczak, the once controversial biopic film about the Polish-Jewish pediatrician who also ran Jewish orphanages and refused every offer to escape the Warsaw Ghetto andchose not to abandon “his children,” going with them to die in the Nazi death camp, Treblinka? Do I recommend the other Wajda war movies; should I even utter, ‘Katyń’? All tough films to watch.
While in this scholarly trance, I replayed the many scenes from my past courses on war and the Holocaust. Many of those students also wanted my recommendations. Do I even say, ‘Rudolf Höss’ Commandant of Auschwitz—the memoir the convicted war criminal wrote before his execution inside Auschwitz? Or even, Gitta Sereny’s Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience—the series of interviews she conducted with the imprisoned former commandant of Treblinka, the very camp where Korczak and his children were murdered? I paused, and then whispered, “No. Too despairing. Then what should I tell this student?”
Of course! “You ask such a difficult question. And honestly, I need time to think over it. I will prepare a list of books and movies. I will upload the list for our next class on our course website,” I said.
Ha! Instead of the promised two days, I needed several weeks to gather this list for you, Student. And I am still unsatisfied, knowing that this list—my list—is incomplete. I want to share every book and movie that I came across of the subjects of World War II and the Holocaust that have captured my attention and moved my heart. At the same time, I realize if I try to be thorough—truly an impossible task! —that list would be too withering and demoralizing that no one, including, you, my inquisitive Student, would read or watch my recommendations. Even as I “finalized” this current version of recommendations, I scold myself for not including “this” and “that” and “those” and “these.” Alas, a perfect list is nonexistent.
Now that I have typed up this list of books and films about World War II and the Holocaust, an insight suddenly hits me: “This list isn’t the last one I will ever create on World War II and the Holocaust. I can always add more to the list. The teaching victory is I started this list!”
My intention of sharing this list of recommendations wasn’t to intimidate or terrify you, Student. After all, as you have discovered during this war class while studying our course primary texts, the subject matter is tragic. We can’t (and shouldn’t) avoid that fact. On the other hand, I think you will also discover moments or fragments of hope… here and there… in the books and films on this list… as you have possibly encountered during our class meetings and studying our course texts… there are hopeful messages in books and film about war and genocide. As I keep reminding your classmates, if the artist were truly cynical, they wouldn’t have bothered spending the time creating their art. And art is life itself! Art is creativity!
And I hope that you won’t be discouraged by the list’s dark matter. I hope you will persevere and finish reading a book or watching a film. There are several items on this list… enough for an entire lifetime of reading and watching!
As always, if you have a question, please ask, even many years after you graduate!
Very Respectfully,
D
World War II/Holocaust Reading and Viewing Suggestions
The Soviet Union
- Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate. 900-page novel. Accounts of the Battle of Stalingrad; Jewish identity and the Holocaust— “the last letter” from Viktor’s mother inside the ghetto is heartbreaking to read—philosophical explorations of good/evil, humanity; criticisms against Stalin and Hitler; “life goes on;” role of science; portraits of war. An excellent 8-hour BBC “radio adaptation” of Life and Fate, starring Kenneth Branagh, is well worth your listening. If you have an Amazon Audible account, download it immediately. I wish I could teach this book!
- Vasily Grossman, “The Hell of Treblinka.” ~60-page journalist essay. Worked as a Soviet news correspondent. Part of a Red Army unit that discovered the site. Interviews of Treblinka death camp survivors. Accounts of touring the grounds. I have taught this piece.
- Vasily Grossman and Ilya Ehrenburg. The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry. ~600-page collection of eyewitness testimonies, letters, diaries, affidavits, and other documents relating to the murders of Soviet Jews. The Soviets suppressed it publication—due to many reasons—even destroying the one manuscript.
- Svetlana Alexievich. The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II. ~384-page collection of interviews; oral history. The roles Soviet women performed during the war. Some accounts of Soviet Jewish fate.
- Yevgeni Yevtushenko. “Babi Yar.” Poem. Protest poem accusing Soviet authorities of ignoring to identify the victims of the Babi Yar Massacre were Jewish; the poem also calls out Soviet anti-Semitism. I have taught this poem.
- Harrison Evans Salisbury. ~700-page scholarly book. The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad. Classic scholarly book which details the horrific conditions the people of Leningrad (today’s St. Peterburg) endured through.
- Elem Klimov (director). Come and See. ~2.5-hour long film. Color. Nazis rampage through a Soviet Belarusian village. The scenes are brutally graphic. Due to Soviet censorship, Klimov couldn’t do justice to Jewish suffering in the film; however, he does include briefly one Jewish character. A hard film to watch. I have taught this film; I no longer can due to its emotionally and psychologically upsetting nature.
- Andrei Tarkovsky (director). Ivan’s Childhood. ~1.5-hour long film. Black and white. Follows the life of a child soldier; he is executed by the Nazis. Depictions of war conditions. I have taught this film.
Japan
- Masaki Kobayashi (director). The Human Condition. ~10-hour long film. Black and white. Consists of three separate films: No Greater Love; Road to Eternity; and A Soldier’s Prayer. An exploration of a young, recent college graduate with socialist tendencies trying to come to terms with the war, Japanese colonialism, and war crimes. He works in a forced labor camp, witnessing crimes being perpetrated by the Japanese against the Chinese. When he stands up against these outrages, the Japanese punish him by sending him to the army. He has a hard time, and ultimately, he dies in the snowy wastelands. I have taught this film.
- Shôhei Imamura (director). Black Rain. 2-hour long film. Black and white. An examination of post-World War 2 Japanese, specifically focusing on those Japanese who were exposed to the radiation of the Hiroshima bomb. Each of the main characters has been traumatized and are learning how to live their lives. Sadly, most of these characters die due to their war-time injuries. I have taught this film.
- Minoru Matsui (director). Japanese Devils. ~3-hour long documentary. Color. Documentary-style interviews with former Japanese imperial army soldiers and other members of the infamous Unit 731 who performed pseudo-scientific experiments on Chinese prisoners. I have taught this documentary.
- Takashi Yamazaki (director). Godzilla Minus One. ~2-hour long film. Available in color and black and white. The film begins with a reluctant kamikaze pilot who refuses to fulfill his mission, thus choosing to live rather than die for the Emperor. He feels responsible for not firing upon Godzilla, and thus potentially saving his comrades from the creature. Punished by both self-imposed and societal guilt, he ultimately redeems himself.
- Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney. Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers. 246-page collection of Kamikaze pilot diaries and other personal writing; includes some scholarly information. I have taught this book.
- Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies. 1.5-hour long anime movie. Color. Brother and sister young orphans navigate the terrible last days of the war.
- Ishikawa Tatsuzô, Soldiers Alive. ~232-page collection of short stories. Ordered by his newspaper superiors to write about the Japanese presence in 1938 China, he offers scathing accounts of various war crimes. I have taught this book.
Hungary
- Olga Lengyel, Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz. ~220-page memoir. An account of a Hungarian-Jewish woman who worked in the infirmary of Auschwitz. She lost her husband, children, and parents. When she emigrated to The United States, she founded the Memorial Library. I received a grant from her foundation and am part of The Holocaust Educators’ Network. I have this memoir.
- Imre. Fatelessness. 272-page semi-autobiographical novel. A teenage boy narrates about life before, during, and after his time in Auschwitz. Kertész was the winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, I have taught this book.
- Lajos Koltai (director). Fateless. ~2.5-hour long film. Color. Based upon Kertész’s Fatelessness. I have taught this film.
- Imre Kertész. Kaddish for an Unborn Child. 128-page semiautobiographical novel. Main character explains why he will not have children. I have taught this book.
The United States
- Terrence Malick (director). The Thin Red Line. ~3-hour long film. Color. Based upon James Jones’ The Thin Red Line: A Novel. A fictionalized account of a battle of the Guadalcanal campaign during the Pacific theater of war period. Often, the film is bleak and despairing. Existential and nihilistic. Follows several characters.
- Martha Gellhorn. The Face of War. ~350-page collection of her journalism. Gellhorn reports from several battle sites and liberated Nazi camps.
- Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator. ~2-hour long film. Black and white. Chaplin plays two characters: a Jewish WW1 veteran and a hateful dictator. Numerous famous scenes; for example, the dictator character playing with a blow-up ball resembling a globe, and the ending when Chaplin speaks to the camera as himself, delivering a heartfelt speech. I have taught this film.
Italy
- Primo Levi. If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo in Italian; released in The United States as: Survival in Auschwitz). ~200-page memoir. Levi writes about his time in Auschwitz. No words to describe this book can give it justice. Powerful. I have taught this book (MANY times).
- Primo Levi. The Drowned and the Saved. ~170-page memoir/philosophical treatise. Levi’s last book, and he wrote it one year before his suicide/death. Haunting writing. I have taught this book (MANY times).
France
- Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz and After. ~350-page memoir. Member of the French resistance. I have taught this book. The following excerpt is one of my personal favorites:
“You who are passing by
I beg you
do something
learn a dance step
something to justify your existence
something that gives you the right
[…]
because it would be too senseless after all
for so many to have died
while you live
doing nothing with your life.”
Poland
- Kazik (Simha Rotem), Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter. 196-page memoir. A key member of the Jewish underground group, Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB)—the other rival Jewish underground group was the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW)—in Nazi occupied Warsaw. Kazik chronicles his childhood, life in the ghetto, and his participation in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I have taught this memoir.
- Marek Edelman, The Ghetto Fights: Warsaw 1941 – 43. 120-page memoir. Another key member of the Jewish underground group, ŻOB. I have taught this memoir.
- Marek Edelman, Shielding the Flame: An Intimate Conversation With Dr. Marek Edelman, the Last Surviving Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 124-page collection of interviews.
- Betty Jean Lifton, King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak. 406-page biography.
- Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. He commits suicide by inhaling gas from a gas oven; days before his death, his wife gave birth to their daughter. I have taught this book; alas, I can no longer teach it due its graphic, intense descriptions of Auschwitz.
- Wisława Szymborska. Poems: “Hunger Camp near Jaslo;” “Hitler’s First Photograph;” “Still.” She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. I have taught her poetry.
- Czesław Miłosz. Poems: “Campo dei Fiori;” “A Poor Christian Looks at the Warsaw Ghetto;” and several others. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Yad Vashem named him a “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1989.
- Paweł Pawlikowski (director), Ida. ~1.5-long film. Black and white. Director Paweł Pawlikowski won the 2015 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film. Young woman about to become a Catholic nun is visited by her communist judge Aunt who reveals that they are Jewish. During a brief vacation, she learns of her family and how their neighbors betrayed her family. She also has a brief sexual affair before completing her nun vows. I have taught this film.
- Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 (also known as: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). 3 Movements. Based upon 15th-century Polish church lamentation song; message written on a Gestapo prison wall; and folk song about looking for a son killed by the Germans during the Silesian uprisings. Haunting, moody music. I have taught this music.
- Aleksander Ford (director), Border Street. ~2-hour long film. Black and white. Set before and during World War II. Main characters are children and teenagers from various economic and social backgrounds: ethnic Poles, Polish-Jews, and ethnic Germans. Dramatizes the complicated relationships between the Poles and Jews. The film ends with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film is hard to find but WORTH your troubles to get it. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I have taught this film.
Israel
- Aharon Appelfeld, To the Land of the Cattails; Badenheim, 1939; The Iron Tracks: A Novel. Holocaust survivor. Focuses mainly on Jewish before and after the Holocaust. Haunting writing. Was my Literature of the Holocaust course professor. I have taught these works of fiction.
Austria
- Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning. ~190-page nonfiction/scientific extended essay about his own experiences in the Nazi camps; moreover, he discusses how his experiences have shaped his world-renown school of psychology, logos therapy. I have taught this book.
Germany
- Bertolt Brecht, “When Evil-Doing Comes like Falling Rain” poem. A warning about complicity, apathy. The enemy is getting accustomed to atrocities. Then we no longer are outraged. I have taught this poem.
- Paul Celan, “”Todesfuge” (Deathfugue)” poem written in German by Romanian Jewish imprisoned in Nazi camps. Considered by many scholars to be an important Holocaust-inspired poem. I have taught this poem.