Holocaust

This is the story of the Weiss family and The Dorff family during the holocaust. The Weisses, an affluent well educated Jewish family living in Germany befalls the fate of all Jews living in Germany and Poland during WWII. The Dorff family is a German family whose fortunes exceed their highest expectations by virtue of their persecution of the Jews. Dr. Weiss and his family are all well rounded believable characters. However, Dr. Weiss & his wife tend to view the world through rose colored glasses. Like most German Jews they did not see the danger coming and believed it would all blow over until it was too late to leave. I think the reality of what was about to happen was so horrific that people didn't want to believe it. Mr. Dorff who committs grevious crimes both personally and through his policies against the Jewish people is also seen as a good family man singing xmas carrols at home with his family. Mr Dorff is totally deluded in his assessment of his own conduct. Prior to restrictions preventing Jewish doctors from treating Arayan patients Joseph Weiss treats the Dorff family. Yet the Dorffs refuse to help them when Dr. Weisses son, Carl, is arrested. One of my complaints about dramatizations of holocaust experiences is that the people portrayed always look a lot healthier than they were. These actors were not thin enough for their roles. Of course, if they had to have visual accuracy the actors would have been on death's door and unable to work. Still anyone living in the ghettos or the camps were terribly thin and undernourished. They had myriad bones protuding. The characters in this movie some of whom like Mrs. Weiss who was plump were not credible. James Woods who is normally thin and Meryl Streep were more believable in body type. The partisans normally healthier than ghetto or camp inmates still subsisted on meager diets of turnips and potatoes. Rudy, his wife and the other partisans just don't look like they are living on a subsistance diet. There were a few Germans and clergy who helped but they were very few in number. The clergy and the church in general bears substantial responsibility for this calamity. Not enough Preists spoke out against it and of course, the Vatican which was the first foreign power to sign an accord with Hitler said and did nothing. For more on this read Constantine's Sword by Carrol. This is not a movie of happy endings. Most of the characters perish. In many families not one member survived Germany's goal of making the world Jew free. The movie made an excellent point. Hitler knew that the French and the British would say nothing about his perscution of the Jews, and they did not. However, he was surprised at how little reaction he got from President Roosevelt. The Germans were right. No one wanted the Jews. They are still right. Today's anti-semitism is now cloaked in political thought as anti-Israeli sentiment. Any rational person knowing the facts of the middle east dispute should come down on the side of the Israelis but we all know that Britain and France tend to side with the Arabs in any dispute with the Israelis. Anti-semitism is alive and well in Europe. It is just wearing a different hat.Our DVD set is missing some of the beginning footage. Apparently our DVD set is missing about 1/2 hour of the footage. I don't know if other sets have the footage and ours was just defective. Still for a good mini-series on the holocaust I recommend this set of DVD's. We spent an entire afternoon watching the whole series at one sitting with a break for a meal. Yet for a realistic portrait of the horrible conditions in which Jews lived during that time there is no substitute for the documentaries with actual film footage of the real ghettos and the camps. If you are a teacher using this as a history teaching tool, it must be supllemented with footage of the real camps and ghettos.

POWERFUL saga on TV in '78-emotionally entranced from the 40th Anniversary DVD of Holocaust. Even after seeing it on TV years ago, a revisit is well worth the time. It is a fictional account of families on both sides of the Nazi/Jewish account. It was not really Germany, but political and ambitious desire coupled with individual egos that caused the atrocity to happen. This story is about the families Weiss, Dorf, Helms, Lowy, & the Berlin SS staff.Years after 9-11, Viet Nam, Korea, well, so many conflicts, the look back at WWII and the systematic annihilation attempt toward the European Jewish population takes on even more significance. Can it happen again? Who will say no?In this dramatization of wartime relationships, love till death, survival struggles, accountability, and history itself, a fantastic cast was assembled. At the time some of the cast were less known, such as Meryl Streep who did magnificently as Inga. But others, Rudi (Joseph Bottoms), Dr. Weiss (Fritz Weaver), Berta Weiss (Rosemary Harris), and others made you feel a part of their family. Tovah Feldshuh as Helena turned heads with her beauty as well as her emotional acting. Capt/Maj Dorf (Michael Moriarty) was so convincing that you soon got to hate him and his 'kill anyone' drive to promotion. Artist Karl Weiss (James Woods) began a huge career after this performance. The potential for picking out great acting moments is endless over this 3 DVD-5 part miniseries. One bad role was the Weiss youngest, perhaps a writing fault, not acting.The show is timeless, being a period presentation (1935-45). The division of families and the directions their lives take them, makes this show give a comprehensive look at what took place, not just in Germany, but Poland, Russia, 'work' camps, and more. There is no definitive DVD on the Holocaust topic. "Schindler's List" is another that should be seen by everyone for a perspective of what happened, and the fact that not all were to blame.This is truly a must see for anyone remotely interested in knowing more of the emotion and heartache that was caused by the Holocaust. It got me thinking of my own 3/4 German ancestry, the predominant German community where I live, and the fact that politics can become so corrupted that horror can win over humanity. It's been said that some guilty Nazi participants tried to confess due to the TV airing of this saga series. It's that impacting. it does have a short lighter ending which helps settle the nerves after watching for 7 1/2 hours.NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. CC was available. Absolutely NO Bonus material.After 8 Emmy & 2 G.Globe wins; of course it's 5-star recommended. I'm glad I watch AGAIN.

Very interesting movie to watch.

I finally got to see HOLOCAUST after all these years. For some reason, our family did not watch it in its original run on NBC over four nights in 1978, but I'm glad I finally got to see it. A very well-produced miniseries during the heyday of TV miniseries, with a great cast, fine direction, and excellent production values. It is a fictional story of the Family Weiss, to make what happened personal, and give us people we could get to know and care about. It started a much-needed dialogue and look back at what really happened in World War II, and presents both sides in a fair light. There are very few true villains in HOLOCAUST; mostly people on both sides trying to survive, and many falling for the lies they were being fed. And lies still go on today, in 2022. This series reminds us that we are all human, and all need to take care of each other. All I will say is that it is complete on three DVDs, and is well worth the time. Oh, yes: it does include the two minutes cut out on its original NBC broadcast, due to standards and practices on nudity. The nudity is not salacious at all; it's there because it happened. If you have never seen HOLCAUST, see it. It will stay with me for years.