Claude Lanzmann was born in Paris to a Jewish family that immigrated to France from Eastern Europe. He attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. His family went into hiding during World War II. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in the Auvergne. Lanzmann opposed the French war in Algeria and signed a 1960 antiwar petition. From 1952 to 1959 he lived with Simone de Beauvoir. In 1963 he married French actress Judith Magre. Later, he married Angelika Schrobsdorff, a German-Jewish writer, and then Dominique Petithory in 1995. He is the father of Angélique Lanzmann, born in 1950, and Félix Lanzmann (1993-2017). Lanzmann's most renowned work, Shoah, is widely regarded as the seminal film on the subject of the Holocaust. He began interviewing survivors, historians, witnesses, and perpetrators in 1973 and finished editing the film in 1985. In 2009, Lanzmann published his memoirs under the title"Le lièvre de Patagoni" (The Patagonian Hare). He was chief editor of the journal"Les Temps Modernes" which was founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, until his death on July 5, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/claude-lanzmann-changed-the-history-of-filmmaking-with-shoah From 1974 to 1984, Corinna Coulmas was the assistant director to Claude Lanzmann for his film"Shoah" She was born in Hamburg in 1948. She studied theology, philosophy, and sociology at the Sorbonne and Hebrew language and Jewish culture at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and INALCO in Paris. She now lives in France and publishes about the Five Senses. http://www.corinna-coulmas.eu/english/home-page.html
Claude Lanzmann spent twelve years locating survivors, perpetrators, and eyewitnesses for his nine and a half hour film Shoah released in 1985. Without archival footage, Shoah weaves together extraordinary testimonies to render the step-by-step machinery of the destruction of European Jewry. Critics have called it"a masterpiec" and a"monument against forgetting" The Claude Lanzmann SHOAH Collection consists of roughly 185 hours of interview outtakes and 35 hours of location filming.
Germany and Switzerland
Location filming of scenes in Germany and Switzerland for SHOAH. FILM ID 4612 -- Berlin 1.2.3 Reichstag Le Mur traveling nuit Camera focuses on the front facade of the Reichstag- Dem Deutschen Volke and slowly pans out. (05:35) Sign reads"Sie verlassen jetzt West Berlin" Berlin Wall behind the Brandenburg Gate. (07:20) Nightlife in downtown Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Deutschkron, RG-60.5044. FILM ID 4613 -- Lehrter Bahnhof / Ext. Grunewald / LB 1 BER 4 Train station looking toward the Berlin TV Tower. S Bahn station at the Berlin - Grunewald stop. CU, memorial plaque to remember the tens of thousands of Jews that were deported from the station to Nazi death camps. This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Deutschkron, RG-60.5044. FILM ID 4614 -- Café Wien 1-7 La Danse At Cafe Wien, an older couple dances in a decorated dining room with a large chandelier. People watch from tables. This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Deutschkron, RG-60.5044. FILM ID 4615 -- Breme 1. Maison Becher. Ville Front gate of Kurt A. Becher’s house. A plaque on the gate includes Becher's name with “Kölner Aussenhandels GMBH Niederlassung Bremen.” His house can be seen from around the treeline. Car with the camera inside begins to drive away from the house passing pedestrians and buildings in the small town. Sign, “Betreten Verboten” [Do Not Enter] on a docked boat. Pan across the river with boats. FILM ID 4616 -- Duisburg Travellings Peniches triage Large factory complex in operation, filmed from a vehicle. Cars pass while driving on a highway, large smoke stacks in BG. Bridge crossing. Rural setting with a smaller building and two smokestacks. (02:55) MSs of Duisburg, streets and sidewalks deserted. (04:16) “BOB 59” FILM ID 4617 -- Essen-Krupp (Duisburg) Car drives out of a tunnel, approaches the city of Essen. (06:03) EXT of the factory complex. FILM ID 4618 -- Evian 6.7. Hotel Royal) Scenic view of hillsides. (01:20) Vehicle enters a dark tunnel through a mountain, lush green hillside. (02:20) Fields of farmland. The picturesque town of Evian located in a valley adjacent to a lake. Hotel Royal where the Evian Conference took place. FILM ID 4619 -- Bâle1-4 Routes Camion Equipe / Bâle 1-6 Scenes champetres Scenic alpine views of Switzerland filmed from a car. Van. Man fishing along a river near Basel. Large pasture with farmers and a tractor bailing hay. Farm houses. This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Pictet, RG-60.5054. FILM ID 4620 -- Geneve 1.2.4.5 La Ville and Geneve 3.4.6 Travelling Alles Rolle “BOB 188” In Geneva, CU of a boat named “Helvetie” cruises in a river with people standing on its deck. Sign next to pier, “The Famous Residences” with a map of famous estates located on the banks of the river. People walk across a bridge, shops and hotels line the street. Swans. (10:41) Driving in a forested area. Tree lined road. Facades of passing buildings. (13:17) Two lion statues face the street. Hotel de La Paix with a Swiss flag. People on sidewalk. (14:01) Palace of Nations. Gate of the United Nations complex in Geneva. Hedges and trees line a narrow drive to a house with an attached garage. (16:15) Alley with houses and parked cars. Path into forested area leads to an estate. Fortress flying the Swiss flag. Slow zoom of a tree lined street. This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Rossel, RG-60.5019. FILM ID 4622 -- Thyssen Travellings Panos Thyssen factory complex with smokestacks. Main street of an industrial area. (01:33) “Thyssen” in large letters. “BOB 60” Driving around the perimeter of the Thyssen factory complex. FILM ID 4623 -- Vieux Munich / Munich 5A-6A Arrivee Hamburg Divers Couples and individuals in city of Munich. Driving on a highway, overlooking smokestacks and power-lines. Several flags line the side of the road. Arriving in Hamburg, bridge. Green pastures with grazing cattle. FILM ID 4624 -- Wannsee DK 23.7B.19.32.22 This reel was probably filmed for the interview with Deutschkron, RG-60.5044. Lanzmann speaks over an intercom and tries to gain access to the villa at 56-58 Am Grossen in Wannsee, where Nazi leaders convened in January 1942 to determine the fate of millions of Jews across German-occupied Europe. Sign on the gate reads “Feuerwehr-Zufahrt.” EXTs. Children ride tricycles accompanied by two women. (03:37) Filming from a boat of the rear side of the villa mansion that backs up to a lake. Three children on the shoreline wave at the camera. (08:03) Lanzmann and crew walk around in the woods behind the villa, filming.