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
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.
Location filming in Warsaw, Poland for SHOAH. Scenes include the ghetto, Mila 18, the cemetery, the railway station, and archival documents and photographs. FILM ID 4709 -- White 39A Varsovie La Gare VAR 61-66 Ticket counter in Warsaw's train station. (00:34) The train schedule. (3:36) A sign that reads: “Gornik. Warszawa WSCH. Częstochowa-Katowice- Gliwice.” The sign is on a train moving out of the station platform. A man is leaning outside the window of the train. (6:00) Trains go past the platform. FILM ID 4710 -- White 39B Varsovie Ville Clapperboard reads: “Varsovie Ghetto.” A monument in a park. (00:48) People walking around in the city next to the park. (3:56) A sign that says: Mordechaja Anielewicza.” (4:48) A sign that says: “cmentarz żydowski w warszawie,” [Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw] as well as the hours it is open. (5:21) Rows and rows of headstones in a cemetery. (8:42) CU, headstone of Adam Czerniakow. Prezes Ghetta Warszawskiego. Zmarl dn. 23 Lipca 1942 R. [President of the Warsaw Ghetto, died on July 23, 1942.] (8.56) The entirety of Czerniakow’s large tombstone. FILM ID 4711 -- White 40 Varsovie Archives Footage of archives: a map showing the Ghetto borders. (1.57) A sign in German demanding the relocation of Jews that do not work for companies; those that volunteer will get three kilograms of bread and one kilogram of jam. It is also promised that families that volunteer together will not be separated. (2:30) A black and white photograph of Bund leader Dr. Leon Fajner. “Mikolaj” 1886-1945. Przywodca Bundu. 2:54) Black and white photograph of Czerniakow in his ghetto office behind a desk with candelabra. (3:20) Clapperboard. Several black and white photographs of Germans with their names and designations written below in pen. (6.16) Nazis with two men in shawls next to a brick wall. (6:31) A black and white photo of a Nazi soldier kneeling with a German shepherd. (7:31) Black and white photograph of men, women, and children getting onto tall carts. Some of them have stars on their jackets. (7.56) Nazi oversees a crowd of people by railcars. (8.12) Nazi soldiers stand in front of a train as people start to get off. (11:58) A black and white photograph of a room filled with shoes. (12:33) Black and white photo of men carrying a body in a white sheet in a cemetery. (12:44) Men standing in a field holding shovels. (12:57) Three engraved cups and two seals. (13:12) Deep burial pit filled with bodies. (13:38) Man sitting alone in a field surrounded by a wire fence. His head is resting on his hands. (13:48) Several black and white photos of Nazis (15:26) Several headshots of men. (16:18) Children sitting at desks in a classroom with a teacher. (17:00) Men stand in front of a large pile of shoes. (17:29) Man brushes the side of a tank with a broom. (17:42) Photo of a man with star badge kneeling on a pile of spokes before a crowd. (17:53) Cutting the hair and beards of two men. (18:08) Long line of people with armbands walk down a city street, carrying heavy bags. (18:45) Large group in a courtyard. (19:11) Women waving goodbye from a ship. (19:22) Black and white photograph of men standing in lines around a courtyard. (19:43) Ten men have been hanged above a pit. (19:56) Rows and rows of skulls and bones. (20:22) A black and white photograph of four corpses. (21:08) People in a line next to a pit. (21:33) Hanged man. (21:48) A black and white photograph of men walking on a road with small children. (21:59) House on fire. FILM ID 4712 -- White 79 Varsovie Mila 18 Anielewicz Warsaw city street, cars parked on both sides. Apartment buildings. (1:43) Sign on the building: “Miła 18 MSM. Starowka.” (3:36) Driving around. (10:44) A man is walking behind a car pushing it down the road while someone else sits in the driver's seat. (13:13) A man pushes a stroller down the street. (15:34) A street sign that says “Mordechaja Anielewicza,” one way and “Esperanto,” another. FILM ID 4713 -- White 80 Varsovie Franciszkanska Two street signs: “Bonifrałerska” and “Franciszkanska”. Cabinet filled with photos on the wall. A city street with cars driving. (1:46) Kids and adults walk by the cabinet. (3:25) A corner of a wall with “Wałowa” and “Franciszkanska”. Women walk down the sidewalk surrounded by tall buildings and a grassy area. (5:05) A tall office building with “Intraco” on the top. Pedestrians, cars, buses. (9:58) Focus on the sign “Franciszkanska.” (10:57) “Taxi” sign and parked cars. (13:43) “Franciszkanska” sign next to a bookshop. (14:34) Crowd of people stand in line in front of a door. FILM ID 4714 -- White 81 Varsovie Trams. Rue. Chutes. Tram tracks with cars and pedestrians. A tram goes by. (1:25) Many people walk across a crosswalk in front of a tram. (2:42) Warsaw city scenes. “Konfekcja” (4:04) Tram tracks. Trams go by. FILM ID 4715 -- White 82.83 Varsovie Rappoport.Plaques.Wovolipki.Wolnosk Park in front of tall buildings. A crowd of people stand in a courtyard. Rappoport Memorial covered in scaffolding. Wreaths at the base. (6:58) Aerial view of Warsaw. People, cars, trams. (8:09) “warszawa centralna” [Warsaw Central] building. (9:08) Tall, ornate building. (9:38) A tram goes by next to an underground walkway and throughout the city. (11:40) More buildings in Warsaw. (16:15) Street scenes. Sign says “Nowolipie.” (16:47) “Zylnia” and “Zelazna.” (20:52) Men stand next to a car talking. Beside them is a small, red memorial with a large cross. (22:43) Apartment buildings with lights on in the evening. (23:43) An overgrown field, with an old three-story building. (25:40) A sign: “Ul. Nowolipki 40.” (27:13) Cobblestone street. (27.42) “Wolnosc.” (29:02) Going into a building and the open courtyard behind. FILM ID 4716 -- White 84 Varsovie Cimetiere Monument Vistule Warsaw city in the distance. (1:19) Vistula river. (3:14) Train. (5:55) Memorial on a wall in Polish and Hebrew: “Z tego miejsca W latach 1942x1943 Hitlerowscy Ludobojcy wywiezli na meczenska smierc do obozow zaglady setki tysiecy sydow. czesc pamieci meczennikow I bojownikow” [From this place In the years 1942x1943, the Nazis took hundreds of thousands of Jews to death in the death camps. In memory of the martyrs and Jewish fighters.] (6:56) A gas station beside a street with tram tracks. (9:00) The memorial. (10:01) Cemetery with graves with Hebrew writing.
Warsaw