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
According to the transcript, the interview with the Polish men took place in the afternoon after Lanzmann interviewed Mr. Falborski.
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.
Interviews with local Polish people in and around Chelmno, as well as location filming. FILM ID 3767 -- White 72 CH 48-49 Lettre May. CL lit Lanzmann reads a letter from Mr. May regarding operations at Chelmno. FILM ID 4602 -- Foret Chelmno FO 1-4 Interview Uniquement Interview with two men in the forest near Chelmno. The Poles brought SS guards to the forest at night in order to exterminate Jews. Lanzmann asks the men to describe Polish women who worked for the Germans, Jewish victims' belongings, and the occasions when Goering hunted in the forest near Chelmno. FILM ID 4629 -- White 31 CH 97-101, 5-7 Chelmno clairiere Long narrow road with farmland on both sides. Forested area. At Chelmno. Srebnik stands in the field with a solemn demeanor. He paces and looks around. FILM ID 4630 -- White 33 Chelmno l'eglise Church. People walk down a dirt path, ducks. Srebnik walks in front of a barn, large mounds of coal. Rubble. Barn. Chickens. The church surrounded by trees and the surrounding landscape. Clapperboard, church with mounds of coal. Ducks. People walk along the path toward the church. CUs, church EXTs, the steeple and entry. (10:23) Clapperboard. Local Polish people on foot, horse drawn carts, tractors. Camp memorial in Polish and Hebrew. EXTs of the church. FILM ID 4631 -- White 34 CH 26-39 La messe Inside the church, an elderly woman prays. People sit in the pews and children kneel in the aisle. The children are grouped on one side of the church. One of Lanzmann’s crew can be seen with equipment at the left. Members of the church stand and sing. Organist. Bells ring, people begin to exit the church.They gather in groups and socialize. Back inside, the priest leads members in prayer and song. FILM ID 4632 -- White 35 Chelmno la procession A large group of Polish people stand in front of the church and pray before entering. At the same time, everyone kneels. (05:24) The crowd leaves. (08:20) Another group poses in front of the church. Cars and horses outside the church, people pray. FILM ID 4633 -- White 36 Chelmno les alentours. Campagne sans neige Wide shots of outdoor scenes near Chelmno. FILM ID 4634 -- White 70 CH 20-22, 3-4 La Mer Inondation More scenery near Chelmno. FILM ID 4635 -- White 71 CH 28-32 Travelling cheval Filmed from the point of view of a passenger in a horse-drawn carriage heading towards town. Landscapes and small buildings on the side of the road. FILM ID 4636 -- White 73 Travelling le chateau House with red sign. (0.35) Men stand in front of a horse pulling a cart. Taxi drives by. The cart starts moving. (2.07) The steeple of a church. Landscape, green and hilly. Building with sign “Kiosk Spozywczy” [Food Kiosk]. The back of a cart pulled by two horses. (3.03) A full view of the church. (3.58) “CH R.4” is written on a notebook. A grassy area, with a pond in the middle with ducks. (4.58) A horse-drawn cart in front of large mounds. There is a house behind it. (5.47) A two-story barn with stable. (9.25) A single story, stone building with wooden double doors. (10.05) Sign: “sprzet przeciwpożarowy” [fire-fighting equipment]. Church in the distance. FILM ID 4637 -- White 74 CH 14-18 Ecole Eglise Children walk in front of a building, there is a gate around the building. (1.55) A far away view of the road, with a bridge going over a river. Surrounding area looks like marshland. (5.43) A church with a tower, bells. (8.30) A single story building and enclosed bus stop. (10.38) A close look at the church bells. (12.47) The gate in front of the church. Second, smaller gates between the pillars of the main gate and the walls. (14.39) A closer view of the detailing on the sides of the church. (15.55) Ducks in a grassy area between a house and the church. FILM ID 4638 -- White 75 CH 61 Monument stele Fosses. Travelling eglise aux fosses Double doors of a church with the symbol of a shield with two swords crossed behind. Travelling down the road away from the church, and out of the town. (2.37) Travelling through the forest. The forest opens up to a wide clearing. There is a long, raised plot of land surrounded by stones in the clearing. (9.30) There are several long plots of land in this clearing, as well as a stone marker. (12:00) Stone marker with an engraved plaque. It reads:"tu spoczywają prochy 340000 Żydów z Polski Oraz 20000 Żydów Z Innych Krajów Europ" [Ashes rest here. 340,000 Jews from Poland, and 20,000 Jews from other European countries.] (12.40) Boom mic and a clapperboard. Someone says “... walking. Chelmno 15.” There is background noise of walking as they go through the trees. (18.22) Different views of the plots. (26.20) The sun begins to rise over the trees, breaking apart the cloudy day. (32.34) Driving down a road with trees on either side, there is a road that turns towards the left with a sign that says “Majdan,” in front of it. (34.03) A stone slab monument that rests on top of pyramid pillars. Many words are faded, some read: “wzięto nas do lasu gazowano rozstrzeliwano o prosimy ukarali naszych morderców sw naszego gnębienia pr o rozgłoszenie po całym świecie.” FILM ID 4639 -- White 76-77 Chazzettes, couchez soleil, oies-siele eglise Men ride on horse-drawn wagons. (01:06) Sunset. Memorial at Chelmno in Polish and Hebrew. Church. (06:11) INTs, church. FILM ID 4640 -- White 32 Chelmno Clairiere Neige Travelling down a wet road. Blue telephone booth. The road becomes surrounded by trees on either side rather than fields. (3.15) The vehicle turns down a road to the left. There is a small red sign on the right at the beginning of the road. The road is covered in large puddles and mud. (5.06) The vehicle turns right, down a snowy road and even more trees. (5.40) The forest and snow covered ground without the road. (8.17) The forest gives way to open fields. (9.20) Clapperboards. A memorial marker:"tu spoczywają prochy 340000 Żydów z Polski Oraz 20000 Żydów Z Innych Krajów Europ" [Ashes rest here. 340,000 Jews from Poland, and 20,000 Jews from other European countries.] The memorial marker is on a rock in front of an empty field. Several large plots of land are raised and encircled with stones. (11.24) A large memorial stands. (13.57) The double doors of a church with a symbol of a shield and two swords crossing behind.
Chelmno (CH)