The Holocaust is Not a Metaphor: The Grey Zone (2001)
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- I apologize for my pronunciation of German/Polish/Hungarian names I really did try. Also I set up a fundraiser on this one, I was hoping CZcams would allow me to raise money for more than one organization but apparently not so we're going with the ACLU. If that's not your jam go donate to Planned Parenthood or Trans Lifeline or an environmental organization. Do something good.
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We’reInHell: / wereinhell
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Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/
Land Acknowledgment:
This video was produced on land that traditionally belonged to the Kizh, Tongva, and Chumash Nations. native-land.ca/
Sources:
“Against all Hope: Resistance in the Nazi Concentration Camps” by Hermann Langbein
“Amidst a Nightmare of Crime: Notes of Prisoners of Sonderkommando Found at Auschwitz” Edited by by Jadwiga Bezwińska
“Auschwitz: A Doctors Eyewitness Account” by Miklós Nyiszli
“Eyewitness Auschwitz” by Filip Müller
“Five Chimneys” by Olga Lengyel
“From The Heart of Hell” by Zalmen Gradowski, Translated by Barry Smerin and Janina Wurbs
“Inside the Gas Chambers” by Shlomo Venezia
“The Drowned and the Saved” by Primo Levi
“The Grey Zone: Director’s Notes and Screenplay” by Tim Blake Nelson
“The Holocaust Odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias” by Rebecca Fromer
“The Last of the Just” by André Schwarz-Bart
“This Way to the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski
Why Should I Wake Up? | Cabaret. Isherwood. Fascism.
• Why Should I Wake Up? ...
A black survivor of German labor camps
ajplus/status/125...
The rest of my sources can be found here:
/ 67728726
00:00 - Intro
04:26 - Chapter 1: The Drowned And The Saved
19:10 - Chapter 2: We Both Know What We're Saying
25:09 - Chapter 3: An Increase in Cargo
35:18 - Chapter 4: Special Units
50:41 - Chapter 5: You're Not Going To Live
01:04:18 - Chapter 6: The Burden of Guilt
01:18:37 - Chapter 7: She's Still Breathing
01:29:35 - Chapter 8: October 7th, 1944
01:34:29 - Chapter 9: And The Work Continues
01:52:35 - Credits - Zábava
The gall of the New York Times in calling a movie about the impossible level of brutality of this historical period "too violent" baffles me. I cannot even understand how someone could see this and think it is wrong, in how the violence is used.
The implications those reviews make about the ways the Holocaust is remembered are horrifying at best
Violence in a holocaust movie? Unacceptable, apparently
These Reviewers don't even know what the true Horror of the Holocaust was like.
Yeah, that's how the NYT thinks.
Like saying porn had too much sex...That's the subject! People are too used to seeing stylized, almost glamourous depictions of the Shoa, which disconnects people from the real event and profound suffering that depicting violence brings us back to.
Re: the accents
Chernobyl also did the same thing. It let actors speak in their natural accents, rather than ask them to put on Russian accents. This is just a very good technique. It's initially a bit odd cuz it's not that common, but after a little while... It just works better. You're more into the film and there are no potentially hammed up accents.
It just feels more real, weirdly enough.
Totally!!! It's the same with sex scenes, they almost always take me out of the movie because I'm thinking more on how they made the scene rather what the scene means....
Death of Stalin did the same thing and the movie was much better for it.
Chernobyl gets some flak for not being entirely accurate with its representation of events but from the admittedly not super in depth research on the incident I've done I think the accents are a perfect representation of the show as a whole, it is not a perfect recreation but it is entirely honest in what it is portraying to make the audience's experience of a horrifying and complicated series of events as seamless as they possibly could
the only part of the accents that confused me was when Muhsfeldt was like STop speaking hungarian to the prisoners
@@Mitcheck315 Chernobyl is quite upfront about the changes. On the official podcast, Mazin (writer + showrunner) went in-depth about what he changed and why. It's all in service to telling a tighter story (restructuring events, merging characters, etc)
Rosenthal is, to me, one of the most relatable Jewish characters ever written because I don't think it's possible to be Jewish without being angry. I'm a history student, specifically the history of genocide and the laws that enable it, and even though I've become numb to so much of the horror of genocide sometimes I'll get overtaken by waves of anger that leave my hands shaking too badly to type. Rosenthal is the first character I've ever seen with that same kind of anger.
As a Native American I can relate to that
It's a righteous fury
We all have a right to be angry, the systems of power have wronged us all, and they keep turning their backs when we ask for help… one day im sure things will be better life provails
Blinding rage is a rational response to genocide.
As a Black woman, I can relate to this. Being angry is so turned against us, like yes be careful with it, but why does it take the victim to "behave" (being sad or otherwise encompassing vulnerability) for people to empathize?
The line "ive never really hated the jews until i saw how easy it was to make them turn on their own" or along those lines is so haunting. I can't imagine how the ss officers thought nor do i want to, but this? This line? I feel like its so underrated and so indicative of why these people kept perpetrating the holocaust. I feel like a lot of people ask, "how could anyone possibly do what the ss officers did?" And the thing is, they felt justified. To say that it was a terrible thing is a gross understatement, but its something we need to remember. We can never stop talking about the Holocaust. We cannot ever stop talking about it, lest we forget how truly horrific it was.
The unfortunate (for lack of a better description) part is that "The Final Solution " has been repeated around the world.
Genocide is a word that should no longer be heard. The world should have learned from WW2. Yet, time and time again, Genocide has reared its brutality. Today, in China it's continuing while the Biden administration refers to it as "a cultural difference ".
I know that GOD must cry at the loss of each innocent life.
The killer thing about that line is that's exactly what THEY'RE doing, what all of Germany is doing, butchering their own people for the Holocaust. And unlike the Sonderkommando, they weren't threatened or forced to do it.
And now we do worse to animals on a daily basis, so fatas5es can drink their pus filled milk and cancer ridden meat of violently tortured and VIOLENTLY killed and gassed animals, who have feelings and consciousness and want to live.
It's important to remember ALL people will turn on "their own." For a wild variety of motives. Pure survival, fear, revenge against old adversaries or competitors, etc. Just check out every single occupation and conquest in entire world history. Checking out every single occupation and conquest ever reveals lots of cowards, collaborators, profiteers, rats, and vendettas, using the occupier for their gold and money. Look at occupied France. Occupied Iraq. Heck, even occupied Germany... Those shrieking SS officers turning coat to Hammers and Sickles or Stars and Stripes, rapidly advancing in business or politics by completely switching their loyalties from their own (often self-serving) apparent original ideology to an appearance of the ideology of the occupier. One can never be sure what, if any, sincere ideology these turncoats have. But many people switch and collaborate and betray... Out of fear, preservation, greed, or power.
How interesting that the Greek prisoners chose to die, rather than murder others. If they could do that, imagine, if all Jews had done that!
I'm an Armenian and there's hardly any representation of Armenian genocide in the media.
i wanted to write something but hardly can formulate words now, thanks for the essay. we need to know, we need to remember, to be able to see how systems are build that allow this.
Which is honestly a travesty. The one film I've seen about the Armenian Genocide was "The Promise," and it got review-bombed on ImDb by accounts located in Turkey. Even the MCU show "Moon Knight" got review-bombed just for a character briefly mentioning the Armenian Genocide.
im armenian too!! mixed, but armenian :)
"Ararat" from 2002 by the brilliant independent cinema director Atom Egoyan comes to mind if you haven't seen it
People outside of Armenia generally know next to nothing about the Armenian genocide. I had to visit Yerevan to get any kind of knowledge. We NEED more representation of the Armenian genocide - probably now more than ever
@@WildWestSamurai Atom Egoyan did a film about making a film about the Arminian Genocide called “ Ararat.” It’s really sobering, and there are some difficult scenes to watch, but it introduced me to the treatment of the Arminians.
I'm Jewish. My mother's family is from a small town in Khmelnytsky Oblast, Ukraine. This has been a trying year. Thank you for this video, and for reminding me that Jews are allowed to talk about our history, even in relation to current events, because it *is related* and it's not attention-seeking to do so. I feel like other people are allowed to throw around Nazis and the Holocaust when talking about it but if I say I'm Jewish and talk about my family's history there I'm told that "Jews are always trying to make it about us." It is so incredibly frustrating.
@Jo I only started to run into it 4-5 years ago myself and I've seen it around a whole lot ever since, but you know, good for you that you haven't seen it, I guess. I'm glad you've found better spaces.
So if a British historian writes about British history it's fine but if a Jewish historian does the same "you're doing it about yourselves?" Damn
You're Jewish, so tell us, what did the Jews do to all the Amalekite and Midianite babies?
Well,pray tell,who in hell do they THINK it should be "about"?The entire holocaust,the camp system,and the involvement of German corporations to build and service them,WAS "ABOUT" the Jews.Their elimination was the nazis ultimate goal.Yes,ther were also millions of non-Jewish victims,but in the nazis' minds,all these others were "c9ntrolled"and in thrall to the Jews.Sadly,there are many who still think this way,and no amount of logic will change their minds.
It's not attention-seeking. But I note that some people avoid any sort of pain. Your pain. Their own pain.
They wallpaper it over with cheeriness.
❤ May you and yours remain safe.
"the movie was called too violent"
But they're PERFECTLY FINE. With movie scenes, that feature the US Calvary killing Native People????
Those events, were pure savagery. I know the horror stories, I know what the Calvary did.
But because of the way those types of movies are set up, cowboys and the Calvary are the Heroes.
But as soon as the movie/show is about the Holocaust. The same level of savagery, is "too much". "Too dark"
"Too heavy"
I appreciate this video. It helps me understand the types of horrors my grandfather walked into, arriving at Bergen-Belson (Belsen?) First. Then Auschwitz before looping back around to liberate Berlin
He was a survivor of the Native American Boarding School System. Yet because of his language skills (he knew German, Polish and a little bit of French), and abilities. Yet that Government that hated that his grandfather survived the Wounded Knee Massacre. Called upon men like him, to go and fight the N@z1s...
36:36
I'm crying so hard right now. I have Greek ancestry and family in Greece and a huge sense of Greek pride, and yet I hadn't the slightest idea that the vast majority of Greek Jews were also victims in the Holocaust. Call it ignorance, or the education system that I was raised in, or the collective blindness due to erasure of history, this is something I just learned thanks to you. I wish I were aware of those 400 brave Greeks. I wish I had previously known that the island my family is from, Chios, was a German Occupation Zone. But it hurts so much; to know that these things are true, and also to know that I was ignorant of it.
Thank you.
If you're interested in learning more about Greek victims/survivors of the Holocaust, Shlomo Venezia is Greek/Italian and I believe Dario Gabbai who is in the credits is also Greek.
There is a movie in Germany about a group of Germany leaders talking about the Countries where the Jewish people were living in and how many.
Partially they had spies traveling around world collecting information on the Jewish people, London, Italy, Greece etc.
Sorry I can’t remember the movie name.
Also there is movies of heroes saving not just Jewish people, others too. Would like to see these movies of beautiful people who helped to save them, including non Jewish people.
Yes, the terror in Greece is not a story told very often; there's this unconscious tendency to always focus in or bordering Germany and Japan's Pacific exploits, or else in France, England or following whatever American troops happened to be doing - though these were all important points, they are probably leaned on because of what early filmmakers and academics of old tended to be biased toward (biased in a statistical sense, e.g. language and Cold war communication barriers, the tendency to publish and produce what makes the most profit and is seen by the most eyes, etc). Information from smaller groups like Greek Jews affected by this terror are all the more valuable for this reason.
We have such dangers forgetting these small groups, and of forgetting the stories of the tens of millions who lost their lives in places like the Soviet Union, China, so-called French Indochina, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Romania, the list goes on and on. Even Japan and Italy aren't as explored as they should be. We can't do it all, but we should do our best to support those who do what they can.
My Grandfather passed away at the start of this year, about 26 hours after my Grandmother did. They were the two who helped keep my Judaism alive the most, as I have never been very religious. Mainly as the only Granddaughter who identified as Jewish, I had to live out my Grandmothers dream of being Bat Mitzvahed. Learning about Judaism was not something I ever wanted. I never believed in any God and hated having extra days of schooling that my other friends didn't have. But I never shied away from hearing Jewish stories of perseverance. After all, my family history is full of them.
Shortly after their passing and my Grandfathers Burial, my Grandmother was interred later; we went through their things in order to empty out their apartment. I stumbled across photos my Grandfather had taken during WWII; he had been drafted near the war's end. Most of them were landmarks that he wrote down his thoughts on so he could bring them home, but I flipped over one tiny picture; from the back, it looked like any other of his photos of houses and streets from the towns he passed through, and on it was a pile of bodies stacked into the sky. When my Grandfather was sent over on D-Day with his unit, it was not to fight but to document. The exact orders were to record absolutely everything within the camp he was assigned to. He was told, and in his mind, he knew without any orders that without pictures of every last thing, no one would believe them; it would all get swept under the rug. He helped liberate that camp, the name of which I do not remember. He has a box of photos we still haven't found, hundreds upon hundreds of photos from that day. Each one shows an atrocity that would be near impossible to put into words without some sort of reference. I can say what was in that photo, but even now, if I had never seen it, I don't think I would have really believed it.
We don't talk about the Holocaust in my family. Partially because we, a large Jewish family from at least four different familial lines from all around Europe, lost no one in that atrocity. Mostly, it was because my Grandfather could not handle talking about it or hearing about it. My Grandfather was one of the strongest men I knew, a Mensch and an artist. It took him only one trip into a crematorium, and an empty gas chamber that he knew would never run again before he was traumatized for life. He could have never done what these people have done and shared their stories after living through it, or maybe he would have. I can't ask him anymore.
Thank you for pushing to get this video out, no matter how wonky you had to edit it. I think a lot of people need it right now, even if they don't want it.
As the only person with any connection to the faith of the only surviving segment of our family who made it out of Poland, I feel this wholeheartedly. My grandfather is 97 this year.
My grandfather, despite being Native (Lakota, he was sent over on D-Day). Did a lot of the same.
He never truly spoke about the Camps they came across, but it deeply affected him. My father said, he sometimes dreamt that he had been there too. Because what they did to the Jews, was what he had experienced as a child. Being sent to Boarding School.
Having all of his belongings ripped away (largely disposed of as well), hair shaved, forcibly washed. Before being shoved into the boys dormitory. Where the doors were always locked, and they would hardly be fed.
How badly punished they would be, for speaking Lakota, or praying in the traditional Lakota manner. How they'd be beaten, and stood out in whatever weather, for hours
I believe seeing the Camps, wore my grandfather down. Because when he died, he died crying. That he didn't make it in time, to save many of the children
If you find that box of photos, you should donate them to either your local holocaust museum or the holocaust museum in Washington.
You are so unbelievably talented. Your videos often feel like a hug, but this one specifically, feels like someone is holding your head in their hands. Thank you so much for making this.
Big agree
I wanted to thank you for your hard work and perseverance getting this video out, but this person’s comment says it better than I could. Just wanted to add to your engagement numbers. Thank you.
+
Months late to this comment but fuuuck this is such a beautiful way to put it. This comment is going to be in my head all day, thank you
The interview clip at about 45:00 minutes in was heartbreaking. They were so desperately trying to reach us and we are so desperately trying to reach them and they are fading away as time goes on. The text only gets more degraded and our accounts become further and further from them. Their own words, their own stories.
When you described one of the sonnderkommandos being told by women he was leading to the gas chamber not to follow them, that it would be pointless, that they had to die but he had to live and tell what happened there...that broke me. Of all the horrors described, the cool rationality, the lack of anger or hatred, the plea to keep living in spite of everything. I had to take a pause and cry for ten minutes. That was truly gut wrenching.
This movie absolutely broke my heart, and so will this video. However, as someone who is not Jewish or a history expert, I truly need and thank you for educating me on this awful part of history. We must continue to tell the stories of those whose voices were silenced
Also, thanks for listing the sources you used. I will definitely check out some of the books
Tim Blake Nelson is such a gem of a human being. Not many directors could have walked the fine line he did in this film.
And you couldn’t ask for a more dynamic, talent-rich cast.
Aside- Dear Lionsgate, what the hell is your problem with free advertising?
I live in Krakow, Poland. We are surrounded by reminders of the Holocaust at every turn. It is a major part of the region's draw for tourists. It's important to note that millions of Poles were also killed at that time. When I was single I lived next to the former Podgorze camp and the ghetto. I currently live next to the same train tracks that took prisoners to Auschwitz. Trains still go to that town. The bright part is that there is a thriving Jewish community in Krakow right now. I know the director of the world famous Jewish Community Center personally.
❤
I sit here with tears in my eyes and numbness in my heart. I have watched this masterpiece of a video for a third time now and will likely watch it many times more. Not only because The Grey Zone is a fantastic film that deserves more due recognition and accessibility but I'm someone with no Jewish heritage or historical connections to the Holocaust. I'm just a Gentile who tries his hardest to listen, understand and act.
You give all your videos such humanity and compassion and this one was no exception. Thank you so much for this masterpiece.
My dad was fairly racist at the end of his life, and my mother has a very small anti-semetic streak and some racist biased as well. I am asked by my mother during discussions why I always take the side of (insert 'other' group I am arguing for). I always respond the same way, which is 'If the nazis would have killed them, as they would have killed me (as a trans queer person), then we are family, we are the same, and we must defend eachother. Queer history and memory is a difficult one, because we are not spoken about much in holocaust media nor is our history represented due to the damage that the Nazis did, but we also suffered a near extermination event during the AIDs crisis. But we must not forget that we have suffered along side Jewish people, People of color, First nations people, and a myriad of others that have been targeted similarily, and we must stand up for our extended family.
Hear, hear.
Sorry to hear you still afflicted with such
I hope future generations will be spared that burden and served by you/us speaking up
This is one of the most poignant comments I have ever read. ❤️ From Australia. Lest we forget.
❤❤❤
very interesting video. I'm not a jew but I'm Polish, we are told of the Holocaust from the very young age. But we are just told it was jews killed, gased and burned. A lot films and media present this topic in a certain sterile and romanticized way. I think this film and this video essay both underline certain thing; people will do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means watching your family die. It's dirty, it's ugly and no one is a black and white. The grey zone is an excellent title to show how multi facde and complex the situation was and in many way's.
My thought after watching this video is that the current discussion of media, politics, art and everything else really misses the dirty grey zones of experiences.
Thank you for this video it was really really really, thought provoking.
In Germany there are long lists of victims or cathegories of victims but it's still Aileen
I've always hated the phrase "like men" as it implies that if one does not act in a stereotypical male way, one is a coward or weak. It's bullshit. To say that the kommandos that fought back were the only brave ones spits on the memory of all the others that died. It wasn't about being "men" or being brave, there is no normal in places like that, in situations like that. No one knows how they would act in such extreme circumstances. No one is constantly brave or constantly cowardly, and how bravery takes form will look different for every single person. Everyone who died, no matter how deserves the same respect.
"No one is constantly brave or constantly cowardly, and how bravery takes form will look different for every single person."
....
that struck me so hard just now . thank you for writing this
I don't know why... but hearing Jacob Geller's voice in your video makes me so happy. ❤️ The heartbreaking way you talk about this all is so heartfelt. I am crying and being thankful for your part of keeping this history alive.
Greetings from Austria 🇦🇹
Two summers ago I looked up and the sky was orange. I lived under a bright-red sun and burning sky for seven days, before we were blessed by rain. It was hell. I have nightmares about it, the fire scares me more than anything else. I can imagine the weight of smoke in those men's chests, the cloying smell and the itch as it filters through your body.
I recently started wearing a Magen David. I'm not really an expressive person-- I'm lucky enough I don't look Jewish and it feels best not to tempt fate. The chain usually hides under the collar of my shirt, only peaking out when I stretch my neck. Jojo Rabbit, and later your video on the movie, are part of why I wear the necklace. Life-changing media. Really.
Morality is impossible to qualify for the Shoah. It all paid a price in the end, no real rhyme or reason to who lived or died. We don't know our family's history, only that they died. My great-grandfather was the eldest of eight siblings. He was the only survivor. When you show clips of the logs or documents I wonder if I could slow it down and catch a glimpse of a family named, formed before Ellis Island.
Thank you, again.
You got them to let you post the video! I'm sorry they made it so difficult, but im glad I'll get to see it! Your essays are always admittedly excruciating dives into the kind of context that doesn't get explained often, and never in the kind of simple down to earth terms and analogies that make sense. As much as I'm sure this video will hurt, it's wonderful that we're getting to see it. Thank you!
I could go on a rant about how these subjects have been handled (poorly by others, loved your contribution), etc. But all I really wanna say is, you made me stop your video and watch the entirety of The Grey Zone and then come back in one sitting. This was beautiful and I think you are right, the best thing we can do when caught in the literal death machines of fascism is to witness, help when you can, but witness and tell. Because sometimes all you can do is survive, and surviving when they want you dead is a revolutionary act.
what a great sentence, "surviving when they want you dead is a revolutionary act." Thank you.
What the nazi's represented was NOT fascism. And yes, I know because my father grew up in Italy during the reign of Mussolini. It's like saying Communism is Capitalism.
@@evertjan9479 what on god's green earth are you talking about?
@@lemondrizzlecake7766 A part of a comment, nothing more.
You made me cry in two ways during this video. The first should be obvious: this subject, these incredible accounts, and your presentation as always pierce my heart. But I cried a very different sort of tears at the end. As a trans person living in fear, that acknowledgement was very much appreciated.
As a Romani trans person I thank you for talking about us being targeted in the Holocaust. Thank you very much.
Opre Roma
I was born into a family within a Romany family so have been around gypsys all my life, daily and know how they considered it deplorable in the 80s for anyone to be called trans etc let alone actually being so. Fortunately I understand it's becoming more acceptable within some family's now a number of outspoken such-like as urself are around now. I haven't actively seen my Romany family for 20yrs now, due to differing of opinion. Or something like that.
Gypsy is a offensive term towards the Roma community. They usually call themselves Roma or Romani as it is what they identify as and it isn’t offensive so that is what I call them that being Roma or Romani people.
i watched this movie in your recommendation and i literally hurled at the end hearing the voice over from the little girl, it’s easily had the biggest impact on my of any H- film as i’ve been trying to learn about my Jewish and Romani heritage
Tbh I never thought u would make a vid on this, especially so close to the great H- vids of all time, but it’s all the better. I never heard of thsi movie and u let me discover it
Thank you so much for making this video. Before watching this, I'd never even heard of the Sonderkommand, never mind survivors like Nyiszli or Fillip Muller, or that there was a resistance. Now that I think of it, as someone educated in the US, I'd never learned about resistance. Generally Holocaust survivors were entirely faceless, or as entirely passive and innocent.
So much has been done here to directly address so much about Jewish representation that I'd never even thought of
which is a little embarrassing as a Muslima). It is an incredibly important part of our faith to respect and protect People of the Book and I am blessed to have such a good teacher. Thank you for bringing the humanity desperately needed in this discussion. Peace be upon you, inshallah
The dark realities of the Holocaust was not kept from me as a child going through Catholic private school. I was told to look and see the damage done to the Jewish people and all the others that the Nazi’s despised. My education makes it difficult for me to understand people who do not treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
My greater extended family lived within the reach of Nazi Germany and could have been taken to the camps because they are Catholic. I don’t know their names or if of them were; but I cannot help to look for the features I saw in my grandparents when I see pictures of the victims or look for my ancestral surname.
This video defiantly broke my heart, but I am glad that it is there. That people are still speaking boldly against fascism and to remember the victims of that violence. And to hear the voices of Jewish people speak of their understanding and the impacts they feel from being the generations that came after the Holocaust. No matter what anyone says: this work has value and is necessary for us to always remember the losses of the past.
Catholics? I wasnt aware catholics were targeted by the nazis
@@michaelwerkov3438 Yes they most certainly were, from Night of the Long Knives all the way through the Concertation Camps. Dachau had an entire barrack that was for the almost three thousand Catholic priests kept there. St. Maximilian Kolbe was martyred at Auschwitz, as was Edith Stein, and hundreds of others across Nazi occupied Europe. The Nazi shut down, targeted, and seized property from Catholic peoples and institutions; as well as retaliated against protestors as well. That also does not touch on the overlap between other national identities that were targeted by the Nazis that were often Catholic as well (Poles, Serbs, Slavs, etc.)
While the Jewish people were the most targeted and impact by the Nazi regime, it spread far beyond that and impact many more groups and identities throughout Europe and Northern Africa.
@Lignja Hal There a lot of ways in which I understand where you're coming from and can respect it. But in some ways I really just can't.
The way you initially worded this made it sound like your school couldn't teach you about the Holocaust without emphasizing that yes you poor Catholics were targeted too (never mind the ones who helped smuggle Nazi officials to Latin America, I guess?) Probably never even mentioning the queer people who were targeted as well. Which is so typical of organized religion that I really just can't deal with it anymore. (But hopefully I'm wrong to some degree, wording things properly is hard. Or maybe my knowledge of history is off.)
Like when you described the clergy at Dachau, who yes, were not just specifically Catholics but clergy. Because the Nazis really weren't fond of anyone with political power
I applaud the Catholics who had the piety and bravery to stand up against what they saw the Nazis say and do but let's be frank here, most of them, if they didn't have the misfortune of having some other characteristic that they couldn't help but be targeted for (and kept their heads down, which I understand was hard for some devout people and which I, again, respect), would have simply had to dodge bullets at some point or another to survive the war like most of the population.
This is quite possibly the most emotionally moving essay i have seen on this website. I have a hard time interacting with subjects that are so full of deep complex emotion like this. I can't really access that part of myself all the time, or at appropriate times (like when discussing death in the family). It just overloads me and I shut down. But something about this piece pushed past that levy in me and I fully broke down in tears listening to the story of these people trying to do something, anything, before they died. Thank you so much for this incredible piece of work.
I didn't feel right posting this in my original comment, but relistening to the essay, I cannot stop remembering a play i crewed when i was fifteen.
It was a Holocaust narrative, set in the round. The audience was close enough to touch the actors and smell the food we served during dinner scenes. It mirrored the kind of immediacy created by the techniques in this movie, there was no way to deny the humanity of these people, not when they were so close. At the time I considered myself relatively "professional", but could not avoid sobbing hideously every night at the final monologue. After a while I could attempt to block out the words, but I memorized the play, knew what the characters were saying and there was no hiding from what was. Every phrase was a new tragedy. I feel like that now, like i am backstage, attempting to wish the tears away, but I think that might be what a good piece of media does. Pushes you until there is no possibility of looking away.
(i also really appreciate your focus on the occasional specific type of dark humor present in The Grey Zone, and the brief periods of levity that occasionally appears in Holocaust media/accounts written by survivors. They are never jokes you'd want to repeat out of context but it always appeared to me to be what was necessary to get through the day)
I was appalled by how briefly the holocaust was taught in my AP European History class. Your videos have taught me so much more than school ever has. Please never stop making videos, because after I watch them I am always moved.
I just wanted to let you know from Jewish person to another that it means the world to me when you cover stories like this, you have a way with words that makes me feel a lot (in a good way!)
I don't know how or when I discovered your channel but your videos are always amazing and I'm so glad that I did. They're either really fun or darkly enlightening and thats really great :)
Thank you for making this, it needs to be said and heard. I hope everyone else will appreciate just how much work you put into this. Im glad I could be a support and help while you did 💜. Love from your emotional support gentile.
the grey zone and maus opened my eyes heavily to the evils and tragedies of the holocaust, something books and school cannot tell you on their own. your conclusion brought me to tears, as someone who is agender and a lesbian. who also has severe hearing loss. thank you for your video essay.
revisiting this video because i was reminded of a book that spoke about the deaf germans who were treated horribly during the holocaust. the book is called Crying Hands, and it is a book that interviews several deaf germans during the Nazi Regime. it is a horrifying book to read as someone who is hard of hearing and is a part of the deaf community. for those who are interested about hearing the voices of those affected, please read that book.
Thank you. I feel like so often that whenever I’ve engaged with the Holocaust, my mind just refuses to properly interpret it, and just reduces it to the same kind of theoretical, abstract idea of infinite torment as I think of whenever Hell is mentioned. That I refused to truly emphasise with the stories of actual survivors, and just selfishly substitute it for whatever I imagined to be the ‘worst case scenario’ for if I was there. Like Auschwitz is some b-tier horror movie monster that takes on the appearance of your worst fear.
This video helped me tremendously in getting myself out of that mind set. Why I’m not a jew, I am queer, and have heard horror stories of Paragraph 175 not being fully repealed until the 90’s. This video has taught me to see the Holocaust as a horrible thing that actually happened, not as a series of iconography used by gentiles for profit or otherwise as a means to an end.
This video disturbed me in ways that history lessons and more mainstream Holocaust documentaries just didn’t, whether through a lack of Jewish voices, or other intellectual shortcomings. You knew not to act like the reveal of the gas chambers is the end of the conversation. To talk vividly, without resorting to melodrama. To avoid the strict binary of nihilism and blind optimism.
I’m going back through memories of Holocaust imagery being invoked in art and political discussions, and things I once thought of as harmless make me sick to my stomach. The Holocaust doesn’t have to be the worst thing that could ever potentially happen to be a tragedy. Even the most child-friendly, whitewashed and censored recounts will be worse than anything I’ll experience in my lifetime. It’s just one of the many possibilities of what will happen if hate is allowed to flourish.
Incredible work, LK. I know how hard this one has been for you to make, but it came out as maybe your most beautiful and necessary piece.
I’m constantly floored by the quality of your videos and the level of research that goes into them. Thank you for all the work that you do to not only create entertaining content, but educational content as well. I’m not Jewish, so hearing the thoughts of someone who actually is about the H- and media that depicts it is something I honestly love
I watched your vid on Nebula. You brought so much into this video. Illuminated hidden texts within the movie. Interviewed Tim Blake Nelson. I cannot express how much I love what you've accomplished with this. The movie tore me to shreds, but I had no choice but to watch. Thank you for this work. I can only imagine how hard it was for you to make.
Hey, this is off topic but, as a trans person watching your videos, thank you so much for speaking briefly on the current trans genocide along with others currently happening. A lot of the trans communities' allies don't want to acknowledge what's happening to us, so hearing our current situation being spoken on in this video is touching to day the least. As always, this video was fantastic. Thank you so much for the work you put into these. Sending lots of love.
I cannot let this pass without comment. You are watching a discussion about actual genocide, and you have the bare-faced chutzpah to assert the trans community is going through the same. You are diminishing and trivialising the Holocaust, and misrepresenting your own struggles.
I just got recommended this video, so I am sitting here, sick to my stomach at humanity's past, present, and possible future, while being immensely grateful to you for making this. It should never stop being talked about.
I had never heard of this movie, and I come from a country where we make kids watch WW2 docummentaries since elementary school.
This is breathtakingly beautiful, haunting, and heart breaking. I finally got around to The Book Thief because of you, and now this movie is on my list. I'm not Jewish, but it's so important to know and understand (as much as one can from the outside) so we don't sit by when someone tries again. Hearing it from someone who is Jewish adds so much, I think. You have the ties, the feelings, and the understandings we don't. When you put them together like this video, it makes it easier to empathize too. Thank you for breaking my heart and opening my eyes, I'm grateful for it every time.
I watched this movie after seeing your video on holocaust film recommendations. It disturbed me deeply the way only one other thing has, the book "Ordinary men". There's something about how mundane it was the puts the horror into true perspective. We're so used to seeing Hollywood horror with the screams and gore. The idea that even in the camps the nationality could still divide people. The way they could have normal conversations with their killers but with one wrong step they would be killed. The pathetic need of the guards to wash away responsibility and ease their conscious. How death can become normal to you just a common occurance, a thing that you walk with as you try to take a few seconds of rest before your boss notices, as you try to stand to attention while your nose itches as you try to make yourself noticed or unnoticed because you don't want to be volenteered for something.
I think the true horror of what was done, the real breath and depth can only be understood when you're able to see how mundane it was. "The work continued."
I really appreciate you're videos on this subject. It's helped me gain a greater perspective of a tragedy which did not effect my heritage and I have only been able to view in the abstract. Thank you.
It's always nice to see people use their voices to talk and educate others about issues that they were deeply affected by or are knowledgeable about, more power to you!!
I worry that more often than not, the victims of the holocaust are treated as numbers in a statistic than the actual people they were. I think with how much the number of them is stressed we forget that they were all living breathing people with families and dreams and cultures. This undermining is why I think people often compare things to the holocaust or antiquate the holocaust as just any genocide. Importantly, I don’t think there’ll ever be another holocaust because that suffering is exclusive to those people and something that should be treated as an event important because it is singular. It’s less about repeating it and more about not forgetting all of the suffering those living people had to go through. There were no good or bad victims, just the lucky ones who lived and those who didn’t. None of them deserved to go through what they did.
I thank you for continuing to talk about this with the depth that you do.
I'm at a total loss for words. The sheer magnitude of the Holocaust is difficult to take in. It's such a complex and heavy topic, so I'm glad you addressed how certain pieces of media (or people online) can oversimplify the issue.
One can comprehend what took place historically, but to actually feel the weight of what happened, how it occurred, how it was carried out, what the victims went through - and the horror that people are capable are doing to each other based on an arbitrary line of "Jewish"/"non-Jewish" - shakes me to my core. Whether or not one had relatives perish in the Holocaust (or knows who did), just "being Jewish" makes these events very personal.
While this whole essay is a remarkable piece of work, it's your ending message that shows the importance of understanding this history and the lessons taken from it. Yasher Koach.
Thank you for this powerful and thoughtful video. The radio interference during the part about lost fragments of documents gave me chills. An incredible piece overall.
I have to admit, I went into this video with a certain bias against the Sonderkommandos but Muller's account and the idea of bearing witness, the idea of the victims asking you live to tell their stories is so gut-wrenching. My heart breaks so much for them. Thank you, LK
Thank you for this video. I cried at the end of this. Thank you for the stories of the real people who lived through and died in the Holocaust. We must learn and tell their stories. Be the tongue to those who no longer have a voice. Tell their stories so the next generation will know and pass the stories down so they will never be forgotten. To know that this happen to real people, not emblems, or symbols, real people filled with hopes, dreams, and life. Again, Thank you.
This video is so, so important. As a non-Jew, topics like this will always be my time to step back and listen. This video has touched me, and I just wanted to say that this might be your most impactful video yet.
I wish I’d known about this film earlier, as I wrote an essay on the topic of colonialism and the “grey zone” between oppressor and oppressed. I hope this video brings this film some of the attention is so desperately deserves.
Edit, 10/17/23: I’ve once again returned to this video, and the end sent me sobbing. LK, thank you again for this incredible piece.
I didn’t start crying until the third or fourth time you were diligently laying out the contextual coercive factors of these men engaging in this work and I muttered out loud “you don’t have to convince me”. That’s when I started crying. I don’t really have good words for this, it was that of course, you did have to lay this out so bluntly but I wish you didn’t. I wish so many things. You just… you’re an incredible storyteller, not just in talent but in soul. Thank you.
I love your videos, thank you for making this. I appreciate the time, energy, and effort you've put into each one of them. As a descendent of those who escaped the Holocaust, those that were left behind, and those that knew others and lost them forever, thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you for making these videos. I'm sure it's not just the technical work but also the emotional labor that makes these such a tremendous contribution on your part. When I was in high school (looong ago) we had a holocaust survivor come speak to us about his experience, and the experience still resonates with me decades later. As it becomes increasingly less likely for people to have that kind of firsthand connection, this kind of work becomes more and more important. Appreciate all that you do
I just watched this again on nebula so I could watch it without the censoring. I higly reccomend if people can afford the subscription to watch this video as it was intended is worth it alone.
I'm coming back to this video after visiting the camps. I showed it to my husband for the first time to show some more of the context around the sontercommando because I know my half remembered retelling doesn't do it justice.
Thankyou .
This video is one of the most moving essays I have ever seen, thank you for posting this and putting all your hard work into this.
At many points this video made me nauseous but the end made me cry. It just reminds me that my family’s continued survival as Jews who fled and my survival now as a queer person are part of the same inherent act of resistance against the people who think we don’t deserve to live.
I’m so glad to be able to watch this video from the UK. The difficulty you had in uploading it was worth it, what an excellent video about something which is so important to talk about.
20:11 not doing accents makes so much sense! So these characters are all speaking their own language and any native speaker will appear to “not have an accent” outside of local/dialectical ones. Kinda like how most Americans perceive themselves and friends as not having accents. We’re watching the movie and the movie is in English but it’s understood that narratively etc the characters are likely not speaking ANY English whatsoever cuz they’re not in an English speaking country
I absolutely love your film analysis and as a non Jewish person your perspective has completely changed how I look at Holocaust films and Jewish characters and I wanted to thank you for that
On a much lighter note you also got me to watch Pacific Rim and now I'm also obsessed with those Gay Science Nerds.
Thank you for what you do. This video as well as your JoJo rabbit video have made me truly understand the Holocaust more than just about anything. These videos are so necessary right now. You’re doing something incredibly important.
36:36 . I initially started watching this video when it was posted, but had to stop when I reached this point because I began to cry. I have only come back to it now, because as much as I knew it would make me tear up again, I knew I had to complete this video. I also initially had a whole long comment typed out, but realised it wasn't necessary. All I wanted to say was this particular quote broke me, because I am Pontic Greek, and while my family were not affected by the Holocaust, they were affected by a genocide that influenced the genocidal preachings of the Nazis, in particular Hitler, only twenty years earlier.
I watched the rest of the video, by the way. I love your work and normally finish it in one sitting, but this... this hit hard. If you see this comment, then thank you for making videos like this one.
This is the first video of yours I have seen. Thank you for the work you do here. I've not seen The Grey Zone yet, but it's on my immediate watch list.
A year after this video was released, and I feel it is exceptionally relevant today. Thank you again for your perspective.
This video was so emotional and the amount of research that you've done is astounding. This was my introduction to your channel and I'm now going to watch every one of your videos now.
Thank you for continuing to make such great video essays. I am eternally grateful to have folks like you keeping the voice and discussions alive.
I have so many thoughts but lack the words to say them. Thank you so much for your work, thank you for your humanity and thank you for your you-ness. The way you speak and teach is beyond fantastic. I'm shaking and will probably come back to this video over and over again. But just thank you. I'm going to donate to at least one org in my local comunity. Again thank you
Gotta watch it now. While it’s still available. Thank you.
This was a hard but incredibly important video that you clearly poured all types of work into. I didn't know if this film (or your chanel) but my day is both darker and better for this.
The amount of research and love that went into this video is awe inspiring. I have and continue to learn so much from your work. Like you said, the holocaust has a reputation in contemporary culture as being this grand event that people have seen represented (most often not particularly well) in media for so many years that the realness of the event, the people who perpetuated the violence and the people that violence was performed on become treated as blank templates that anyone can grab and shove whatever metaphor, event or even minor inconvenience they want into comparison with it. The Holocaust is not an IKEA picture frame to hold and present someone’s personal minor inconvenience. It was a specific massacre performed on specific peoples. We all need to be respectful of it.
watched on nebula yesterday, am going to watch again. so glad you managed to get it uploaded. i was so waiting for this one. thank you.
Thank you for all you did in putting this together, producing it and working to see it out for viewing. Thank you.
I watched The Grey Zone after the recommendation from yourself and Rich Brownstein. This analysis is a great companion to the movie. It seems strange to say this, after what has been a harrowing and heart breaking experience, but thank you.
This video is outstanding. Thank you for making this. I’m sure the work gone into it and the emotional toll was not easy, but this video and it’s message is worth it a thousand times. Thanks again.
I just love hearing Jacob's voice on your channel
two of my favorite creators came together for such briliant video essay
thank you and all of those, who helped make this video
It's lovely seeing the video being widely available again! I was very saddened to see it disappear once I paused it at the original release date. I'm beyond happy to be able to finally watch it till the end ❤️
This is a video that made me cry. I sit here during these films whenever I watch them screaming in my head that these are depictions of real people over and over. Not as a reminder because I know this, but in horror.
Thank you for your video.
thank you for still uploading this to youtube.. regardless of all the hurdles and hoops you had to work through. again. thank you so much.
Here I am a year later, watching this review once again. A random trivial thought... That sequence you edited of someone's testimony with missing pieces, like they're receding away... It reminded me of the brothers in the books in the computer game Myst. It was haunting.
I watched this over on Nebula but wanted to come here to drop a like and say *wow*. The video is so well made, it really helps the viewer through the gut wrenching tragedy and horror of the subject matter. I learned a lot, thank you
Good job on being one of the only youtubers on this platform to move me to tears with every video you publish. You are a true artist, thank you
Despite what troubles you faced uploading this, it sounds and looks great, just like all the others, that being an incredibly informative and enjoyable experience that I will not forget for quite some time if not for the rest of my life. This taught me more than anything in school ever did about real events, and real people who are far more important, interesting, and impactful than any that I can remember. Mission accomplished on leaving a long lasting impact on myself and the many others who will watch this. I will do as you say and try to do some good to help those in need as those you have discussed here did before me. May the rest of your day, week, year, etc go well and know that one more who watched this will go out and help someone at some point soon. If not today, then at the first chance I can. Thank you again, I hope the best for you and those you hold dear, I look forward to what you will create in the future.
Thank you. That means a lot, truly
I am once again moved by the work that you do. It cuts deep that I am compelled to cry each time I watch one of your videos even though I don't have the cultural ties to the history. Keep doing what you're doing. It always hits, I'm always better off for it, and that empathy is passed along.
Even considering the nqture of this video, I have watched/listened to it many times. The tone, cadency and overall melody of your voiceover has a klezmer quality. The serious sadness provokes the same feelings as when I listen to Belz, Meyn shtetele Belz. I love your videos so much.
That is so kind thank you 💜
I'm so glad to have discovered your channel and watched your videos over and over again. For me it's incredible that they are consistently filled with insight, care, curiosity respect and fun. Thank you, I hope to keep supporting your work and I wish you well :)
I just want to say that you did a beautiful job on this sad and thought provoking video, bringing light to this often over looked film. I hope you have given yourself time to rest and recover after making this video.
I can't remember having a more difficult time watching a video essay. Thank you for the effort you put into this.
Another hit, the editing is perfect, the recording of the letters is a great way to convey the meaning of interrupted transmission. I watched this movie thanks to your recommendation, can't recommend enough for others to do it. Thank you again for your contribution.
One of the most touching, profound and best video essays I've seen. I've learnt so much from this. Thank you!
'The only pilgrimage, estimable reader, would be to look with sadness at a stormy sky now and then.'
This line broke me into tears as I listened to you read it.
Your video essays flow so perfectly from topic to topic and you speak very clearly. This took me a few days to get through due to the heaviness of the topic but it's a masterful project
I find your essays always so well thought out and moving. I hadn't even heard of this movie, but now I want to look for it and watch it.
Keep up the good work
I ordered this film after the holocaust expert vid, have yet to watch it but ready to watch this. My great uncle survived Bergen-Belsen, his sister and brother and him were the only ones left. I'm ready to listen to someone else's thoughts on holocaust media because I equally have complex wants from Jewish media. Quite liked Hunters as well - though it's visceral. Looking to study film and you've been a huge inspiration.
Amazing as always! thank you for all your hard work putting this together
I really appreciate you making these videos -it really helps someone like me, who was raised with minimal knowledge of the Holocaust, to understand it better. I recently learned that my great-uncle was in Buchenwald for a time(he was a policeofficer in Denmark and was imprisoned along with the rest of the policeforce and sent to Buchenwald or Neuengamme) and this led me to start reading a lot more up on the subject to try to understand. It is a subject that will alwasy haunt me, but I appreciate that this is important to know and try to learn more about.
For future reference in regards to the knowledge of sex and gender in 1940's germany I would recommend looking up Magnus Hirschfeld and the 'Institut für Sexualwissenschaft' as that is interesting to read about and shows a perspective usually hidden away in history.
You know so much shit is going on in my country right now. We have people disappearing (by either drug traffickers and others) and not knowing what happened to them only getting a glimpse of reality by the force of anger and social media. So watching this just makes so sad because it is what's happening here. White supremacy is so ingrained in our culture we are killing our own people without care to the benefit of the rich and we're told that our lives are worth more then theirs just like they wanted.
Thank you so much for this video. You often make me so emotional I rewatch your videos just to continue catching new things I haven't peaked up before.
That's something I wish everyone learned from your culture, remembering is key, not to be sad and shock, but to know what happened. We have to know and we have to pass on to other generations so the truth lives on.
Thank you.
What country :/
Glad you were able to clear up the blocks and get more people to see this one. I watched it on Nebula, and it's very good!
Been looking forward to this video ever since you mentioned it in that video you did with Rich Brownstein. Just wanna say that you make some of the most thoughful videos of media analysis and it is always great to hear your thoughts. I feel like I always walk away with either:
1. a better string of words to express my already existing thoughts
2. a new perspective that I hadn't considered before
3. tears in my eyes lol
3. something I disagree with, but appreciated anyway cuz it made me further think about the movie/show deeply
Looking forward to watching this
Each of your videos stings my heart. I wish there were more.
You video's are amazing the way their written and your analiss are all so well explained. Your videos always stick with me for a while after I watch them.
Had this video on my WatchLater list for a while before I felt up to it. Thank you for you taking the time and (emotional) effort
I had this movie on my watch list for a while, but when I saw the notification I knew I needed to watch it so I could appreciate your video in full.
What an incredible video essay! Thank you so much for making this - I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been.