FILM
This page serves as a helpful media studies resource for teachers committed to educating students about the Holocaust through the lens of cinema. It provides a structured, scholarly approach to film integration by featuring the film categorisations (e.g., Holocaust-Centred, Tangential) and recommendations from Holocaust film expert Professor Rich Brownstein of Yad Vashem. Educators can purchase Brownstein's extensive film analysis, which includes an educational guide and a selection of recommended documentaries, to contextualize difficult historical content, facilitate critical media literacy, and select age-appropriate, historically accurate viewing material for Social Studies, History, and Media Studies curricula.
Professor Rich Brownstein of Yad Vashem, categorises Holocaust films along two key dimensions (and within each, provides further sub-categorisation based on ethnicity/role and time period):
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A. HOLOCAUST-CENTRED FILMS
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B. TANGENTIAL HOLOCAUST FILMS
(not expressly focused on the genocide of European Jews by the Nazis, but touch on the plight of Jews during World War II) 
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Professor Brownstein’s list of the Most Culturally Significant Holocaust Films (as of 2018) - by category
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Holocaust Cinema Complete:
A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide
By Rich Brownstein
Forewords by Tim Blake Nelson; Michael Berenbaum & Edward Jacobs; Walter Reich; and David Zucker, 1 October 2021
Holocaust cinema is so venerated that one-third of all American Holocaust films have been nominated for at least one Oscar. Nonetheless, most Holocaust films have fallen through the cracks, while others have spawned controversy or even outrage. This book explains these trends—and many others—in a complete guide to 400+ Holocaust films and made-for-television movies.
From Anne Frank to Schindler’s List to Jojo Rabbit, Holocaust films are put into historical and artistic perspective and are discussed through many lenses: historically, chronologically, thematically, sociologically, geographically and individually. The filmmakers behind these films are also contextualized, including Charlie Chaplin, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski. This book also includes recommendations and reviews of the 50 best Holocaust films, an educational guide, and a detailed listing of each Holocaust film.
To Purchase in NZ go to PaperPlus
A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide
By Rich Brownstein
Forewords by Tim Blake Nelson; Michael Berenbaum & Edward Jacobs; Walter Reich; and David Zucker, 1 October 2021
Holocaust cinema is so venerated that one-third of all American Holocaust films have been nominated for at least one Oscar. Nonetheless, most Holocaust films have fallen through the cracks, while others have spawned controversy or even outrage. This book explains these trends—and many others—in a complete guide to 400+ Holocaust films and made-for-television movies.
From Anne Frank to Schindler’s List to Jojo Rabbit, Holocaust films are put into historical and artistic perspective and are discussed through many lenses: historically, chronologically, thematically, sociologically, geographically and individually. The filmmakers behind these films are also contextualized, including Charlie Chaplin, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski. This book also includes recommendations and reviews of the 50 best Holocaust films, an educational guide, and a detailed listing of each Holocaust film.
To Purchase in NZ go to PaperPlus
Notable Documentaries
Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution, BBC, written by Laurence Rees, containing new research and perspectives on the Holocaust. Combines rare footage with illustrations and dramatic reconstructions.
Nazis – A Warning from History, Ian Kershaw, BBC documentary on the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Kershaw focuses on ordinary Germans and Europeans as collaborators and bystanders, 1997.
Nicholas Winton – The Power of Good’; the award-winning story of the courage and determination of one man who saved 669 children from the Nazis.
Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution, BBC, written by Laurence Rees, containing new research and perspectives on the Holocaust. Combines rare footage with illustrations and dramatic reconstructions.
Nazis – A Warning from History, Ian Kershaw, BBC documentary on the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Kershaw focuses on ordinary Germans and Europeans as collaborators and bystanders, 1997.
Nicholas Winton – The Power of Good’; the award-winning story of the courage and determination of one man who saved 669 children from the Nazis.
