The US and the Holocaust on BBC


A Ken Burns documentary as powerful and brilliant as his series on the Vietnam War and the US Civil War.

First part here: The US and the Holocaust
Thanks for that, somehow missed it.
Also, his Muhammad Ali doc and, to a lesser degree, Hemingway. Both were on BBC last year and may still be on iPlayer (or not).
The Hemingway one was excellent, not available any iPlayer any more. I'm half way through watching Country Music one on iPlayer, the first 4 have expired, though.
 
The Hemingway one was excellent, not available any iPlayer any more. I'm half way through watching Country Music one on iPlayer, the first 4 have expired, though.

I came to the Hemingway one as it was a Ken Burns documentary rather than having much familiarity with Hemingway or his writing. Certainly interesting.

Looking at Ken Burns' wiki page, he made a two parter about Benjamin Franklin last year also so that may appear on TV here at some point (although I guess it's quite US specific subject matter).
 
A Ken Burns documentary as powerful and brilliant as his series on the Vietnam War and the US Civil War.

First part here: The US and the Holocaust

I will pencil this in for a watch.

We went to the Tenement Museum in NYC a few years back (pathetic, look at me etc) and one of the tenements was to do with some holocaust survivors that had once lived there.

IIRC the US held a referendum of sorts to vote on allowing Jewish refugees in after the war and voted against it but the president overruled it to let them in.
 
Watched the first hour last night (didn’t realise episode one was two hours long). Great stuff so far, watched that many documentaries on the event I know the narrative but it’s always good to get another take and perspective on it.
 
Watched the first hour last night (didn’t realise episode one was two hours long). Great stuff so far, watched that many documentaries on the event I know the narrative but it’s always good to get another take and perspective on it.

I watched the first one last night too. It’s amazing how history just repeats itself over and over again.
 
Watched this over the weekend. Absolutely brilliant series and up to the usual very high standards of Ken Burns other work. It`s a subject that never fails to shock and distress but seeing the levels of Anti-Semitism and hatred in America when news of the deportations and concentration camps started to be known and the people betrayed or sent away from safety to their certain deaths was horrifying as was Hitler`s admiration for segregation and eugenics theories from America.
 
Watched this over the weekend. Absolutely brilliant series and up to the usual very high standards of Ken Burns other work. It`s a subject that never fails to shock and distress but seeing the levels of Anti-Semitism and hatred in America when news of the deportations and concentration camps started to be known and the people betrayed or sent away from safety to their certain deaths was horrifying as was Hitler`s admiration for segregation and eugenics theories from America.
I was shocked by the amount of anti semitism in us
Were even talking about building a wall round usa
This is where trump gets his ideas??
 
Watched the whole thing. I thought it was very good, didn't go into the war or what allies did much and made US look slightly better than they actually were but not surprising as it was an American programme. Disappointed they made a political statement at the end. We need more like this to educate the young and ensure antisemitism and racism doesn't take root anywhere in the world.
 
Watched the whole thing. I thought it was very good, didn't go into the war or what allies did much and made US look slightly better than they actually were but not surprising as it was an American programme. Disappointed they made a political statement at the end. We need more like this to educate the young and ensure antisemitism and racism doesn't take root anywhere in the world.

What it did bring home was how isolated Britain was as the Nazis swept across Europe and the USA were reluctant to get involved.

I think we sort of take for granted that we won the war knowing how it ended but in 1940 it wasn’t looking that way. Thankfully Hitler was focused on destroying the USSR more than invading across the channel.
 
What it did bring home was how isolated Britain was as the Nazis swept across Europe and the USA were reluctant to get involved.

I think we sort of take for granted that we won the war knowing how it ended but in 1940 it wasn’t looking that way. Thankfully Hitler was focused on destroying the USSR more than invading across the channel.
I thought the programme skirted over this and our engagement in Europe, Africa and the far/middle east. It did mention we didn't being in enough immigrants early on, but we did have a war to fight. I know they were limited in time but the story of Danish Jews escaping to Sweden is one i think Scandinavians can be justly pleased with.
 
I thought the programme skirted over this and our engagement in Europe, Africa and the far/middle east. It did mention we didn't being in enough immigrants early on, but we did have a war to fight. I know they were limited in time but the story of Danish Jews escaping to Sweden is one i think Scandinavians can be justly pleased with.
Absolutely this. It is an stirring story during very stark and evil times. The Danes were a beacon of humanity and saved most of the Jews in Denmark, even going on a general strike when the Germans threatened to introduce anti-Jewish laws.
What it did bring home was how isolated Britain was as the Nazis swept across Europe and the USA were reluctant to get involved.

I think we sort of take for granted that we won the war knowing how it ended but in 1940 it wasn’t looking that way. Thankfully Hitler was focused on destroying the USSR more than invading across the channel.

The Allies were so close to complete annihilation. Perhaps if Hitler hadn`t issued the stop order with the Panzers just outside Dunkirk, then maybe the German Army would have destroyed the Allies and there`d have been no escape from Dunkirk. We also have the brave RAF to thank for winning the Battle of Britain. If Germany had won and gained air supremacy then Operation Sealion and the invasion of Britain would have taken place in all likelihood. Back in 1940 however, it looked very, very bleak.
 
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The ship with the Jewish refugees just sailing from port to port as one country after another turned them away, was heart breaking.

At one point it looked like they were going to have to sail all the way back to Germany and into the hands of the Nazis they'd just fled from.

Britain, Belgium, France and Holland then stepped in to take the passengers with the captain threatening to run the ship aground rather than go back to Germany.

Only the passengers that had disembarked in Britain remained safe though, the others had the horror of seeing the Nazis invade the countries they'd escaped to and over 250 of them were subsequently murdered.
 
The ship with the Jewish refugees just sailing from port to port as one country after another turned them away, was heart breaking.

At one point it looked like they were going to have to sail all the way back to Germany and into the hands of the Nazis they'd just fled from.

Britain, Belgium, France and Holland then stepped in to take the passengers with the captain threatening to run the ship aground rather than go back to Germany.

Only the passengers that had disembarked in Britain remained safe though, the others had the horror of seeing the Nazis invade the countries they'd escaped to and over 250 of them were subsequently murdered.


Was heartbreaking that. The Captain was a good man and did the best he could

Lots of countries including ours didn't step up, but didn't realise how bad it was in American. Lindenburgh was a right twat.

Found it interesting how Hitler said that he learnt from America how to treat minorities.

Grim, but a must watch
 

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