American teachers – especially those who teach World History or the history of WWII – often search for an entry point into the study of the Holocaust. The story of the liberation of the Nazi camps is a powerful and natural bridge between the study of the military war itself, and the study of the genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people under the cover of that war.
Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, through the Echoes & Reflections program for American educators, has created a new film, “Liberators and Survivors: The First Moments,” which provides that needed entry point. The short (15 minute) film allows American teachers to focus on the first dramatic and deeply meaningful encounters between liberators and survivors, opening a window into these initial moments and providing an educational opportunity to discuss them.
The focus of the film is the American army, which liberated Dachau, Buchenwald, Ohrdruf, and other camps. As they liberated these camps, American soldiers — many no older than 18 or 19 years old — came face-to-face with monstrous evidence that the Nazis and their collaborators had committed unspeakable crimes against civilians. Afterwards, a new category of crime had to be created to describe the intentional attempt to destroy a people: this crime came to be known as genocide. The Holocaust, in which two-thirds of European Jewry was murdered, was an unprecedented act of genocide. The soldiers were its first outside witnesses.
“Liberators and Survivors” interweaves liberators’ testimonies with those of the Jewish survivors they liberated. It describes the intense emotional effect that seeing piles of lifeless bodies and half-dead survivors had on many young American soldiers, who questioned, “How can people do things like that?” It documents, with primary sources, the reaction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who immediately understood the need for evidence to counter the distinct possibility that no one would believe the horrendous scenes of brutality the soldiers had witnessed. It discusses the compassion that many of the American liberators showed those they had liberated, attempting to provide care and suspending their military missions in order to do so. It also highlights those who were moved to become a moral voice in later years, sharing their unforgettable stories and pleading that humanity learn from their experiences.
The survivors speak of the compassion shown by their liberators, and of their reaction to the American soldiers.
The film was specifically developed by Echoes & Reflections for use with students in the classroom. While most historical film footage of liberation contains disturbing and graphic visuals including mountains of corpses, great care was taken not to include such visuals, making the film suitable even for middle school students. The film supports educators by opening with footage of WWII, and with a series of maps to illustrate the progress of the Allied armies. But it goes beyond the historical event of “liberation,” presenting the event through the personal stories of the soldiers who were eyewitnesses. It helps educators present this human story to students in order to venture out of the sphere of WWII and into the subject of the Holocaust.