Claude Lanzmann (; 27 November 1925 – 5 July 2018) was a French filmmaker, best known for the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

documentary film ''

Shoah The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

'' (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

, without historical footage. He is also known for his 2017 documentary film ''Napalm'', about a love affair he had with a North Korean nurse whilst visiting

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

in 1958, several years after the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. In addition to filmmaking, Lanzmann had also been the chief editor of '' Les Temps Modernes'', a French literary magazine.

Early life

Lanzmann was born on 27 November 1925 in

Bois-Colombes Bois-Colombes () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. International companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and Aviva have their French headquart ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

in France, the son of Paulette () and Armand Lanzmann. His family was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and had immigrated to France from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He was the brother of writer

Jacques Lanzmann Jacques Lanzmann (4 May 1927 – 21 June 2006) was a French journalist, writer and lyricist. He is best known as a novelist and for his songwriting partnership with Jacques Dutronc. Early life Lanzmann spent the early part of his life in Auv ...

. Lanzmann attended the in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

. While his family disguised their identity and went into hiding during World War II, he joined the

French resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

at the age of 17, along with his father and brother, and fought in Auvergne. Lanzmann opposed the French war in Algeria and signed the 1960 antiwar petition

Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (), was an open letter signed by 121 intellectuals and published on 6 September 1960 in the magazine ''Vérité-Liberté''. It called on the French government, then headed by the Gaullist Michel Debré, and public opi ...

Career

Lanzmann was the chief editor of the journal '' Les Temps Modernes'', founded by

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

and

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

, and lecturer at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In 2009 he published his memoirs under the title ''Le lièvre de Patagonie'' ("The Patagonian Hare").

''Shoah''

Lanzmann's most renowned work, ''Shoah'' (1985), is a nine-and-a-half-hour oral history of the Holocaust. ''Shoah'' is made without the use of any historical footage, and uses only first-person testimony from perpetrators and victims, and contemporary footage of Holocaust-related sites. Interviewees include the Polish resistance fighter

Jan Karski Jan Karski (born Jan Kozielewski, 24 June 1914 – 13 July 2000) was a Polish soldier, Polish resistance movement in World War II, resistance-fighter, and diplomat during World War II. He is known for having acted as a courier in 1940–1943 to ...

and the American Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg. When the film was released, the director also published the complete text, including in English translation, with introductions by Lanzmann and

. Lanzmann disagreed, sometimes angrily, with attempts to understand the why of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, stating that the evil of Hitler cannot or should not be explained and that to do so is immoral and an obscenity. Lanzmann also oftentimes pushed his subjects to extreme emotional limits to bring out the most authentic reactions for his audience. The interview with barber Abraham Bomba is an epitome of a Claude Lanzmann interview. A compilation, ''Shoah: Unseen Interviews'', was released in 2012, which included interviews filmed at the time of the original production but that never made it into the film. On 4 July 2018, his last work, ''Les Quatre Soeurs'' ('' Shoah: Four Sisters'') was released, featuring testimonials from four Holocaust survivors not included in his ''Shoah''. Lanzmann died the following day.

Personal life

Lanzmann was part of a leftist delegation which visited

in 1958. Toward the end of the visit, he fell in love with a local nurse and had an illicit love affair, which was discovered by the authorities. Never forgetting the romance, he made a 2017 documentary entitled ''Napalm'', as the nurse bore scars from American bombings during the

. From 1952 to 1959, he lived with

. In 1963 he married French actress

Judith Magre Judith Magre (born 20 November 1926) is a French actress, born in Montier-en-Der, Haute-Marne. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Magre, Judith 1926 births Living people French film actresses French television ...

. He later married Angelika Schrobsdorff, a German-Jewish writer. He divorced a second time, and was the father of Angélique Lanzmann and Félix Lanzmann. Claude Lanzmann died on 5 July 2018 at his Paris home, after having been ill for several days. He was 92.

Honours

* Resistance Medal with rosette *Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit *2010 ''Welt''-Literaturpreis *2011 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lucerne *2011 Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

*At the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013, Lanzmann was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear.

Selected works

Filmography *'' Pourquoi Israël'' (1973) *''

'' (1985) *''Tsahal'' (1994) *' (1997) *''Sobibor, 14 October 1943, 4 p.m.'' (2001) *''Lights and Shadows'' (2008) *'' The Karski Report'' (2010) *'' The Last of the Unjust'' (2013) about Benjamin Murmelstein, Elder of Theresienstadt *''Napalm'' (2017) *'' Shoah: Four Sisters'' (2017) As subject *'' Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah'' (2015) a documentary about Lanzmann, directed by Adam Benzine Books *''Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust : The Complete Text of the Film''. Pantheon Books, New York 1985, *''The Patagonian Hare: A Memoir'' (translated by Frank Wynne). London: Atlantic Books, 2012, ; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2012, *''La Tombe du divin plongeur''. Gallimard, Paris 2012