Rare Film Footage of European Jewish Life Before the Holocaust

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“Projections of Life: Jewish Life Before World War II,” which is linked below, is an eye-opening look at Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust. The video consists of rare film clips that show a range of Jewish communities and life situations. We found it riveting — if difficult to watch — and extremely moving. The video comes from the Stephen Spielberg Film and Video Archive. This is a must-see!

Quote: “In 1933, approximately 9.5 million Jews lived in Europe, comprising 1.7 percent of the total European population and more than 60 percent of the world’s Jewish population…. In little more than a decade, most of Europe would be dominated by Germany and its axis partners, and the majority of European Jews — two out of every three — would be killed.”

Sources: YouTube, Stephen Spielberg Film and Video Archive

Watch “Projections of Life: Jewish Life before World War II” [28:35] >>

Photo: From “Projections of Life: Jewish Life before World War II”

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Notable &
Quotable

“[T]he foundations for extremism usually are held in check by various restraints. Societies are not liberal, moderate, progressive, and free because almost all their citizens – let alone their politicians — are liberal, moderate, progressive or committed to the freedoms of others.

“But societies consistently avoid extremism when the infrastructures of freedom are strong: when key institutions and norms encourage a more decent, rights-respective, lawful politics; when powerful social movements and independent media hold leaders to account, expose rather than reinforce political fantasies, and champion the rights of the vulnerable; and when information is produced and scrutinized by scholars, civil servants, and non-governmental organizations devoid of either government repression or vested interests.

“Yet no infrastructure is rigidly immovable, and once key components are eroded and weakened, once sections of the political and cultural elite attempt to mobilize the foundations of extremism, the system of restraints can swiftly collapse.

“While genocide on the scale of the Holocaust is historically exceptional, its central lesson is that the broader danger of extreme atrocities is not. In the words of the great historian Ian Kershaw, the Holocaust ‘lit a warning beacon that still burns brightly: it showed how a modern, advanced, cultured society can so rapidly sink into barbarity… It showed what we are capable of.’ Only by rejecting false narratives of conflict and polarization, and maintaining systems of rights and freedoms for all, can we hope to prevent that capability from once more becoming a reality.”

— Jonathan Leader Maynard in his incisive article “Could It Happen Here?: The Holocaust and Atrocities in the 21st Century” To read the entire article, click here.