A special screening of “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” a new three-part, six-hour documentary that explores America’s response to one of history’s greatest humanitarian crises, will be held Sept. 15 on the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu campus.
The James & Abigail Campbell Library will present a free preview of the documentary from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the UH West O‘ahu Academy for Creative Media’s Screening Theater. The event, which is open to UH West O‘ahu faculty, staff, and students, and the general public, is being held in advance of the series premiere on Sunday, Sept. 18, on PBS.
“The U.S. and the Holocaust” is inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition, which was on display from January through March this year at the James & Abigail Campbell Library — one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host the traveling exhibition.
Supported by its historical resources, the film examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south. The series sheds light on what the U.S. government and American people knew and did as the catastrophe unfolded in Europe.
“This PBS documentary provides our campus and wider community with the opportunity to further explore the horrors of the Holocaust and the various responses that Americans had to the atrocities occurring in Europe,” said UH West O’ahu’s Carina Chernisky, Public Services Librarian and event co-organizer.
Chernisky continued, “For those who visited the ‘Americans and the Holocaust’ exhibition earlier this year, this new film — which incorporates images, footage, and firsthand testimonies — will add a new level of understanding to these themes.”
The documentary series is directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein of Florentine Films, and written by Geoffrey Ward.
In a description about the film on the PBS website, Botstein said, “At the center of our narrative is the moving and inspiring first-hand testimony of witnesses who were children in the 1930s. They share wrenching memories of the persecution, violence and flight that they and their families experienced as they escaped Nazi Europe and somehow made it to America.”
To attend the Sept. 15 special preview of “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” register here. Please note: A face mask must be properly worn at all times while inside the theater. Parking is free. See the campus map or directions to get to campus.
For questions about the preview event, please email uhwolib@hawaii.edu.
The following is the series premiere schedule on PBS Hawai‘i:
- Part 1 – Sunday, Sept. 18, at 7 and 9:15 p.m.
- Part 2 – Monday, Sept. 19, at 8 and 10:30 p.m.
- Part 3 – Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 8 and 10:15 p.m.
All three episodes will stream the night of premiere on pbs.org and the PBS Video app.