Claude Lanzmann's epochal documentary about the systematic extermination of European Jews by the Nazis is the central milestone in the cinematic examination of the Shoah and the question of how the Nazi crimes can be portrayed. In detailed interviews with survivors, perpetrators and eyewitnesses, which are as impressive as they are depressing in their directness, and with long shots of the scenes of the crimes, Lanzmann succeeds in bringing the events of the past to life in the truest sense. “I got people to talk by slipping into the role of an attentive listener rather than by asking questions. I later learned that you have to have a lot of knowledge to be able to ask questions at all.”