Shoah, Parts 1–4

Lanzmann deliberately chose the stylistic device of the interview: survivors, but also perpetrators, describe the killing process with unsparing accuracy, making the horror tangible not through archive material, but through the voice of testimony. He juxtaposes the statements with footage of the sites of horror—silent images that are indelibly etched into the memory.

SHOAH is still considered the most important film about the Holocaust.

“Shoah” is a nine-and-a-half-hour documentary film about the Holocaust. However, there are no official subtitles such as “Parts 1–4” that Lanzmann himself would have assigned. The film is often divided into several sections when shown in versions for television or on DVD, for example, but these divisions are not officially named by Lanzmann and are mostly for practical purposes. In academic or journalistic descriptions, “Shoah” is sometimes divided into rough thematic blocks, e.g.:
1. The ghettos and deportations – testimonies from survivors about life in the ghettos and the first deportations. 2. The extermination camps – descriptions of the camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, etc.
3. The perpetrators' perspective – interviews with former Nazis who were involved in carrying out the extermination.
4. Witness accounts after liberation – memories of the end of Nazi rule and the return to life.
This division is not official, but rather a guide for viewers or academic work.