Claude Lanzmann: The Recordings

Previously unknown magnetic tape cassettes document numerous conversations he and his assistants conducted in the 1970s with Holocaust survivors, perpetrators, and bystanders.


The audio archive, created during the research for the film Shoah (1985), was donated to the Jewish Museum Berlin and was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2023.


The tour offers insights into Lanzmann’s research project and introduces the particularities of listening to historical audio sources. The reception of the interviews focuses on various aspects — for instance, the hesitation of survivors to speak about their experiences, or the strategies of denial, minimization, and deflection employed by the perpetrators.


IN GERMAN