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Richard Rubenstein

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 1996.166 | RG Number: RG-60.5062 | Film ID: 3871, 3872, 3873, 3874, 3586

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    Richard Rubenstein

    Overview

    Description
    Richard Rubenstein, an American professor, relates his position on stateless people, bureaucracy, and the role of churches during the Holocaust.

    FILM ID 3871 -- Camera Rolls TALA 1-5 Allies
    CR1 Professor Rubenstein begins the interview by describing the beauty of Wakulla Springs, near Tallahassee, Florida, where the interview will take place. Lanzmann asks if it is a fitting place to talk about the Holocaust, to which Rubenstein answers it is as fitting as any other place, as the Holocaust was so unnatural and destructive. 01:02:22 CR2 He implies the similarities of the sanctuary in which the bird and alligator species live to the plight of the Holocaust survivors. Lanzmann asks Rubenstein to explain the central theme of his book, which regards the stateless Jews directly preceding the Holocaust. Rubenstein believes that a fundamental step which allowed the Holocaust to occur was the Jews being denied their political rights. Normal protections provided by laws no longer applied to them. Rubenstein mentions that some people believe the Germans violated God's law.

    01:11:05 CR4 This violation against God's law held no punishment as those who were regarded as interpreters of God's will did not criticize the Holocaust at the time. There was silence throughout Europe in the churches and other religious places. In some European countries before WWII, it was better to be a criminal - to be a person who was entitled to rights and treated as a human being - than to be a law-abiding stateless person. Rubenstein discusses the problems societies face with over population. Hitler studied German population movements to Argentina, and was thus aware of the strains a surplus of people would impose on the economy of a country. Rubenstein points out that Hitler, as well as Himmler, Heydrich and other leading Nazi officials, could themselves have fallen into the category of surplus urbanites. However, they seized total control and thus had the power to decide who was surplus. While Jews contributed to German society in a variety of professions, the non-Jewish lower middle class was at high risk economic instability and saw the Jews as foreigners and competitors.

    01:22:17 CR5 Rubenstein disagrees with Lanzmann when he says that Western democracies showed humanitarian concern for the Jewish refugees at the Evian Conference. He believes their concern to have been for show and a means to placate one another. From 1936 to 1938, Poland sought to get rid of their Jewish population, going as far as establishing an apartheid between Christian and Jewish Poles. Lanzmann asks if the Holocaust could have been avoided had the Western powers and Latin America opened their doors. All Rubenstein can say with certainty is that the situation would have been radically different. He also believes that the British government saw the elimination of the Jews as a positive. Far fewer sought refuge in Palestine, which at the time was under British rule.

    FILM ID 3872 -- Camera Rolls TALA 6-10 Allies
    CR6 In May 1939 Britain declared, with the exception of 75,000 people over the next five years, that Jews could not enter Palestine. According to Rubenstein, this decision was a death sentence and that those responsible for the decision were just as culpable for the Holocaust as the Germans. Jewish resistance in Poland was not possible, as Jews there did not have the support of the population, who themselves also viewed the extermination of the Jews of Poland as a positive. Rubenstein also claims that Roosevelt saw a large influx of European Jews into the United States as detrimental to his political coalition, and went as far as to prevent the Jewish settlement in Palestine from achieving political independence. The bombing of Auschwitz and the railroad would have been symbolic, and would have demonstrated to the world that what the Germans were doing was horrific. As this was not done, the Germans did not see that the murder of European Jewry was a top issue with the Allies. Rubenstein explains the fundamental differences between the Jewish and Christian religions, and that that these differences led the Christians of Europe to view the Jews as dangerous to their system of beliefs. Consequently, they had to be contained, converted or expelled.

    CR8 01: 13:08 CR9 01:13:20 CR10 01:13:38 Although expulsion of Jewish culture and religion from Christian Europe was supported by many church leaders, they did not understand that this would involve murder. While many individuals endeavored to save Jews, the overall policy in many countries was to allow the extermination of Jews to occur. Rubenstein discusses how the Holocaust was a bureaucratic process from start to finish. It began with the legal division of Jews from their Christian German counterparts and encompassed the collaboration of the post offices, banks and railroads. One did not have to hate Jews to kill them, they simply had to perform their job under a bureaucracy. In this way, people were able to evade responsibility for what their actions ultimately did. The combination of German cold-blooded rationality and Polish hatred for the Jews made the Final Solution a possibility.

    FILM ID 3873 -- Camera Rolls TALA 4A,6A,7A,11A Reserve Tallahassee
    Mute reel with nature shots of Wakulla Springs.

    FILM ID 3874 – Camera Rolls Coupe 6B,11
    Mute reel with nature shots of Wakulla Springs, as well as CUs of Rubenstein and Lanzmann.

    FILM ID 3586 -- Son Seul
    Duration
    01:00:00
    Date
    Event:  Winter 1978-1979
    Production:  1985
    Locale
    Tallahassee, FL, United States
    Credit
    Created by Claude Lanzmann during the filming of "Shoah," used by permission of USHMM and Yad Vashem
    Contributor
    Director: Claude Lanzmann
    Cinematographer: William Lubtchansky
    Biography
    Claude Lanzmann was born in Paris to a Jewish family that immigrated to France from Eastern Europe. He attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. His family went into hiding during World War II. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in the Auvergne. Lanzmann opposed the French war in Algeria and signed a 1960 antiwar petition. From 1952 to 1959 he lived with Simone de Beauvoir. In 1963 he married French actress Judith Magre. Later, he married Angelika Schrobsdorff, a German-Jewish writer, and then Dominique Petithory in 1995. He is the father of Angélique Lanzmann, born in 1950, and Félix Lanzmann (1993-2017). Lanzmann's most renowned work, Shoah, is widely regarded as the seminal film on the subject of the Holocaust. He began interviewing survivors, historians, witnesses, and perpetrators in 1973 and finished editing the film in 1985. In 2009, Lanzmann published his memoirs under the title "Le lièvre de Patagonie" (The Patagonian Hare). He was chief editor of the journal "Les Temps Modernes," which was founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, until his death on July 5, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/claude-lanzmann-changed-the-history-of-filmmaking-with-shoah

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Genre/Form
    Outtakes.
    B&W / Color
    Color
    Image Quality
    Excellent
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 3871 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3872 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3873 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3874 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3873 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3874 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3872 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3873 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3874 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3873 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3874 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3872 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3873 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3874 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3873 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3874 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3872 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3873 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3874 Film: negative - 16 mm - color - silent - original negative - B-wind
      Master 3872 Film: full-coat mag track - 16 mm - sound - acetate - workprint
      Master 3871 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3873 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3874 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - workprint
      Master 3582 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3582 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3582 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3582 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3583 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3583 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3583 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3583 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3584 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3584 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3584 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3584 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3585 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3585 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3585 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3585 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3586 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3586 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3586 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound
      Master 3586 Audio: Audiotape (reel-to-reel) - 1/4 inch - magnetic - sound

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, State of Israel
    Conditions on Use
    Third party must sign the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's SHOAH Outtakes Film License Agreement in order to reproduce and use film footage. Contact filmvideo@ushmm.org

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased the Shoah outtakes from Claude Lanzmann on October 11, 1996. The Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection is now jointly owned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem - The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.
    Note
    Claude Lanzmann spent twelve years locating survivors, perpetrators, and eyewitnesses for his nine and a half hour film Shoah released in 1985. Without archival footage, Shoah weaves together extraordinary testimonies to render the step-by-step machinery of the destruction of European Jewry. Critics have called it "a masterpiece" and a "monument against forgetting." The Claude Lanzmann SHOAH Collection consists of roughly 185 hours of interview outtakes and 35 hours of location filming.
    Film Source
    Claude Lanzmann
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 5788
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 08:04:45
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1004819

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