About
Claude Lanzmann (1925-2018) was a French writer, journalist, and filmmaker. Born in Bois-Colombes to a secular Jewish family of Eastern European origin, he joined the Resistance at 18. After the war, he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and Tübingen, then taught in Berlin. In 1952, he met Sartre and Beauvoir, became an editor at Les Temps Modernes, and lived with Beauvoir until 1959. A signatory of the Manifesto of the 121, he was arrested. His major work, Shoah (1985), a nine-and-a-half-hour Holocaust documentary, relies solely on testimony, without archival footage. He also directed Israel, Why, Tsahal, Sobibor, and published his memoirs in 2009. He died in Paris in 2018.
* 1925-11-27 — † 2018-07-05
Major works
- Pourquoi Israël (1973)documentary film
- Shoah (1985)documentary film
- Tsahal (1994)documentary film
- Sobibor, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures (2001)documentary film
- Le lièvre de Patagonie (2009)memoir
Key milestones
- 1943Joined the French Resistance at age 18.
- 1985Release of his film Shoah, a nine-and-a-half-hour Holocaust documentary.
- 2013Received the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Themes
HolocaustMemoryTestimonyHistoryJewish identity
Sources: britannica.com · ushmm.org · bbc.com