General Discussion

I do remember (very vividly) seeing films--gruesome films--of the death camps when I was 10 years old and my father was editing a documentary for television called the Rise and Fall Of The Third Reich that was based of William Shirer's books of the same name.

The films he was reviewing were far too ghastly to be aired on network television at that time (or likely now). I remember my Dad being somewhat uncomfortable--as these images were not appropriate for children--and him asking if I really wanted to witness this evil? I remember saying, "I don't want to, but I need to." He understood.

I'd grown up in Los Angeles, and was blessed to live in a neighborhood with a significant Jewish community (and I still do). These were (and are) friends and family, people I loved and people I love. At 10, I was well aware of the Shoah, but these films seared the reality of the Holocaust into my mind in a different way.

I remember in that moment making a commitment to myself: That I would give my life--if need be-- to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. To Jews, or to anyone.

Over the years, as a documentary filmmaker, I have had the honor to meet many Survivors, and have worked on many films and video projects telling their stories.

Some of these were major projects (including an Academy nominated documentary film) and many were small projects that were only seen by small numbers of people.

I always said yes, if the opportunity arose to document what happened. Including doing interviews with the Shoah Project, so the life-stories of Survivors would be preserved on tape.

I'm struggling a bit emotionally today. Thinking of the Survivors who I've been blessed to know, who are now of memory.

I cried today listening to Dachau Leid (Dachau Song) which was a song of protest and resistance to Naziism that spread to a number of death camps. It written by the Austrian Jewish playwright Jura Soyfer, who died in Buchenwald and set to music by the Viennese composer Herbert Zipper, who was a friend of Jura Soyfer before they were both interned first and Dachau, and then Buchenwald.

I had the honor to know Dr Zipper, who passed at 102 here in Los Angeles.

This has been an emotionally difficult day. I suppose that's fitting.

A recording of Dr Zipper conducting Dachau Lied here:

https://www.ushmm.org/collections/the-museums-collections/collections-highlights/music-of-the-holocaust-highlights-from-the-collection/music-of-the-holocaust/dachau-song