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Season 1 – The U.S. and the Holocaust

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – The U.S. and the Holocaust Sep 2022 Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 86% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Exploring America's response to the Holocaust, and how it challenged the ideals of democracy.
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The U.S. and the Holocaust — Season 1

The U.S. and the Holocaust — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

Ken Burns and his team cast an unflinching eye toward The U.S. and the Holocaust, yielding one of their most sobering but vital docuseries yet.

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Critics Reviews

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Melinda Houston The Age (Australia) 01/26/2023
4/5
While these six hours are crammed with horrifying and shameful information, we’re not encouraged to condemn. Or at least, not blindly or wholeheartedly. We are encouraged to think about the ways in which history might be repeating. Go to Full Review Rebecca Nicholson Guardian 01/10/2023
4/5
This is unvarnished history that attempts to scratch away the surface myths – and it is well worth your time. Go to Full Review Judy Berman TIME Magazine 10/03/2022
Ken Burns’ typically textbook-like but genuinely illuminating series revisits the familiar story of how the Third Reich’s exploitation of its own Big Lie led to the Holocaust. Go to Full Review Ruth Franklin The New York Review of Books 06/01/2023
As demonstrated in The US and the Holocaust, antisemitic, xenophobic, and racist groups in American society had long used their political power to keep out immigrants perceived as undesirable, including Jews. Go to Full Review Pat Stacey Irish Independent 01/11/2023
5/5
Nobody does American history television quite like director Ken Burns. Go to Full Review Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies 12/02/2022
5/5
It is not an understatement to state just how timely and relevant The U.S. and the Holocaust is in 2022. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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ed m @RT80499164 01/25/2023 Another great Ken Burns documentary. See more Richard B @Rboutside 01/11/2023 Unvarnished Truth Pulling no punches, Ken Burns tells the pitiful tale of the US and the Holocaust, and a sorry tale it is, drawing a straight line from Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. It should surprise no one, that American racism was a part basis for German anti-Jewish laws. Just as we killed the Indians to get their land, Hitler planned to kill all Eastern European Jews on his way to taking over all the land up to the Urals. America First, which championed anti- war and anti-immigrant policies dominated America during the 1930's. Pro fascism was widespread in the USA until 1941 and elements in the State Department, Cordell Hull chief among them, stopped Roosevelt from opening up to change. Once Henry Morgenthau finally opened Roosevelt's eyes to State Department obstructionism, America changed tack - but it was already too late for 5 million Jews. The series is brilliantly written and edited, Peter Coyote's Henry Fonda impersonation is spot on, and all I can say is that, if you think you know this history, think again. Better still, spend 6 hours of your life on this exemplary documentary mini-series. See more Daniel K @RT89807693 09/23/2022 This six-hour examination of the U.S. relationship to what has come to be called the holocaust is an extraordinarily far-reaching and yet deeply intimate retelling of the fraught history leading up to, during and after World War II. From Hitler taking so much inspiration for his own xenophobic and murderous policies from the way America treated both Native Americans and Blacks, to the world's hesitation to take in fleeing refugees even AFTER the Nazi killing machine was well-known, this brilliant, must-see series reminds us of so much that we are, once again, at risk of repeating today. See more Read all reviews
The U.S. and the Holocaust — Season 1

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Cast & Crew

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Peter Coyote

Narrator

Matthew Rhys

Otto Frank

Helena Zengel

Anne Frank

Carolyn McCormick

Emma Lazarus

Marlena Grzaslewicz

Fanya Barbakow

Calvin Knie

Julius Stern

Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Sep 18, 2022 The Golden Door (Beginnings -- 1938) Congress reverses open borders; Hitler and the Nazis begin their persecution of German Jews, causing many to seek refuge; President Franklin D. Roosevelt is concerned but unable to coordinate a response to the crisis. Details Episode 2 Aired Sep 20, 2022 Yearning to Breathe Free (1938-1942) As World War II begins, Americans unite in their disapproval of Nazi brutality and work to help refugees escape; Germany invades the Soviet Union and secretly begins the mass murder of European Jews. Details Episode 3 Aired Sep 21, 2022 The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed (1942 -- ) A group of government officials supports rescue operations; the public sees for the first time the scale of the Holocaust as Allies liberate German camps. Details Episode 5 Aired Sep 21, 2022 The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed (1942 -- ) A group of government officials supports rescue operations; the public sees for the first time the scale of the Holocaust as Allies liberate German camps. Details Episode 6 Aired Sep 21, 2022 The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed (1942 -- ) A group of government officials supports rescue operations; the public sees for the first time the scale of the Holocaust as Allies liberate German camps. Details

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The U.S. and the Holocaust — Season 1

The U.S. and the Holocaust The U.S. and the Holocaust The U.S. and the Holocaust View more photos

Season Info

Director
Ken Burns
Network
PBS
Rating
TV-14 (V)
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date
Sep 18, 2022