The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Lodz

The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Lodz
The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Lodz
Directed by Peter Cohen and Bo Kuritzen
Release date(s) 1982
Running time 55 mins.
Country Sweden
Language English

The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Łódź is a 1982 documentary that uses archival film footage and photographs to narrate the story of one of the Holocaust's most controversial figures. Rumkowski was a Jew that was put in charge of the Łódź ghetto during World War II.

Contents

Summary

"I must stretch out my hands and beg," Rumkowski declared to the Łódź ghetto inhabitants, "Brothers and sisters—Hand them over to me! Fathers and mothers—Give me your children!" With these words, a man who once directed an orphanage pleaded for Jewish parents to peacefully surrender their children to extermination camps.

Rumkowski, a childless sixty-two-year-old man with billowy white hair and black circular glasses, was appointed Elder of the 230,000 Polish Jews in the Łódź Ghetto. He created an industry within which Jews could work and make themselves useful to the Nazis to avoid the slaughter of the Holocaust. But his record of establishing an oasis for Jews is overwhelmed by the fact that to appease the Nazis he handed over almost the entire population to Nazi extermination camps. If Rumkowski would have survived the war he could have either been honored for the lives he tried to save or executed for his collaboration with the Nazis. Shocking old photographs and the only surviving film footage of the Łódź ghetto serve as the visuals for a documentary that asks how much people should be willing to compromise to survive.

It seems that at the dawn of his power, Rumkowski was full of good intentions. He established hospitals, organized a fire department, set up a government, and cleaned the ghetto streets. Factory work gave the inhabitants a sense of purpose, and social welfare programs and institutions provided order and a feeling of community. At Łódź, Jews didn't die in the streets; instead, they died respectfully in hospitals. And of the industry he made there he said,"Our children and our grandchildren will recall with pride the names of those who gave us the opportunity to work and the right to live." In that speech to ghetto inhabitants, he continued, "We have only our production to thank for our survival."

But then when the Nazis began to demand Łódź inhabitants be relocated to extermination camps, Rumkowski selected who would be sent away and asked that they leave without hostility. He began by sending away the Ghetto's criminals but eventually pleaded that parents allow him to send away their children.

Chaim Rumkowski's story raises difficult moral questions regarding power and compliance. "We must cut off the legs to save the body," Rumkowski asserted. But at what point should the body fight to save its legs? When does compliance become collaboration?

While Rumkowski assured his Jewish followers that he was fighting to save their lives, bargaining with the Nazis led him to a crucial error. He, like the Nazis, began to see people as numbers and not as individuals. The incredible film footage of Łódź that the documentary offers, brings to life one of these numbers Rumkowski decided to spare or send away.

The same complexity that's found in Rumkowski's character is manifested in the Łódź ghetto itself. The thriving textile industry in the ghetto might have kept its inhabitants alive, but the goods they produced were a tremendous service to the Nazis. The Jews in the ghetto, unknowingly, helped build and facilitate concentration camps through Europe. They fed the hand that bit them.

Reception

The New York Times gave the documentary a positive review. It described the film as "fine," "moving," and said it, "should be seen."

Awards

In 1982, The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Łódź won an Interfilm Award- Honorable Mention at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

See also

Other Holocaust Documentaries:

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Chaim Rumkowski — Rumkowski im Ghetto Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski (* 27. Februar 1877; † 28. August 1944 im KZ Auschwitz Birkenau) war nach dem Einmarsch der deutschen Wehrmacht in Polen und der anschließenden Besetzung seit dem 13. Oktober 1939 bis zu seiner… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski — (February 27, 1877 August 28, 1944) was a Polish Jew and functioned as the German Nazi nominated head of the Ältestenrat ( Council of Elders ), or Jewish authorities in the Łódź Ghetto. Before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, Rumkowski was a… …   Wikipedia

  • The Sixth Battalion — Infobox Film name = The Sixth Battalion image size = 200px caption = director = Howard E. Green producer = Dušan Šimko writer = narrator = starring = music = cinematography = editing = distributor = released = 1998 runtime = 56 min. country =… …   Wikipedia

  • Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die — Infobox Film name = Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die image size = 100px caption = director = Laurence Jarvik producer = writer = narrator = starring = music = cinematography = editing = distributor = released = 1982 runtime = 90 min. country =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Holocaust — Holocaust and Shoah redirect here. For other uses, see Holocaust (disambiguation) and Shoah (disambiguation). Selection on …   Wikipedia

  • Literature and The Holocaust —    The literature of the Holocaust consists of all the literary responses to the destruction of European Jewry, including survivor testimony, diaries of victims, memoirs of survivors, and documents collected by the Jewish community in the form of …   Historical dictionary of the Holocaust

  • Ghetto Litzmannstadt — The Ghetto Litzmannstadt was the second largest ghetto (after the Warsaw Ghetto) established for Jews and Roma in German occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Łódź and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was …   Wikipedia

  • Goodbye Holland — Infobox Film name = Goodbye Holland image size = 150px caption = director = Willy Lindwer producer = Willy Lindwer and AVA Productions writer = narrator = starring = music = cinematography = editing = distributor = released = 2004 runtime = 90… …   Wikipedia

  • Paradise Camp — Infobox Film name = Paradise Camp image size = caption = Gate at Theresienstadt director = Frank Heimans producer = Lee Burns writer = Paul Rea narrator = starring = music = cinematography = editing = distributor = released = 1986 runtime = 56… …   Wikipedia

  • Shadows of Memory — Infobox Film name = Shadows of Memory image size = 150px caption = Claudia von Alemann with her mother director = Claudia von Alemann producer = writer = narrator = starring = music = cinematography = editing = distributor = released = 2000… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”