Editor's View About Televised
Melodramatic Holocaust' Series

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Pre-judging a play, any
show, in its entirety, based
on impressions left after se-
eing only a portion of it, can
be damaging to stage criti-
cism (in any form). The
four-night "Holocaust" TV
drama may have fallen into
this category. The first por-
tion, the initial three hours,
were given extensive pub-
licity in previews. Then
came the follow-ups. The
entire nine-and-a-half
hours (that was the time
element, including com-
mercials) should have been
seen and judged by histo-
rians. Perhaps there might
have been a different ap-
proach by the many, many
national organizations who
are listed as sponsors and by
the cooperative com-
munities like ours. Now the
facts must be judged
realistically.
Historical novels have a
place in fiction. Fiction has
no place in history. When a
great human tragedy is
transformed into melod-
rama, history can be dis-
torted. "Holocaust" as seen
in the NBC performances
may not have been distorted
but it certainly was not re-
corded properly.
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beating: teaching the
Holocaust should be a vital
part of the educational sys-
tem, all educational sys-:
terns. That was and remains
the plea. Was the proper end
achieved with the NBC-
created "Holocaust?" Would
an honest historian take the
melodrama produced on
television and transform it
into a textbook? Is this the
way to teach history?
American Jewry is not
devoid of historians and
dedicated pedagogs.
Would they offer the
melodrama as it was tele-
vised as textbook for
young and old, and espe-
cially for children?
NBC's dramatization is so
deeply moving, the expose
of the horrors is often so ef-
fective, that even with the
shortcomings of melod-
ramatization there is a debt
to be recognized in what had
been achieved. The work of
exposing the Holocaust
crimes must go on.
Yet, there were recogniz-
able shorttomings.
The very dramatization of
the single Nazi, Erik Dorf,
as symptomatic of all- the
Nazi leaders retained the
stamp of fiction on the great
show without giving the
searcher for facts and truth
an opportunity to learn
what was acting and what
had really occurred.
This character Dorf is
everywhere. Wherever you
turn he shows up. True,
there is occasional mention
of Hitler, Goering, Goeb-
bela, Heydrich, Himmler,
but unless history is known
they are invisible and hid-
den from the actual story. In
a sense the Dorf emphasis is
a farce.
Can it be said that Babi
Yar was truthfully depicted
in the drama? Is the under-
ground and the resistance
effectively shown? Will the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising be
fully appreciated as one of
the great acts of heroism on
the basis of the fictionalized
history on TV?

Your editor isn't really
concerned with the anti-
Israel, anti-Zionist critics
who are quoted charging
that the NBC show is
Zionist propaganda to
build up sentiment for Is-
rael. Who are these critics
to tell Israel, the Jew, the
Israeli about his right to
live, to function in a
human society, to be mas-
ter of his own destiny?
We are back where we
started. The Holocaust has
been ignored, it needs to be
taught, and the factual
textbooks will have to be
re-opened and dusted off.
The historian must assume
his place in recording and
interpreting history, the
pedagog must come to his
aid and the responsible
community must keep
encouraging every effort at
exposing the crimes which,
despite their bestialities,
still have their endorsers in
the ranks of the so-called
neo-Nazis.

The best way to teach the
Holocaust is by documen-
tary history. If nine-and-a-
half hours is not sufficient,
let it be 90 hours. But let
history be written and re-
corded and retold by histo-
rians.
Let it be said again: the
Holocaust was a human
tragedy. The savagery by
the Germans was against
(Continued on Page 0)

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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