P

reserving memories of the
Holocaust and the years to
follow remains a race against
time.
Documentary film Nathan-Ism,
which will screen across the country
later this year, captures the urgency of
saving those memories before there is
no one left to share them.
Following the journey of Jewish
soldier and artist Nathan Hilu, a
reclusive storyteller in his 90s at the
time of filming, Nathan-Ism recounts

his life-altering mission at the end of
World War II.
Hilu, the son of Syrian-Jewish immi-
grants to New York, was 18 when he
was commissioned by the U.S. Army
to guard the most notorious Nazi war
criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.
He spent an entire year keeping
suicide watch, ensuring that those who
committed some of history’s most ter-
rible crimes against humanity would
stand trial for their actions — that
justice would finally be served. During

those months, he had a
firsthand look at true evil.
While standing guard
at the Nuremberg prison,
Hilu escorted Herman
Goering to a Christmas
service and spoke to
Albert Speer through the
bars of his cell door.
Ironically, it was Speer
who encouraged Hilu to
document everything he was
seeing around him. “Keep your eyes
open and write what you see here,
”
Speer told a young and impressionable
Hilu.
For the next 70 years, Hilu would do
exactly that. Hilu, a virtually unknown
artist, preserved the memories that
flooded him throughout his life.
However, there was no one to share
them with — until now.
Nathan-Ism shines a light on Hilu’s
extensive body of artwork, which
includes raw sketches and notes cre-
ated in vibrant pastels and Sharpies.
Even in his final days, Hilu was still
drawing, still remembering, still put-
ting memories down on paper for the

world to experience them with him.
As a coming-of-age film, Nathan-
Ism explores the monumental
Nuremberg Trials and their lasting
impact, Hilu’s relationship to the sto-
ries that haunt him and his almost
obsessive drive to share those stories
with the world, which hasn’t been the
most receptive to hearing them.
A sobering documentary of World
War II memories threatened to be lost
to time, Nathan-Ism is equal parts a
historical narrative and a study on the
function of art as a crucial form of
archive.
Hilu, who died in 2019 at the age of
94, is finally able to share his memo-
ries with the world.

48 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2024
J
N

A Race to
Preserve the
Memories of the
Nuremberg
Trials

Nathan-ism follows the story of
virtually unknown Jewish soldier
and artist Nathan Hilu, who
stood guard over history’s most
notorious Nazi war criminals.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Nathan Hilu

Nathan Hilu, now and in
his younger days.

Hilu’s
artwork

ARTS&LIFE
DOCUMENTARY