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