Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann (27 November 1925 – 5 July 2018) was a French filmmaker known for the Holocaust documentary film Shoah (1985). Lanzmann was born on 27 November 1925 in Paris, France, the son of Paulette (née Grobermann) and Armand Lanzmann. His family was Jewish, and had immigrated to France from The Russian Empire. He was the brother of writer Jacques Lanzmann. Lanzmann attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. While his family disguised their identity and went into hiding during World War II, he joined the French resistance at the age of 17, along with his father and brother, and fought in Auvergne. Lanzmann opposed the French war in Algeria and signed the 1960 antiwar petition Manifesto of the 121. Lanzmann was the chief editor of the journal Les Temps Modernes, founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and lecturer at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In 2009 he published his memoirs under the title Le lièvre de Patagonie ("The Patagonian Hare"). Lanzmann's most renowned work, Shoah (1985), is a nine-and-a-half-hour oral history of the Holocaust. Shoah is made without the use of any historical footage, and uses only first-person testimony from perpetrators and victims, and contemporary footage of Holocaust-related sites. Interviewees include the Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski and the American Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg. When the film was released, the director also published the complete text, including in English translation, with introductions by Lanzmann and Simone de Beauvoir. Lanzmann disagreed, sometimes angrily, with attempts to understand the why of Hitler, stating that the evil of Hitler cannot or should not be explained and that to do so is immoral and an obscenity. Lanzmann also oftentimes pushed his subjects to extreme emotional limits to bring out the most authentic reactions for his audience. The interview with barber Abraham Bomba is a staple of a Claude Lanzmann interview. A compilation of "Shoah: Unseen Interviews" was released in 2012 that included interviews filmed at the time of the original production but never made it into the film. On 4 July 2018, his last work, Les Quatre Soeurs (Shoah: Four Sisters) was released, featuring testimonials from four Holocaust survivors not included in his Shoah. Lanzmann died the following day. From 1952 to 1959, he lived with Simone de Beauvoir. In 1963 he married French actress Judith Magre. They divorced in 1971, and he later married Angelika Schrobsdorff, a German-Jewish writer. He divorced a second time, and was the father of Angélique Lanzmann and Félix Lanzmann. Claude Lanzmann died on 5 July 2018 at his Paris home, after having been ill for several days. He was 92. Source: Article "Claude Lanzmann" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known for
DirectingBirthday
November 27, 1925Deathday
July 5, 2018Gender
MaleKnown Movie Credits
28Place of birth
Paris, Ile-de-France, France![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/lD6OD0OoTNMqXBC3uXgRrE2tmlh.jpg)
Cast credits
![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/eOZrlHAyEhxgQqLW59KcH6dwIan.jpg)
The Karski Report
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/6nPrHWKyARBwgXEHKgpfkVL3QTy.jpg)
The Last of the Unjust
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/7K83Cik0gHSS52zqqkPCIqNDqjb.jpg)
Tsahal
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/rrtvECuiOeTLxI0a78Jw40PPhOV.jpg)
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Self![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/c8RVDbKL4IPqOBuuFgP7rQgSelW.jpg)
The Clown
Self![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/gyU6I5h7K4M59QxFLCPJTMSzkDC.jpg)
Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
Self![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/I42R5ZL68U6PctMBuH5OPJ7mqM.jpg)
A Philosopher in the Arena
Self![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/t3GXNGmoNuNQarDOTrk27NWut9y.jpg)
Shoah: Four Sisters
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/IcbbP115sBSJ1jT7G9hWymVI96.jpg)
We Shall Not Die Now
Self (archive footage)![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/eAo3m0DqajhM1JhmnjkNNZl6wKz.jpg)
Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m.
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/yvwF7dfSCybFcBOklUzKpE46bHM.jpg)
Shoah
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/38Lg4aEZs3r8Tm2ClT6oH43rX9C.jpg)
A Visitor from the Living
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/6bm4qMPUtFd3byBpONkDL0gj1zr.jpg)
Israel, Why
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/tKK6Rf235rTEbxoRB2OWDMuFMWV.jpg)
Napalm
Self![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/qETrIUQGlI2DIkSpigZ1QySXEW4.jpg)
Lights And Shadows
Self - Interviewer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/m1djDXOP1yqPwVDFTTyArc8MdRZ.jpg)
Ziva Postec: The Editor Behind the Film Shoah
Self (archive footage)Crew credits
![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/yvwF7dfSCybFcBOklUzKpE46bHM.jpg)
Shoah
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/eAo3m0DqajhM1JhmnjkNNZl6wKz.jpg)
Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m.
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/eOZrlHAyEhxgQqLW59KcH6dwIan.jpg)
The Karski Report
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/6nPrHWKyARBwgXEHKgpfkVL3QTy.jpg)
The Last of the Unjust
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/38Lg4aEZs3r8Tm2ClT6oH43rX9C.jpg)
A Visitor from the Living
Director, Writer, Producer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/6bm4qMPUtFd3byBpONkDL0gj1zr.jpg)
Israel, Why
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/7K83Cik0gHSS52zqqkPCIqNDqjb.jpg)
Tsahal
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/tKK6Rf235rTEbxoRB2OWDMuFMWV.jpg)
Napalm
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/t3GXNGmoNuNQarDOTrk27NWut9y.jpg)
Shoah: Four Sisters
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/qETrIUQGlI2DIkSpigZ1QySXEW4.jpg)
Lights And Shadows
Director, Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/rcQq3Do8lalRbZDG1j2fTy3Iz0D.jpg)
Elise, or Real Life
Writer