Often attributed to Winston Churchill, the phrase “history is written by the victors” communicates how the historical narrative is crafted by those in charge and provides an often-incomplete picture of complex historical events.
During World War II, the Germans made a concerted effort to document the war effort based on the understanding that they would be the ones creating the historical narrative based on their perverse world perspective.
Who Will Write Our History is an educational documentary that covers the story of Emanuel Ringelblum’s goal to record the Jewish experience in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.
Ringelblum was a public intellectual and understood the need to collect the lived experience of the Jewish people as a counterbalance to what he observed of the Germans. Their still photographers and video crews crafted the narrative that they were less than human by living in squalid environments. As we know, this skewed image does not reflect the realities of the Jewish people living in Poland but the conditions the German occupation forced upon them.
With a mixture of expert interviews, archival footage and photographs, period ephemera, and dramatizations drawn from the actual words of those who lived in the Warsaw ghetto, this film tells the compelling story of the creation of the Oyneg Shabes Archives. This community archive documents the lived experience of the Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto through written accounts of their daily lives and what they witnessed, utilizing not only first-hand accounts, but also artwork, newspapers, German edicts, and other relevant materials to ensure that the Jewish experience would not be lost to history and provide a competing narrative to the documentation of the Germans.
This excellently produced film seamlessly integrates contemporary interviews with archival footage and dramatic reenactments based on the actual words of the Jewish individuals that contributed documents to the Oyneg Shabes Archives. This Holocaust documentary is an excellent example of how to integrate primary source material into a project to make history come alive and can serve as an example for educators looking to develop engaging assignments as well as other filmmakers.
The option to purchase a 37 minute or 97-minute version ensures that this title can easily be integrated into any classroom or other event. It should be noted that those viewing this documentary resource should understand the content, as the personal narratives will impact the audience.
While Who Will Write Our History clearly can support history, Holocaust studies, religious or Jewish studies, or political film collections it also can support teaching with film the following subjects: information science, archival studies, social justice, and human rights. Regardless of where this will fall within a film collection, it is an essential purchase. Highly Recommended. Editor’s Choice. Aud: J, H, C, P