I produced and directed a national video campaign for this nine-hour documentary while working at PBS headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1987. The announcer was Robert J. Lurtsema from WGBH-FM in Boston and the music score was by Demos Chrissos Productions in Washington, DC.
Here is the script for the 90-second version; there were also three other versions used to promote the national broadcast premiere of the landmark documentary.
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Fade up to graphic. | Sound: freight train rumbles toward viewer. |
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Train moves toward camera | Ambient score begins. SHOAH. . . THE HEBREW WORD WHICH MEANS ANNIHILATION. |
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Conductor stares at Treblinka from stopped train. | THE FEW SURVIVING EYEWITNESSES TO AUSCHWITZ, TREBLINKA, THE WARSAW GHETTO . . . |
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Man and reporter in train yard. | . . . RELIVE, IN THEIR OWN WORDS, HAUNTING MEMORIES OF THE NAZI DEATH CAMPS… |
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Move through death camp. Fade to black. | …WHERE NEARLY SIX MILLION MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN WERE EXECUTED. |
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Fade up to graphic. | Sound: ambient music and sound effects continue during graphic. |
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Dissolve to train approaching. | |
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Lanzmann with survivor. | YOU’VE SEEN HOLOCAUST FOOTAGE BEFORE. NOW HEAR THE STORY FROM THOSE WHO WERE THERE. |
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Female survivor. | “There was a terrible screaming — out, out, out!” |
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Male survivor. | “A minute, an hour before, you were part of a family: a wife, a husband. Now, all of a sudden, everything is dead.” |
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Another male survivor. Fade to black at end. |
“The product in Auschwitz was death. Everything was geared to keep the crematoria running.” |
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Fade up to graphic. | DON’T MISS THE LANDMARK, FOUR-PART TELEVISION PREMIERE OF SHOAH . . . |
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Pan cemetery. Tilt up to sky. Fade to black. | . . . PERSONAL MEMORIES OF A PLACE AND TIME WHICH MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN. |