The Holocaust on Film

Cert

Age group7–16

Duration172 mins

The Diary of Anne Frank(1959)

Moving adaptation of Anne Frank's world-changing diary, as Anne and her family must hide from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam.

Anne Frank’s story needs little introduction and is one of the best known stories to emerge from the horrors of the Holocaust. Although Anne's tale is often distressing for audiences, it's a hugely important story of a normal girl forced to face the grim realities of war and racial hatred - but never allowing herself to lose her sense of optimism.

Cert

Age group11–16

Duration126 mins

The Book Thief(2013)

The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel, an extraordinary and courageous young girl sent to live with a foster family in World War Two Germany.

A young girl’s passion for books helps her and the people she loves find a respite from the horrors of Nazi Germany in this adaptation of the bestselling novel. Using the character of Death as a voiceover, the film uses the innocence of a child to tell a heart-warming yet chilling tale.

Cert

Age group11+

Duration90 mins

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas(2008)

Bruno is kept in the dark by his Nazi commandant father about the neighbouring concentration camp, until he strikes up a friendship through the wire.

This moving, educational and necessarily upsetting drama tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of two young boys - one the son of a Nazi, the other a Jewish child imprisoned in a concentration camp.

Cert

Age group14+

Duration108 mins

Jojo Rabbit(2019)

Comedy about a young boy in the Hitler Youth who questions his beliefs after developing a friendship with a Jewish girl he finds hidden in his house.

In this subversive film, the lengths to which Jewish people went to hide from the Nazis – and the personal risk that those helping them were exposed to – are brought into focus through the naive perspective of a young boy. Despite the satirical tone of the film, the Gestapo are presented as a terrifying threat.

Cert

Age group11+

Duration117 mins

Freedom Writers(2007)

Inspiring account of a teacher at a US high school that is plagued by gang violence, who resorts to unconventional methods to reach her students.

It sometimes takes looking at historical injustices to gain a new perspective and understanding on one’s own circumstances. In this film, discussions of the Holocaust in the classroom allow students to face the truth about modern day racial violence on their doorstep, encouraging wider reflections on humanity, persecution and discrimination.

Cert

Age group14+

Duration92 mins

Charlotte(2021)

Animated biopic about a young Jewish artist who escapes to France at the start of WWII, where she paints a thousand images of her life.

The Holocaust is characterised by the incremental nature of the threat to Jewish people, before so many fell victims to the ‘final solution’. This film captures the growing sense of unease at the start of the Second World War, the gradual deprivation of rights and liberties, and the feeling of running out of time and options.

CertUnclassified

Age group14–16

Duration45 mins

WWII in Europe: Voices from the Front(2020)

Documentary which provides an overview of World War II with contributions from some of the few surviving soldiers on all sides.

The eyewitness accounts of Allied soldiers in this documentary attest to how unprecedented and hard to fathom the discovery of German concentration camps was, when their existence had been hidden away from the outside world. The horror of what the soldiers encountered was such that they knew that it must be filmed – as evidence for anyone who’d try to deny it.