Holocaust documentary to air on Detroit public television Print E-mail
Written by Handleman Filmworks   
Monday, 02 April 2007
The Emmy-winning Handleman Filmworks production REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST is scheduled for telecast on Detroit Public Television/WTVS/Channel 56 at 10:30 P.M., Saturday, April 14, 2007 in conjunction with Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) which, according to the Hebrew calendar, falls on the following day.
 
Originally broadcast on PBS stations across America in the late 1980s, the half-hour documentary sought to refute the myth being perpetrated by unscrupulous revisionists at that time that the Holocaust either did not occur or that its scope and severity were not consequential.

The documentary's producer, Philip Handleman, recently stated, "It is unfortunate that the same false claims are being voiced today not only by fringe elements but by a head of state, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To leave these claims unanswered would be to allow grave untruths to settle into the world's collective consciousness and to open the way for a recurrence of one of history's most horrific events."

Mr. Handleman further stated, "The heart-rending stories and graphic images in my documentary leave no doubt about the occurrence of the Holocaust and the extremes of its cruelty. The world should reject the Holocaust deniers and instead work towards fostering a climate in which people of all faiths and ethnicities can live together in peace and mutual respect."

The documentary features interviews with Detroit-area survivors of the Holocaust, which cover a broad range of subject matter from the early signs of anti-Semitism before the outbreak of World War II to the indignity of ghetto life and the monstrousness of the concentration camps. The documentary was made with the cooperation of the first freestanding institution in the United States devoted to conveying the story of the Holocaust and teaching its lessons. Located in Farmington Hills, Michigan
and now known as the Zekelman Family Holocaust Memorial Center, it was founded in 1984 by Rabbi Charles Rosenzvieg, the Center's Chief Executive Officer and a Holocaust survivor himself.

In 1989, Mr. Handleman received the Emmy for best documentary from the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his documentary on the Holocaust.