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Visualization of an audio track as a waveform (pale red amplitudes on a black background).

The Sound of History

Claude Lanzmann’s Preparation for his film Shoah - Conference

The conference The Sound of History: Claude Lanzmann's Preparation for Shoah brings together international researchers from the cultural sciences and humanities to examine these previously unknown historical testimonies from different perspectives and in interdisciplinary dialogue for the first time. Over two days, the conference will focus on Lanzmann's film project, the protagonists who were not filmed, the research on Poland and Lithuania, the overlaps and distinctions between film and sound recordings, and the conversations with Nazi perpetrators.

Mon, 9 Feb, 9 am–9 pm + Tue, 10 Feb 2026, 9.30 am–5.15 pm

Where

Französische Botschaft in Deutschland
Pariser Platz 5, 10117 Berlin

Where, when, what?

With his film Shoah, French director Claude Lanzmann presented what remains to this day a groundbreaking portrayal of the genocide of six million Jews perpetrated by the Nazis. The nine-and-a-half-hour work was the culmination of a 12-year production process. During this time, Lanzmann and his team traveled to Israel, Poland, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Italy, the USA, Switzerland, and West Germany, conducting hundreds of preliminary interviews, many of which were recorded on tape. These previously unknown audio recordings reveal the many different aspects of the Shoah that the director explored before settling on extermination as the central theme of his work. At the same time, they provide insight into how people remembered the events three decades after the end of the war.

The 152 surviving magnetic audio cassettes have formed the Lanzmann Collection at the Jewish Museum Berlin since 2022 and comprise approximately 220 hours of audio recordings in eight languages. Since 2023, this collection, together with the film Shoah, has been entered in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Audio cassette from the Lanzmann Collection; Jewish Museum Berlin, accession 2021/153/94, gift of the Claude and Felix Lanzmann Association

Cassette with label.

Audio cassette from the Lanzmann Collection; Jewish Museum Berlin, accession 2021/153/94, gift of the Claude and Felix Lanzmann Association

For more information on the evening event with Claude Lanzmann’s colleagues Corinna Coulmas and Irena Steinfeldt-Levy, which will take place on 9 February 2026 as part of the conference, please visit the event page The Making of Claude Lanzmann’s Film “Shoah”.

Registration 

The conference is fully booked! Your registration will be placed on a waiting list. The event at the French Embassy requires heightened security measures, which is why additional information is required. Please register at the following address: rsvp@jmberlin.de. To register, we need your first name, last name, date of birth, and place of birth. By registering, you consent to the storage and transfer of your data to the French Embassy. The data will only be collected and used for the purpose of organizing the event.

Conference programme, 9 and 10 February 2026. Please note that the conference language is German, with some presentations given in English.

Download (PDF / 1.41 MB / in German / not accessible)

Programme 

Please note that the conference language is German, with some presentations given in English.

Mon, 9 Feb 2026

9 am

Reception

9.30 am

Welcome

S.E. François Delattre, French Embassy Berlin
Hetty Berg, Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Dominique Lanzmann, Head of the Claude and Felix Lanzmann Association (A.C.F.L.)
Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, Permanent Fellow Selma Stern Zentrum für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg, University Duisburg-Essen

Introduction

Tamar Lewinsky, curator for audiovisual media at the Jewish Museum Berlin

10 am

PANEL I
Eine Untersuchung über die Schoa: Die Recherchen
(An investigation into the Shoah: The Research)

Comment: Michael Levine (New Brunswick)
Moderation: Irmela von der Lühe (Berlin)

Jennifer Cazenave (Boston)
“I Can Only Bring That Little Pebble, Claude” – Maria Bobrow and the Making of Shoah

Nicolas Berg (Leipzig)
“Nobody could expect it” – Claude Lanzmann im Gespräch mit dem Historiker Yitzhak Arad

11.30am–15 pm

Break

3 pm

PANEL II
Ungehörte Stimmen: Die nicht gefilmten Protagonist*innen
(Unheard voices: The protagonists who were not filmed)

Comment: Marc Sagnol (Paris)
Moderation: Lutz Fiedler (Berlin)

Dagi Knellessen (Berlin)
“It‘s really against my feelings.”  – Ilana Safrans Absage an Claude Lanzmann

Sonja Göthel Knopp (Berlin)
“Peng, peng! This shooting, ne?”  – Lanzmanns Begegnung mit Hermann Friedrich Graebe und die Herausforderungen prekärer Zeugenschaft

4.30 pm

Coffee break

4.45–6.15 pm

PANEL III
Hinter geschlossenen Türen: Die Täter
(Behind closed doors: The perpetrators)

Comment: Annette Weinke (Jena)
Moderation: Anika Reichwald (Berlin)

Axel Doßmann (Berlin)
„Ist es unhöflich [...], wenn ich Sie frage, was Sie für ein Landsmann sind?“ – Deutsche Ehre, Husten und Lachen des SS-Generals Karl Wolff 

Stefanie Rauch (London)
„Wir waren keineswegs erfreut darüber, dass da ein Konzentrationslager war“ – Kurt Eisfeld und Wilhelm Biedenkopf zur Standortsuche der I.G. Farben in Auschwitz

17:30–9 pm

Evening event — The Making of Claude Lanzmann’s Film Shoah

Moderation: Daniel Wildmann (Berlin)

in conversation with Corinna Coulmas and Irena Steinfeldt-Levy

Tue, 10 Feb  2026

9.30 am

PANEL IV
Verworfene Ideen: Die nicht veröffentlichten Themen
(Rejected ideas: The unpublished topics)

Comment: Jan Gerber (Leipzig)
Moderation: Elisabeth Gallas (Leipzig)

Christoph Dieckmann (Frankfurt am Main)
Anoushka Freiman im Interview mit Claude Lanzmann, evtl. 1975

Klaus Hoffmann-Holland & Susanne Zepp-Zwirner
(Berlin/Duisburg-Essen)
„Hier ist kein Warum.” – Claude Lanzmann im Gespräch mit Gerhart Riegner

11.00 am

Coffee break

11.15 am

PANEL V
Erkundungen vor Ort: Die erste Polenreise
(On-site explorations: The first trip to Poland)

Comment: Ania Szczepanska (Paris)
Moderation: Kerstin Schoor (Frankfurt/Oder)

Roma Sendyka (Krakau)
Bystanders’ testimonies: from ‘false witnessing’ (Felman, Kantarowski) to ‘co-witnessing’ (Głowacka, Piwoński)

Dariusz Stola (Warschau)
Comments on the Recording of Claude Lanzmann’s Conversation with Henryk Woliński

12.45–2.15 pm

Lunch break

2.15 pm

PANEL VI
Überschneidungen und Unterschiede: Audio und Film
(Overlaps and differences: audio and film)

Comment: Gertrud Koch (Berlin)
Moderation: Christina von Braun (Berlin)

Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann (Jerusalem)
“Worse than Hitler” – Claude Lanzmann im Gespräch mit Hillel Kook (Peter Bergson) über jüdischen Aktivismus und umstrittene Erinnerung 

Christoph Hesse (Berlin)
« Et les cadavres sont tombés sur la route » – Claude Lanzmann im Gespräch mit Leon Kantarowski, einem polnischen Augenzeugen der Vernichtung (Chełmno, 1978)

3:45 pm

Final comments and concluding discussion

Comment: Kurt Grünberg (Frankfurt am Main)
Moderation: Susanne Zepp-Zwirner (Duisburg-Essen)

5:15 Uhr

End of the conference

A conference organized by the Jewish Museum Berlin in cooperation with
the French Embassy in Berlin and the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg.

Logo of the French embassy with the inscription: Ambassade de France en Allemagne. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Logo of the Selma Stern Center

With the kind support of Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Duisburg-Essen.

We would like to thank the Alfred Landecker Foundation and the German Foreign Office for their generous support in developing and promoting the Lanzmann Collection.

Visualization of an audio track as a waveform (pale red amplitudes on a black background).

Exhibition Claude Lanzmann: The Recordings: Features & Programs

Exhibition Webpage

Claude Lanzmann: The Recordings: 28 Nov 2025 to 12 Apr 2026

Accompanying Events & Tours

Exhibition opening, public tours, screenings, JMB book club and other events related to the exhibition: Find all dates in our calendar

Conference

Offerings for Groups

See also

Where, when, what?

  • WhenMon, 9 Feb, 9 am–9 pm + Tue, 10 Feb 2026, 9.30 am–5.15 pm
  • Duration2 days
  • Where Französische Botschaft in Deutschland
    Pariser Platz 5, 10117 Berlin
    See location on map
  • Entry fee

    free

  • Language The conference language is German, with some presentations given in English. There will be no simultaneous translation available on site.

    Please note This event will not take place at the Jewish Museum Berlin but at the French Embassy in Berlin.

    Participants of the conference are cordially invited to attend the following evening event. If you are not registered for the conference, please book your seat for the evening event seperately.

    The event is fully booked! Your registration will be placed on the waiting list.

    Registration The conference is fully booked! Your registration will be placed on a waiting list. The event at the French Embassy requires heightened security measures, which is why additional information is required. Please register at the following address: rsvp@jmberlin.de. To register, we need your first name, last name, date of birth, and place of birth. By registering, you consent to the storage and transfer of your data to the French Embassy. The data will only be collected and used for the purpose of organizing the event.