The Sound of History
Claude Lanzmann‘s preparation for 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
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.
The conference is a collaborative project with the French Embassy in Germany and the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg.
The programme will follow shortly.
Magnetic audio cassettes from the Lanzmann Collection; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März
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Exhibition Claude Lanzmann: The Recordings: Features & Programs
- Exhibition Webpage
- Claude Lanzmann: The Recordings: 28 Nov 2025 to 12 Apr 2026
- Accompanying Events & Tours
- Public tours and events accompanying the exhibition: find all dates in our calendar
- Current page: The Sound of History. Claude Lanzmann's preparation for Shoah – Conference from 9 to 10 Feb 2026
- Offerings for Groups
- Bookable workshop for groups and school classes: by appointment
- Bookable tour for groups and school classes: by appointment
- See also
- Claude Lanzmann, filmmaker and journalist
- Shoah (1985) by Claude Lanzmann
- The Lanzmann Collection: Projects to catalog, preserver, and share the legacy of the audio cassettes from this holding of the Jewish Museum Berlin
