The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022)

Stars: Peter Coyote, Daniel Mendelsohn, Peter Hayes

Film Distributor: PBS

The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six hour series that examines America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century.

Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with.

Voice actors and narrators for the miniseries include Liam Neeson, Matthew Rhys, Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, Werner Herzog, Joe Morton and Hope Davis.

Broadcast in September 2022 on PBS in the US, and on BBC Four in the UK

Three episodes:
Disc 1 contains Episode 1 “The Golden Door (Beginnings – 1938)”
Disc 2 contains Episode 2 “Yearning to Breathe Free (1938-1942)”
Disc 3 contains Episode 3 “The Homeless, The Tempest-Tossed (1942-)”