Paradise Camp (1986)

Directed by

Frank Heimans

Genre

documentary film

Country

Australia

How it feels

This documentary examines the Theresienstadt Ghetto and the Nazi efforts to present it as a model community for Jewish people. It contrasts propaganda footage with survivor interviews and prisoner artwork to reveal the camp's true nature.

informativesoberingarchivaleye-openingharrowinghistoricalreflectivequietly angry

What happens

Paradise Camp is a 1986 documentary film about Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia, written and directed by Australians Paul Rea and Frank Heimans, respectively. Czechoslovak Jews were first told that Theresienstadt was a community established for their safety. They quickly recognized it as a ghetto and concentration camp. In 1944, the Nazis cleaned up the camp, painting buildings and planting flowers, and deporting inmates to reduce overcrowding, in order to fool international Red Cross officials on a visit into believing the Jews were being well cared for. That year, the Germans also filmed a propaganda documentary at Thereienstadt to promote how they were caring for Jews. The 1986 film includes excerpts from the propaganda film, in contrast with interviews of survivors, other material about the facts of the camp, and examples of art made by prisoners, including thousands of children's drawings hidden and preserved by their teacher. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Hell on Earth (2001)
• The Liberation of Auschwitz (1986)
• Partisans of Vilna (1986)
• The Given town (1965)
• Deckname Schlier (1986)
• Voices of the Children (1998)
• A Film Unfinished (2010)
• All Jews Out! (1990)