Claude Lanzmann

Claude Lanzmann (27th November 1925 – 5th July 2018) was a renowned French filmmaker recognized for his monumental contribution to documentary cinema with his film Shoah (1985). This work is a comprehensive nine-and-a-half-hour oral history of the Holocaust, notable for its reliance entirely on survivor testimonies, without historical footage. Besides filmmaking, Lanzmann undertook the role of chief editor of Les Temps Modernes, a French literary magazine. Born to a Jewish family that had immigrated from the Russian Empire, Lanzmann came of age amidst the upheaval of World War II, joining the French resistance against the occupation at the age of 17. He was a vocal critic of the French war in Algeria and added his name to the anti-war Manifesto of the 121 in 1960.

Lanzmann's multifaceted career includes his tenure as a lecturer at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In 2009, he published his memoirs, titled Le lièvre de Patagonie (The Patagonian Hare). Lanzmann's approach to filmmaking was often one of unflinching honesty, pushing interview subjects to emotional extremes to communicate the rawest of truths. His later works, such as Napalm (2017) and Shoah: Four Sisters (released the day before his death in 2018), attest to his enduring commitment to exploring histories, conflicts, and personal narratives often silenced or overlooked. Outside his cinematic achievements, he is remembered for his role in the leftist delegation to North Korea in 1958, his personal relationships, and his advocacy work.