Conversations with friends about their lives: The last Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff (Jerusalem)
Uploader: Tom Gross
Original upload date: Mon, 08 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Fri, 03 Dec 2021 09:20:32 GMT
Efraim Zuroff speaks about his life, and why he became a Nazi hunter, his pursuit of war criminals, and about his efforts to make countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Croatia admit to thei
Show more...
r own very substantial collaboration with the Nazi genocide.
Tom Gross asks why did it take Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Schindler’s List to make Holocaust education finally become incorporated into the British education system? Why did western countries and the Vatican and Red Cross help Nazi criminals escape at the end of the war? Why were so many doctors Nazis?
We also discuss the trial of Bruno Dey (charged for his part in the murder of 5,230 people at the horrific Stutthof death camp) which is continuing now in Hamburg – it is 75 years late but the German judge insisted it continue despite the coronavirus restrictions. The crystal clear testimony given by Stutthof survivors, including 93-year-old Halina Strnad, testifying by video link from Melbourne Australia, has been mesmerizing.
Other conversations in this series:
* Pianist Evgeny Kissin (Prague) https://youtu.be/6zKvyjlvleg
Described by The Economist magazine as “the world’s most acclaimed classical pianist” Evgeny Kissin talks about being a child prodigy; his favorite concert halls and musicians; learning new repertoires and visiting Kafka’s grave during coronavirus lockdown; about Stalin’s murder of Yiddish writers, his own love for Yiddish, his support for Israel, and his political views about Russia and the West.
* Tom Gross speaks about his own life experiences and views: growing up surrounded by cultural and literary luminaries in London and NY; brunches with Elvis Presley’s songwriter; crossing Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin with his grandmother during communism; helping the Roma when almost no one else would; his close relationship with his godmother Sonia Orwell (the model for the heroine Julia of her husband’s masterpiece ‘1984’); being in Manhattan on 9/11; the Mideast; the importance and legacy of the Holocaust; & other matters. https://youtu.be/T4Pg-IDYJYE
* Writer David Pryce-Jones (Wales) discusses his childhood escape from the Nazis, and about his friendships with Isaac Bashevis Singer, Arthur Koestler, Stalin’s daughter Svetlana, John Gross and others https://youtu.be/hK8kppwX7UI
* Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hossein Amini (London) Born in Tehran to a distinguished family (his grandfather was prime minister under the shah), Hossein speaks about Iran before and after the Islamic revolution, his career as a filmmaker, his work with Martin Scorsese and Harvey Weinstein, the MeToo movement and racism in Britain https://youtu.be/_llnKPTT0FE
* Historian Amanda Foreman (NY) talks about her father Carl Foreman (who wrote Bridge on the River Kwai, High Noon & Guns of Navarone); her books; her TV series on the ascent of women; curating an exhibition in Buckingham Palace https://youtu.be/lFHkJcf0qO0
* Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, asks whether Britain can learn from the US system of government, and discusses Donald Trump, early Zionism -- and how as a teenager he was a mentor to Sasha Baron Cohen https://youtu.be/Y_3phYh8WMU
* In a separate shorter conversation Jonathan Freedland & Tom Gross discuss left-wing and English antisemitism https://youtu.be/D8Zcppjh6Tw
* John O’Sullivan (Budapest) Born to working class parents near Liverpool, John rose to become one of Margaret Thatcher’s most trusted advisors in 10 Downing Street. In this conversation, he discusses Thatcher’s personality and other leading figures he met, including President Reagan. He also discuss Trump’s presidency; the future of journalism; and his love for musical theatre. https://youtu.be/TKspJwfsibg
* Zoe Johnson is the second woman ever to be appointed Senior Treasury Counsel by the attorney general to prosecute the UK’s most serious cases including Islamic terrorism, organized crime, abuse of public office, and honor killings. And she has done all this with the added difficulty of being confined to a wheelchair for almost her whole life. https://youtu.be/Zs_pr7-6mxs
* Bahra Saleh (Kirkuk) 0n being a woman, and fleeing Saddam as a Kurd in Iraq https://youtu.be/tQM0a9qJ1Jk
* Lord (David) Young talks about his ten years in Margaret Thatcher’s government, his five years working with David Cameron, and about Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and modern multicultural Britain https://youtu.be/AzmrBuZ0OoM
* Shmuel Bar (Herzliya), who worked for Israel’s government for 30 years in various clandestine capacities, discusses the state of America, Europe & the Mideast https://youtu.be/j_ekSPVLMAg
* Charlotte Cunningham (Yorkshire) discusses her arts organization in England that helps people with mental and physical disabilities, her grandmother who was the ruling monarch of Luxembourg; and her grandfather who served in the cabinets of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson https://youtu.be/kva8JQ1Jgsw