The Vichy Regime and the Rise of Nazi Anti-Jewish Laws | SLICE | Full Documentary

Apr 9, 2025 | By June 1940, Nazi Germany had already attacked Norway and Denmark, invaded Belgium and the Netherlands, crossed the Maginot Line and occupied Paris. France was cut in two: north of the demarcation line was the German-occupied zone, to the south was a zone headed by Marshal Pétain, whose seat of government was in the central spa town of Vichy. The Vichy regime very quickly – as early as October 1940 and without pressure from the Germans – passed the first Jewish laws. With the first of these, prefects in the southern zone had the right to lock up foreign Jews and Jewish refugees in camps, to which the Nazi regime deported Jews from the Rhineland and Westphalia. The German minister of foreign affairs had at first planned to deport German Jews to Madagascar, and Heydrich had instructed Eichmann to draw up a plan, but this was rapidly abandoned.

After the French capitulation, Nazi propaganda in which Jews were likened to rats was shown in all cinemas across the continent, from Poland to the English Channel, from Norway to Italy. Winston Churchill’s Britain was still holding out. For the Third Reich, the territories to be conquered lay to the east, in the USSR, which had been its ally since the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact of 1939. According to the German plans, Moscow would fall in a matter of weeks and the Jews would then be deported to Siberia. For Hitler, it was an ideological war. On 21 June 1941, the German armies entered Soviet soil, through the Baltic states and into Ukraine. A series of pogroms followed, like in Kaunas in July 1941. And the Einsatzgruppen, who in 1939 had eliminated the Polish elite, were sent in to hunt down Jews and Communists in the wake of the Wehrmacht, which was advancing at lightning speed. The conquered lands fell under the Nazi jackboot right along the front, and Jewish men aged between 16 and 40 were shot. They had the backing of the army, the military and civilian administrations in the occupied zones. From August 1941, Jewish women and children were also targeted by the Einsatzgruppen and its local collaborators. On 29 and 30 September 1941, they methodically shot 33,000 Jewish men, women and children in the Babi Yar ravine near Kiev.

Documentary: Annihilation
EP3 : Nazi Machine (2014)
Directed by William Karel & Blanche Finger
Production: ZADIG Productions

Germany 1933: The Rise of Hitler and the Persecution of the Jewish People | SLICE | Full Documentary

Feb 5, 2025 | Germany, 1933. Adolf Hitler, at the head of the Nazi Party, has just become Chancellor and is faced with leading a republic in the throes of economic crisis and rampant inflation. He used the cult of personality nurtured by his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, who spread the Nazi’s xenophobic and anti-Semitic ideology which Hitler had been touting since the First World War and which he reiterated in Mein Kampf: the Jews, he claimed, were part of an international conspiracy against Germany.

He would use the power of the German state, which had become the Third Reich in 1934, to progressively exclude the 600,000 German citizens of Jewish origin from society, first by forcing them to emigrate, then annihilating them.

Physical violence against Jews became widespread from the summer of 1935, the growing number of exactions leaving German society largely indifferent. Meanwhile, in the interior ministry, Nazis lawyers defined what it meant to be Jewish, thereby identifying who should be excluded. The Nuremberg laws of September 1935 notably withdrew German nationality from the country’s Jews.

On 12 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria without encountering any opposition, and without the slightest reaction on the part of Western democracies. Eichmann set up a central bureau to force Austria’s 100,000 Jews to emigrate, leaving behind all their possessions which were seized by the Reich.

But Western democracies were not prepared to welcome the refugees, and the Evian conference, initiated in July 1938 by US president Franklin Roosevelt, was doomed to failure. As a neutral country bordering Germany, Switzerland called for the passports of Jews fleeing the Reich to be stamped with a “J”, so it could refuse them entry for fear of them wishing to stay in the country.

Documentary: Annihilation EP1 : The End of Illusions (2016)
Director: William Karel & Blanche Finger
Production: ZADIG PRODUCTIONS

Vichy and the Nazis: A Deal with the Devil I SLICE History | Full Documentary

Jul 28, 2024 | Summer 1942: A real manhunt took place in Paris, then in occupied France, and even in the ‘zone libre’ (free zone). Close to 80 000 Jews were rounded-up and deported to the concentration camps. Almost none of them ever returned. Without the help of the French authorities and police, these operations carefully planned by the Nazis would never have existed.

How did the Vichy regime collaborate with the Nazi dictatorship in order to send it 79 convoys of men, women and children? Thanks to immersive re-enactments and archives footage for some unpublished, this film delves into the last elements revealed by historical research to make us live, from the inside, these waves of massive and violent arrests. One of the darkest episodes in history that still remains little-known.

Documentary: Vichy and the Nazis: a deal with the devil
Directed by Pauline Legrand & François Pomès
Production: Label News

Auschwitz: Lessons for Today's US America + Germany | Berlin Briefing Podcast

Jan 30, 2026 | On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated, revealing the scale of Nazi atrocities. 81 years later, the lessons of the Holocaust remain urgent. In this Holocaust Remembrance Day episode, our Berlin Briefing panel asks: What warning signs of authoritarianism should we be watching for today? Together, they explore rising hate crimes in Germany and the US, the politicization of antisemitism, and the broader dangers of state power targeting vulnerable communities. Nina Haase (DW Berlin Briefing host), Shani Rozanes (DW Israel and Middle East expert), Ines Pohl (DW Washington Bureau Chief), and Michaela Küfner (DW Chief Political Editor) highlight how these threats go beyond antisemitism alone — and why it's not just Holocaust survivors who say that remembering Auschwitz is essential to protecting democracy now.

Related video here.

American Jews Reclaim German Citizenship | DW News

Jan 29, 2026 | Once unthinkable: At 103, Holocaust survivor Ruth Gruenthal has reclaimed the German citizenship the Nazi regime stripped from her because she was Jewish. After surviving Nazi persecution and rebuilding her life in the U.S., Ruth became a psychotherapist and raised a family spanning four generations — many of whom have now also reclaimed German citizenship.

Born in Hamburg in 1922, imprisoned in France, and forced to flee Nazi persecution as a teenager, Ruth rebuilt her life in the United States, where she lived for decades. But recent political developments, rising antisemitism, and fears of growing authoritarianism in the U.S. have shaken her sense of security.

Ruth is not alone. An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship — not necessarily to leave, but to have a safeguard: the option to move to Germany should conditions in the United States deteriorate further.

Germany allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to reclaim citizenship that was deliberately taken from them. In New York alone, applications have more than doubled in recent years.

The True Story of the Jewish Pianist and the Nazi Officer Who Saved Him | Władysław Szpilman

Jan 16, 2026 | Władysław Szpilman was born in 1911 in Sosnowiec and trained as a pianist in interwar Warsaw, a capital city marked by a vibrant cultural life and the presence of a large Jewish community integrated into urban society. After completing his musical studies in Poland and Germany, he established his career as a performer and composer at Polish Radio, where he achieved national acclaim. On September 23, 1939, while Warsaw was being bombed, he performed a Chopin piece live; the broadcast was interrupted when the building was destroyed during the siege that followed the German invasion of Poland.

With the establishment of the General Government, administered by German authorities such as Hans Frank under the directives of the Reich, the city was subjected to a system of total control. The Jewish population was progressively isolated, confined, and deprived of resources. In 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was established, where overcrowding, food shortages, and deportations defined daily life. Szpilman lost his family during the major operations of 1942, when most of the ghetto's inhabitants were deported to Treblinka. From then on, his survival depended on forced labor, hiding, and the help of Polish civilians on the so-called "Aryan side."

In 1944, after the Warsaw Uprising and the systematic evacuation of the city, Szpilman remained hidden among the ruins. It was there that he met Wehrmacht Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who decided not to betray him and provided him with food and shelter during the winter. The entry of Soviet troops in January 1945 brought an end to the German occupation. In the postwar period, Szpilman resumed his musical work in Warsaw, left a written record of the city's destruction, and continued his career as a composer and cultural organizer until the end of the 20th century.

The Ordinary People Who Hid Their Jewish Neighbours from the Nazis

11 Jan 2026 | After the invasion of the German army in 1940, the Jews living in France, with the help of many, began their fight for survival. Of those in France, 75% survived the Holocaust. The film shows the circumstances surrounding the rescue of tens of thousands of Jews and the civilian resistance that produced the many Silent Saviours. The Nazi regime’s rise to power in 1933 brought with it the persecution of Jews living in Germany. In an attempt to escape this oppressive system, many fled to France – a revolutionary land known for its protection of human rights. The persecuted were more than ever before, heavily dependent on the kindness of strangers. During this period of persecution many people of the French populous, were ready to risk their lives in order to protect the hunted Jews.

'I Took On Nick Fuentes; He Should Worry Everyone.' | LBC interviews

Dec 21, 2025 | Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein, the son of a Holocaust survivor, was featured in Piers Morgan's interview with white nationalist and self-confessed racist streamer Nick Fuentes, who's seen skyrocketing popularity since the death of Charlie Kirk.

In the video, Lord Finkelstein challenges Fuentes' support of Hitler, who he considers "really cool".

As the 27-year-old influencer's popularity continues to grow, and cause distress amongst Britain's Jewish population, Lewis Goodall sits down with Lord Finkelstein to discuss his experience.

Suspect in Bondi Beach Massacre Is Charged With Murder and Terrorism

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Australian authorities said the 24-year-old man, who had been shot by the police, woke from a coma on Tuesday afternoon.

The surviving suspect in the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, was charged on Wednesday with murder, terrorism and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder, the police said.

The shooting at a beachside Hanukkah celebration on Sunday left 15 people dead, including a 10-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor who was a grandfather of 11. Two gunmen, who the police said were father and son, were shot by officers; one died at the scene, and the other was taken to a hospital. The authorities said the men appeared to have been motivated by Islamic State-inspired antisemitism.

The younger suspect, 24, had been in a coma until Tuesday afternoon, according to Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for the state of New South Wales. The suspect remains hospitalized under police guard, according to the police. He had a bail hearing through a video link on Wednesday and no bail was requested, according to a charge sheet from the court.

The man, identified in the charge sheet as Naveed Akram, faces 59 charges in all, including displaying a symbol of a terrorist organization and placing explosives with the intent to cause harm. Officials previously said that two black Islamic State flags and improvised explosive devices had been found in the vehicle that the gunmen drove to the site of the shooting. » | Victoria Kim and Yan Zhuang | Reporting from Sydney, Australia | Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Danny Finkelstein: I No longer Feel Safe in London after Bondi Beach Attack

Dec 15, 2025 | “When my grandfather was having an argument with a Zionist in the 1930s, Israel hadn’t been created yet. They still managed to have a Holocaust at that point.”

Danny Finkelstein says he no longer feels safe in London after the Bondi Beach attack.

Bondi Beach Mass Shooting: 10 People Killed after Gunshots Fired at Sydney Park Hosting Jewish Festival

THE GUARDIAN: Police say one alleged shooter dead, with second arrested and in a critical condition. Eighteen others taken to multiple hospitals across Sydney

Ten people have died, including one alleged gunman, following a mass shooting at Bondi beach during which more than a dozen gunshots were fired in the area.

New South Wales police confirmed on Sunday evening that nine people and one person suspected to be a gunman had died.

There was a Jewish festival at the beach on Sunday evening, and the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, said: “I think this was very deliberate and very targeted.”

In a statement on Sunday evening, NSW police said officers were first called to Campbell Parade at about 6.45pm, responding to reports of shots being fired.

They confirmed the dead included a man believed to be one of two gunmen, with the second alleged shooter in a critical condition. They said two police officers were among at least 11 other people injured. » | Penry Buckley | Sunday, December 14, 2025

Bondi Beach Is One of Australia’s Most Famous Destinations »

En français :

Fusillade à Bondi Beach, en Australie: le président israélien condamne une «attaque cruelle contre des Juifs» : Après les tirs qui ont fait au moins dix morts sur une plage de Sydney, Isaac Herzog a condamné une attaque «cruelle» contre des Juifs qui célébraient Hanouka et a demandé à l’Australie de lutter davantage contre l’antisémitisme. »

Auf Deutsch:

Schüsse auf Juden am Bondi Beach in Sydney: Mindestens zwölf Tote, Dutzende Verletzte: Zwei Attentäter haben am weltberühmten Bondi Beach das Feuer auf Hunderte Menschen bei einer Chanukka-Feier eröffnet. Mindestens zwölf Menschen sind dabei ums Leben gekommen. »

Holocaust Survivors Call on Nigel Farage to Apologise over Alleged Antisemitic Comments

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Group’s open letter says Reform UK leader must take responsibility for behaviour as a schoolboy

A group of Holocaust survivors have demanded Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for the antisemitic comments that fellow pupils of Dulwich College allege he made toward Jewish pupils.

The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with intent but may have engaged in “banter in a playground”.

But in a letter to Farage seen by the Guardian, the 11 survivors said: “As Holocaust survivors, we understand the danger of hateful words – because we have seen where such words lead.

“Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not anywhere.

“When allegations arise about invoking Nazi attitudes toward Jewish children, the responsible response is honesty, reflection, and commitment to truth.

“So we ask you: did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to antisemitic abuse?”

The survivors include Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family in the Holocaust. Another member of the group, Simon Winston, was held in a ghetto before escaping in September 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.

Another signatory is Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she spent nearly a year. In October 1944, she was moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated by the British in April 1945. » | Henry Dyer and Daniel Boffey | Friday, December 5, 2025

Antisemitism Allegations against the Teenage Farage Matter – Look At What He Went On to Do

THE GUARDIAN: Farage has cosied up to US figures who espoused conspiracy theories about Jews. That kind of talk is becoming alarmingly mainstream on the Maga right

Nigel Farage could have strangled this story at birth. Confronted with the testimony of more than 20 former schoolmates, who shared with the Guardian their memories of a young Farage taunting Jews and other minorities in the most appalling terms – telling a Jewish pupil that “Hitler was right”, singing “Gas ’em all” and making a hissing sound to simulate lethal gas – he could have said: “I have no memory of what’s been described, but such behaviour would of course have been atrocious and if I was involved in any way, I am genuinely sorry.”

Sure, it would have been more of an “ifpology” than an apology, its admission of guilt wholly conditional, but it would surely have closed the story down. Reassured that the Reform UK leader had declared racist and antisemitic abuse unacceptable, most observers would have allowed that these events took place half a century ago and moved on.

But that is not what Farage did. Instead, he and his party have offered shifting accounts, moving from outright denial to non-denial denial and back again. That slipperiness itself raises questions about the character of the man who, according to the polls, is on course to be Britain’s next prime minister. But this episode also points to a larger and more alarming phenomenon, one that stretches far beyond these shores. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, November 28, 2025

November 9: A Day of Destiny?

Nov 8, 2025 | Why is November 9th such a significant date in Germany and what does it have to do with German democracy? In this History Story we explore the questions: Why did the Nazis choose November 9th, of all days, for marches, festivities - and for their first major violent attack on Jews, known internationally as "Kristallnacht" or "The Night of Broken Glass"? How did the date come to symbolize new beginnings, and freedom? And why is November 9th a day of mourning for so many people? The date, known in Germany as “Schicksalstag” or “Day of Destiny”, has been instrumentalized to overwrite history and decide the fates of German citizens.

We talk to historian and author Wolfgang Niess, who in his book "Der 9. November - Die Deutschen und ihr Schicksalstag", explains the background and historical context of this day. Israeli filmmaker Yael Reuveny shares the feelings and associations that November 9th evokes and how Jewish people feel living in Germany. For many years, Berlin was a refuge for Israelis dissatisfied with their home country's politics. However, since the October 7th multi-front terror attacks on Israel by the militant group Hamas and the ensuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Germany is experiencing a wave of antisemitic crimes. Although state policy upholds the protection of Jewish life, antisemitism is nonetheless deeply rooted, and on the rise.

German democracy - a fragile achievement. It's been fought for time and again in Germany. On November 9th, we are reminded of the need to remain vigilant in its defence.

IHIP News: MAGA Turns On JD Vance in Disgusting Racist Civil War. They Want Usha Out.

Nov 8, 2025 | MAGA men cannot stand up for their diverse families when the racist they associate with inevitably turn on them.

Very strong language alert!

The Path to Nazi Genocide | 2025 | Holocaust Education

Oct 20, 2025 | This 38-minute film introduces the history of the Holocaust. It begins by looking back at the major changes from 1918 to 1933 that created the political climate for the birth and rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. It explores the basis for the party’s support among ordinary Germans and the military, government, and business establishment before and after Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933.

After 1933, Nazi leaders used violence and intimidation, propaganda, laws and decrees, and parliamentary maneuvers to quickly destroy the remains of democratic rule. Having established a dictatorship, leaders began pursuing ideological goals. These included the purification and strengthening of the “superior” German “race” and the return of Germany to great power status through economic revival and the build-up of the military.

Jews, who were viewed in Nazi ideology as a separate and dangerous “race,” went from being German citizens with full equal rights to outcasts. They were pressured to immigrate and excluded from the racially based “people’s community” that gave many Germans, especially youth, a sense of belonging. Other excluded groups included Roma, persons with disabilities, gay men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and political opponents.

During World War II, which began in 1939, German military conquests and alliances endangered Jews living in countries across German-dominated Europe. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in summer 1941, envisioned by Nazi leaders and the German military as a “war of annihilation,” was a key turning point on the path to the genocide of Europe’s Jews. The murder of 6 million Jewish men, women, and children required the active participation or acquiescence of countless Germans and Europeans from all walks of life.

What Israel Really Doesn’t Want You To Know - Holocaust Survivor Son Exposes All

October 14, 2025

For Britain’s Jews, a New and Deadly Sign of Rising Antisemitism

THE NEW YORK TIMES: In the hours after an attack, a blanket of fear and grief fell over synagogues and Jewish community centers across the country.

When Manchester, England, joined Boulder, Colorado, Washington and other cities in the tragic roll call of anti-Jewish violence on Thursday, British Jews were shocked and saddened by the recognition that antisemitism, already on the rise in their country, had mutated again into something deadlier.

Like other European countries and the United States, Britain has recorded a marked rise in antisemitic incidents in the nearly two years since the attack by Hamas militants on civilians in Israel and the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that followed.

There had been no recent acts of targeted violence at synagogues in Britain, although Jewish people and places of worship have featured in several terrorist plots thwarted by the police over the past decade.

“We haven’t had an incident like this here,” said David Feldman, the co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism in London. “This is, in the most literal sense, extraordinary.” » | Mark Landler | Reporting from London | Thursday, October 2, 2025

Why Didn't the Jews Leave Nazi Germany?

May 17, 2024 | After twenty years of teaching about the Holocaust, a number of questions keep recurring. One of the most persistent is why German Jews, after suffering years of abuse and discrimination under the Nazis didn't just leave the country? Tragically, it was not that simple.

ITV News Obtains First Photo Believed to Show Manchester Synagogue Attacker Jihad Al-Shamie

Oct 2, 2025 | ITV News can exclusively reveal the first image of the Manchester synagogue attacker, who has been identified as Jihad Al-Shamie.

In a statement, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that, although formal identification is yet to take place, they believe the person responsible for Thursday's attack is the 35-year-old.

According to the force he is "a British citizen of Syrian descent".

ITV News understands he was a father and his family had lived in Greater Manchester for at least 30 years. His father appears to have worked as a trauma surgeon for several NGOs in warzones across the world. Al-Shamie appears to have worked as a tutor teaching English and computer programming.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that according to their records, Jihad Al-Shamie had no previous Prevent referrals - that means authorities were not aware that he was at risk of becoming involved with terrorism through radicalisation.


Israel blames Starmer after synagogue terror attack: Suspect shot dead after killing two people in car and knife rampage at Yom Kippur service in Manchester »