Educational Media Reviews Online

This short documentary, inspired by Laurel Leff’s book Buried by the Times : The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper (Cambridge University Press, 2005), looks at The New York Times’ minimal coverage of the Jewish Holocaust despite reports coming out of Europe that Jews were being systematically killed. From 1939 to 1945 the Times published 11,500 stories about World War II, but only 26 covered the Holocaust.

Journalists and historians explain how important the Times was in the 1940’s—a cultural institution containing everything from news to recipes and funny pages, it was the only daily newspaper delivered to many American homes. The paper’s owner, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, was Jewish. However, anti-Semitism was overt and common in the United States; journalist and author Laurel Leff argues that Sulzberger felt the Times’ reputation would suffer if it printed many stories about the plight of European Jews. Americans wanted to read about the War more in the context of American military progress—the victories, defeats and possible fates of their husbands and sons who were serving overseas.

Newsreel footage and still images illustrate the Jews’ suffering and the Times’ minimal response. Estelle Laughlin, a Holocaust survivor born in 1929 Poland, tells about her mother’s belief that the world would not stand for the persecution of Jews; like Laughlin’s mother, many European Jews believed that when other nations knew what was happening, justice would prevail.

Although Leff has her detractors, this is an excellent introduction to the issue—an award-winning documentary, highly recommended.

Awards

• East Coast Best Woman Director, 18th Annual Directors Guild of America Student Filmmaker Award
• Special Jury Mention, Student Category, 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
• Best Student Documentary, 2013 Real to Reel Film Festival
• Best Social Action Short Documentary, 2013 Oregon Independent Film Festival
• Best Student Short Film, 2013 Docutah Film Festival