What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedShoah
Claude Lanzmann · Film · 1985
If you loved Shoah, start with Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution (2005) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Shoah across media.
What hooked you in Shoah was the way the weight of collective memory is carried through haunting, unfiltered personal testimony.
Books on the same thread
The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale (Pantheon Graphic Library)
Art Spiegelman · Book · 2022
Shares a thread with Shoah: Intergenerational Trauma.
Like the witnesses in Shoah, this work explores intergenerational trauma by grounding massive historical tragedy in the intimate, painful process of recounting a personal life story for posterity.
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman · Book · 1992
Shares a thread with Shoah: intergenerational trauma.
Much like the oral history approach of Shoah, this narrative captures the complexity of memory and the enduring, multifaceted impact of the Holocaust on survivors and their descendants.
Night
Elie Wiesel · Book · 2006
Explores: Loss of Faith, Dehumanization, Survival.
This memoir echoes the raw, unflinching witness testimony found in Shoah, offering a direct, personal encounter with the dehumanization and survival that defined the Holocaust experience.
The Drowned and the Saved
Primo Levi · Book · 2017
Explores: Memory, Trauma, Resilience.
Returning to the themes of Shoah, this meditation on Auschwitz examines the fragility of memory and the profound struggle to comprehend historical tragedy through a survivor’s lens.
Series on the same thread
Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution
Series · 2005
Explores: The Holocaust, Concentration Camps, World War II.
While Shoah focuses on individual testimony, this series provides the essential historical context of the camps, grounding the human stories you witnessed in a broader, systemic reality.
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Ken Burns · Series · 2022
Explores: World War II, Antisemitism, Nazism.
This series complements the focus on accountability in Shoah by investigating the political conditions and societal failures that allowed for the rise of the Nazi regime.
The World at War
Series · 1973
Explores: World War II, Historical Account, The Holocaust.
If you valued the historical scope of Shoah, this comprehensive series offers a wider perspective on the global events and propaganda that shaped the Holocaust era.
Holocaust
Gerald Green · Series · 1978
Explores: The Holocaust, Nazi persecution, Jewish persecution.
This drama dramatizes the same era of persecution depicted in Shoah, focusing on how ordinary lives were systematically dismantled by the political machinery of the Nazi regime.
Podcasts on the same thread
Slow Burn
Slate Podcasts · Podcast · 2026
Explores: Political scandal, Archival research, Cultural impact.
The investigative spirit of Shoah is mirrored here, as the use of archival research and first-person interviews brings hidden, consequential history into the present day for examination.
Stuff You Should Know
Podcast
Explores: historical events, scientific concepts, cultural phenomena.
For those captivated by the investigative curiosity of Shoah, this show offers a similarly deep dive into complex subjects, untangling historical events through clear and detailed explanation.
Keep exploring
Common questions
How long did it take to make Shoah?
Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years creating Shoah. This extensive production period was dedicated to conducting his own interviews with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators to document the history of the Holocaust without relying on any archival footage.
Does Shoah use archival footage?
No, Shoah does not use a single frame of archival footage. Claude Lanzmann intentionally chose to rely exclusively on his own interviews with witnesses, including survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and various witnesses of the Warsaw ghetto.
Who are the interview subjects in Shoah?
Claude Lanzmann divides the interview subjects in Shoah into three distinct categories: survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators. These individuals provide personal testimonies regarding their experiences and observations during the Holocaust, specifically covering locations like the Chelmno concentration camp and the Warsaw ghetto.
Is Shoah a documentary film?
Yes, Shoah is a sprawling documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann. It is notable for its unique approach to the subject matter, as it avoids using archival footage and instead focuses entirely on the testimonies of survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators gathered over eleven years of production.