Representations of Jewish Functionaries in the Holocaust in Israeli Documentary Cinema

Abstract

The role of Jewish functionaries during the Holocaust has fueled heated debates internationally, as well as in Israel since the 1940s. For decades, however, the topic was marginalized in Israeli cinema. The documentary, Kapo (Tor Ben-Mayor and Dan Setton 1999) was the first to include filmed testimonies of former Jewish female functionaries in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The documentary, We Wept Without Tears (Itai Lev and Gideon Greif 2021) is the first to include testimonies by members of the Sonderkommando (“the special squad”) i.e., prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau, primarily Jews, who were forced to work in the killing installations. This article analyzes the ways these documentaries deliberately suspend judgment to provide a more complex perspective on these individuals. Kapo and We Wept Without Tears are examined in the context of how Holocaust memory has changed in Israeli society and cinema. The discussion centers on the ways these films generate a non-judgmental narrative, and the similarities and differences between them in approaching this sensitive topic. It shows that Kapo endeavors to maintain cinematic ambivalence, whereas We Wept Without Tears deliberately highlights the protagonists’ lack of agency and avoids rendering judgment.

Keywords

• auschwitz-birkenau
• holocaust
• holocaust survivors
• israeli cinema
• israeli culture
• jewish functionaries