Two museum events open to celebrate Ken Burns ‘Holocaust’ and ‘Jews of the Wild West’ documentaries

Two museums – the National World War II Museum and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, both in close proximity will host several showings of films of interest to the local Jewish community in the coming weeks.

Ken Burns’ “The U.S. and the Holocaust” can be previewed on September 8.

WYES-TV (Channel 12) will partner with the World War II Museum with a reception and the showing of one episode of Ken Burns’ latest three-part documentary “‘The U.S. and the Holocaust.” The producing team of Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein will document American responses to the Holocaust.

The documentary, which will be shown in its entirety over WYES-TV on September 18, 19 and 20 at 7:00 p.m., was inspired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibit. The documentary, which also repeats each night at 9:00 p.m., examines the rise of Hitler and the Nazis and compares what transpired in Europe at the same time that race laws were enforced across the South. The documentary was written by Geoffrey Ward.

A reception will be held in the lobby of the Solomon Victory Theater from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the lobby followed by the screening in the theater. A panel will be on hand to discuss the film afterwards.

This showing is free to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Poster for “Jews of the Wild West” documentary.

Then, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience will share stories of Jewish pioneers who were part of the development of the West with the showings of a new documentary “Jews of the Wild West” on Thursday, September 15 and Saturday, September 17. 

Filmmaker Amanda Kinsey will speak via a Zoom conference to attendees who attend the Thursday, September 15 showing of the 88-minute documentary.