Kurt Gerron’s Karussel

Description

A bittersweet film by Ilona Ziok about the journey of a Jewish entertainer, Kurt Gerron, during the Holocaust. Gerron (co-star of von Sternberg’s THE BLUE ANGEL) opened a cabaret, KARUSSELL, in the Nazi concentration camp of Thereseinstadt. In 1944, he was forced to direct a propaganda film, THE FURHRER GIVE THE JEWS A CITY, in exchange for his life. The film was shown to the International Red Cross in 1944 as part of the Nazis’ attempt to convince the world that Jews were treated well in the camps. In 1944, Gerron’s life and work came to an abrupt end in an Auschwitz gas chamber.