Public Reverberations Continue One Year After ‘holocaust’ Televised

Personal and public reverberations are still being felt more than a year after the U.S. airing of “Holocaust, ” the NBC-television series about Nazi destruction of European Jewry from 1933-45. Robert Berger, of Tilus Productions and director of the series, which after “Roots” was the most watched television show in the U.S. and the most-watched show worldwide, was here last night talking about his $6 million. “labor of love” at an Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith dinner.

At the dinner, Seattle’s Rainier National Bank and KING Broadcasting Co. received the ADL’s “Americanism Award” for their effort “in assisting the ADL in reawakening the public to the horrors of the World War II Nazi era.” For Berger, who has produced such docu-dramas as “Missiles of October” and “Pueblo,” the success of “Holocaust” has made for a warmer reception in the offices of television networks. “Before, I was an esoteric literary person, never known for a vastly successful show,” he said.

Other spinoffs from the show have been the development of a Chair for Holocaust Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the emotional explosion following its airing in West Germany has led to public demands for the extension of the law in West Germany under which Nazi war criminals can be prosecuted.

Also, Learning Corporation of America has begun marketing the series to schools and civic and religious groups. According to ADL estimates about 10 percent of primary and secondary school students in the United States are now studying the Holocaust as part of their regular curriculum.

REGRETS CRITICISM OF THE SERIES

In his talk, Berger regretted criticism that he and his partner, Herbert Brodkin, commercialized and profited from a tragedy. They still owe NBC $450,000, he noted. And one week before “Holocaust” was aired, “the halls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (where NBC television is located) were quaking with fear.” NBC’s research department had predicted a small viewing audience, hardly the harbinger of financial gain, he said.

The show was also criticized for historical inaccuracies, he said, but he related how former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban consoled him with a comment, “Your show, like Israel, exists. And they will go on arguing its merits for years.”

Finally, Berger said he found most ironic politically motivated criticism that took the form of censorship. Four seconds of nudity of prisoners heading to the gas chambers was cut from the film in the U.S. although it remained in all foreign versions. Other countries sliced other segments. England cut out about five minutes because Polish immigrants complained over inaccurate ribbons on Polish officers’ hats. However, apparently, the immigrants were also upset over the way the Polish officers were depicted.

French TV chopped off the ending of the show because it was not “liked.” French viewers never knew that Rudi Weiss, one of the main characters of the series, went to Palestine. West Germany and Israel, he said, cut nothing.