The American made four-part television series, “Holocaust” first aired in West Germany in January, 1979, is being re-broadcast beginning tonight — this time on the First Program which is presented at the peak viewing hour.
The remaining three ports will be broadcast during the week. When the NBC-TV production was originally scheduled for German audiences three years ago it encountered considerable resistance. It was relegated to the Third Program which is not prime time and generally has a much smaller audience.
Nevertheless, some 20,3 million people viewed the series when it was aired the first time and the impact clearly shattered public indifference toward the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era. But public opinion polls showed later that the strong effect of the dramatized documentary wore off completely within a few months.
The new airing is expected to touch off another public discussion of the Holocaust and its political and moral consequences. As in 1979, the broadcasts will be followed with discussion by a panel of experts. The State television station expects thousands of telephone calls from viewers.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
