The Yabloko Party hosted a screening of the “Night and Fog” documentary dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust
Press Release, 30.01.2025
Photo: Grigory Grishin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 29 January, the central office of the Yabloko Party in Moscow hosted a screening of the documentary film by French director Alain Resnais “Night and Fog” (“Nuit et Brouillard”), dedicated to the topic of the Holocaust. The discussion was moderated by Grigory Grishin, Advisor to the Yabloko Chairman and documentary filmmaker.
The title of the film refers to Adolf Hitler’s directive “Night and Fog” of 7 December, 1941, which authorised the kidnapping of anti-Nazi political activists throughout all the territories occupied by Germany and their deportation to concentration camps. The film reveals the camp theme from the construction of death camps to the description of the life and torture of prisoners.
In France, the film is part of the history curriculum for the last year of college. “Night and Fog” won the Grand Prix (1956), the Prix Jean Vigo in the short film category (1956), and was nominated for the BAFTA award (1961).
The participants of the event not only saw the documented horrors of that time, but also tried to answer questions about humanity, memory and responsibility. The viewers shared their impressions of the film, and also talked about their personal experience of visiting Auschwitz.
It should be noted that 80 years ago, on 27 January, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. This day became the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
According to calculations by Danuta Czech and František Piper, 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz, of which 1.1 million were Jews.
A total of 1.1 million prisoners died, including more than 1 million Jews, 75,000 Poles, 20,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and more than 10,000 people of other nationalities.
But for the 200,000 prisoners who survived Auschwitz, the torment was not over. Thousands died of exhaustion and hunger or were shot during marches to train stations, while others died during transport in open coal cars. Many more could not withstand the hardships in the camps of Bergen-Belsen, Stutthof, Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenburg, Sachsenhausen, Neuengamme, and others.
Posted: January 31st, 2025 under Conferences and Seminars, Freedom of Speech, History, Human Rights, Overcoming Stalin's Legacy, YABLOKO Against Nationalism, Extremism and Xenophobia.