As the years go on, there are very few around you will remember first-hand accounts of the Holocaust. It makes Holocaust dramas all the more important. We need to remember the atrocities so that we don’t repeat them.
There are some excellent Holocaust dramas on right now, and there are many others from the past. We’re focusing on those that deal with the persecution of the Jews rather than other traumatic elements of World War II. And there were a lot! We’ll get to the others in another article.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
We do start with the most recent of the Holocaust dramas. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is available to stream on Peacock right now. All six episodes of the miniseries dropped at once. This is based on the novel by Heather Morris, which is loosely based on a true story. This is one of love and survival in the midst of the horrors of one of the worst concentration camps of the Nazis.
We follow Lali’s story, a tattooist at Auschwitz. When he meets Gita, everything changes for him. He realizes that there is more to fight for than himself. He and Gita fall in love, and they will do whatever it takes to protect one another.
Watch The Tattooist of Auschwitz on Peacock.
We Were the Lucky Ones
It wasn’t just the Nazi Germans who were against the Jewish people. Some of the Soviets and other parts of the world took steps to help the Nazis with the extermination of people. We Were the Lucky Ones reminds us of that. It’s another series based on a novel, and this one is also based on a true story.
We follow the Kurc family, Polish Jews who are separated by the War. One is living in Paris at the time and finds himself unable to get home for Passover. Another is trapped in the Ghetto and realizes she will need to risk everything if she wants to create a future with her daughter. Another ends up sent to a Serbian work camp with his pregnant wife and needs to figure out how they can survive.
Watch We Were the Lucky Ones on Hulu.
A Small Light
You know the story of Anne Frank and those she hid in the attic with through Anne’s words. Her diary is one of the most popular books in the world. However, what do you know of those who hid the Franks and others? What do you know of the risks they took? A Small Light tells us the story of Miep Gies and those who helped the Franks.
We get to see how difficult it was to keep food going up to the attic. We see the story from the view of adults rather than a 13-year-old girl who admittedly didn’t understand everything that was going on as she wrote her diary. There is also the story of how the diary ended up being passed onto Otto Frank, as the war came to an end and he realized he was the only surviving member of his family.
A Small Light is available to stream on National Geographic and Hulu.
Uprising
This is actually a two-part TV movie, but we’re including it on the list of TV shows. Uprising is well worth the search for, as it focuses on a slightly different part of World War II history than the concentration camps.
This takes place in a Warsaw Ghetto, where a group of Jewish people learn that they are going to be sent to an extermination camp. Rather than leave their fate in the hands of God, they choose to fight back. Naturally, the Nazis take actions of their own, but this allows us to remember the fight that the Jewish people put up at a time of trauma and atrocity.
War and Remembrance
This series isn’t just about the Holocaust. There are other elements of World War II included in it, but one of the focuses is on the people of the Theresienstadt Ghetto. We follow a number of Jewish characters who are awaiting shipment to a Nazi death camp.
We watch as they learn of their fates. We see the attempt to rise up and fight. There is also the focus on everyday survival and fear at a time when they had no idea what was to come and if this would ever end.
Holocaust
We end with the 1978 miniseries Holocaust, which focuses on two families. The first is the Dorf family, a German family where the patriarch, Erik, is an SS Soldier following the Nazi way of life. The second is the Weiss family, a Jewish family facing the threats of death.
Throughout the four episodes, we see the construction of the Jewish ghettos, the T4 Euthanasia Program, and the construction of the gas chambers. It doesn’t shy away from the truth, bringing some of the traumatic stories to life in the concentration camps, the ghettos, and beyond.
The final three are shows you’ll need to buy on Digital as they are not currently on any streaming platforms.