After seeing the Shoah video on Monday, I was interested in viewing it again. Soon realized that Bomba’s interview was still not easy to watch. Having a calm composure at the beginning of the interview must have been difficult measure for him to achieve even years away from the event. To come to grasp that his job was the only thing standing between him and getting killed in the gas chamber is terrifying to think about. Not to mention that he had to cut the hair of people he knew in his village, having to lie to them that they were only being brought for a shower. Though Bomba’s composure crumbles once he starts talking about witnessing a friend cutting the hair of his wife and child, trying to embrace them for as long as he could. That part stung, I could feel some of his pain as he tried to hold back tears and refrain from telling the story. But Lanzmann had to press on so that the story could be heard. A difficult but necessary choice. In a way, the Lanzmann’s decision to push Bomba to respond is similar to how Andrea, Shreya, and I have to push our interviewees to talk about their experiences with DACA. It is not easy to press on them, but a necessary thing to share their story.
I agree. This interview was intense in many ways. Abe spoke so assuredly until he was pressed for more, at a time when he thought he couldn’t go on. His testimony was painful to watch despite the matter of fact way in which he gave it.
It seemed like Lanzmann had a connection with Abe prior to him pushing for Abe to finish his answer, otherwise Abe might not have cooperated. My group (opioids) will have some potentially intense interviews coming up shortly and this interview has helped prepare me for a situation when a difficult story is being told. I hope it doesn’t get to the point where I would need to push for a complete answer because I’m not sure if I could do it.