The 50 Most Moving Holocaust Films
by pklose | created - 04 Jan 2011 | updated - 04 Jan 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,523 | Gross: $96.90M
2. Sophie's Choice (1982)
R | 150 min | Drama, Romance
Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol, Rita Karin
Votes: 52,791 | Gross: $30.04M
3. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,521 | Gross: $57.60M
4. Kapo (1960)
116 min | Drama, War
A young Jewish girl leads an escape attempt from a concentration camp.
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo | Stars: Susan Strasberg, Laurent Terzieff, Emmanuelle Riva, Didi Perego
Votes: 2,597
5. Holocaust (1978)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, History, Romance
The saga of a Jewish family's struggle to survive the horror of Nazi Germany's systematic marginalization and extermination of their community.
Stars: Joseph Bottoms, Tovah Feldshuh, Rosemary Harris, Tony Haygarth
Votes: 5,506
6. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,821 | Gross: $32.57M
7. Train of Life (1998)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, War
In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.
Director: Radu Mihaileanu | Stars: Lionel Abelanski, Rufus, Clément Harari, Michel Muller
Votes: 9,591 | Gross: $0.15M
8. Fateless (2005)
R | 140 min | Drama, Romance, War
14-year-old György's life is torn apart in WWII Hungary, as he is deported first to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where he is forced to become a man in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.
Director: Lajos Koltai | Stars: Marcell Nagy, Béla Dóra, Bálint Péntek, Áron Dimény
Votes: 7,159 | Gross: $0.20M
9. Playing for Time (1980 TV Movie)
150 min | Drama, Music
Female prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp (Auschwitz) are spared from death in return for performing music for their captors.
Directors: Daniel Mann, Joseph Sargent | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander, Maud Adams, Christine Baranski
Votes: 2,885
10. The Grey Zone (2001)
R | 108 min | Drama, History, War
A Nazi doctor, along with the Sonderkommando, Jews who are forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz against their fellow Jews, find themselves in a moral gray zone.
Director: Tim Blake Nelson | Stars: David Arquette, Velizar Binev, David Chandler, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 11,427 | Gross: $0.52M
11. Seven Beauties (1975)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The defense of honor, a strong value in Neapolitan society, and its effects on the life of everyman Pasquale Frafuso.
Director: Lina Wertmüller | Stars: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler, Elena Fiore
Votes: 6,488 | Gross: $0.01M
12. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,483 | Gross: $5.58M
13. The Counterfeiters (2007)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History
The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach
Votes: 47,183 | Gross: $5.48M
14. Amen. (2002)
Not Rated | 132 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
During WWII SS officer Kurt Gerstein tries to inform Pope Pius XII about Jews being sent to extermination camps. Young Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana helps him in the difficult mission to inform the world.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Mühe, Michel Duchaussoy
Votes: 14,982 | Gross: $0.27M
15. Angry Harvest (1985)
R | 105 min | Drama, Romance, War
In the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers ... See full summary »
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Wojciech Pszoniak, Gerd Baltus
Votes: 867
16. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,613 | Gross: $9.03M
17. Divided We Fall (2000)
PG-13 | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, War
In German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), a childless couple agree to hide a Jewish friend at great personal risk of discovery and execution.
Director: Jan Hrebejk | Stars: Bolek Polívka, Csongor Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Anna Sisková
Votes: 5,392 | Gross: $1.32M
18. Conspiracy (2001 TV Movie)
R | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Clare Bullus, Stanley Tucci, Simon Markey, David Glover
Votes: 24,833
19. Landscape After Battle (1970)
109 min | Drama, History, Romance
The film opens with the mad rush of haphazard freedom as the concentration camps are liberated. Men are trying to grab food, change clothes, bury the tormentors they find alive. They are ... See full summary »
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Daniel Olbrychski, Stanislawa Celinska, Aleksander Bardini, Tadeusz Janczar
Votes: 886
20. Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)
Not Rated | 95 min | Biography, Drama, War
The life of Anne Frank and her family from 1939 to 1945: pre-war fears, invasion of Netherlands by German troops, hiding in Amsterdam, deportation to the camps, return of Anne's father.
Stars: Ben Kingsley, Hannah Taylor Gordon, Brenda Blethyn, Lili Taylor
Votes: 5,422
21. Uprising (2001 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 177 min | Drama, War
Jews rise up in the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis in 1943.
Director: Jon Avnet | Stars: Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer, Jon Voight
Votes: 5,122
22. Escape from Sobibor (1987 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama, History, War
German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.
Director: Jack Gold | Stars: Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacula, Rutger Hauer, Hartmut Becker
Votes: 9,830
23. The Boat Is Full (1981)
PG | 101 min | Drama, War
During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: ... See full summary »
Director: Markus Imhoof | Stars: Tina Engel, Hans Diehl, Martin Walz, Curt Bois
Votes: 704
24. God on Trial (2008 TV Movie)
86 min | Drama, War
Awaiting their inevitable deaths at one of the worst concentration camps, a group of Jews make a rabbinical court to decide whether God has gone against the Holy Covenant and if He is the one guilty for their suffering.
Director: Andy De Emmony | Stars: Joseph Muir, Josef Altin, Ashley Artus, Alexi Kaye Campbell
Votes: 3,913
25. Defiance (I) (2008)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
Jewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos
Votes: 155,703 | Gross: $28.64M
26. Jacob the Liar (1974)
100 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Jewish ghetto in central Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Beyer | Stars: Vlastimil Brodský, Erwin Geschonneck, Henry Hübchen, Blanche Kommerell
Votes: 1,378
27. The Ninth Day (2004)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau
Votes: 1,948 | Gross: $0.07M
28. Un amour à taire (2005 TV Movie)
103 min | Drama, Romance, War
A young Jewish girl looking to escape the clutches of the Third Reich after seeing her parents and sister brutally slain while attempting to make their way to England is sheltered by an old... See full summary »
Director: Christian Faure | Stars: Jérémie Renier, Louise Monot, Bruno Todeschini, Nicolas Gob
Votes: 3,207
29. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Biography, Drama, Family
During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut, Richard Beymer
Votes: 13,696 | Gross: $5.01M
30. The Wall (1982 TV Movie)
Unrated | 135 min | Action, War, Drama
A dramatic re-enactment of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish uprising in April 1943 were 650 armed members of the Jewish Fighting Organization of Poland held off a 3,000 strong Nazi force in which ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Markowitz | Stars: Tom Conti, Lisa Eichhorn, Gerald Hiken, Rachel Roberts
Votes: 227
31. Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989 TV Movie)
160 min | Biography, Drama, War
A biographical portrayal of Simon Wiesenthal, famous Nazi Hunter. From his imprisonment in a Nazi Concentration Camp, the film follows his liberation and his rise to become one of the ... See full summary »
Director: Brian Gibson | Stars: Ben Kingsley, Anton Lesser, Craig T. Nelson, Robert Morelli
Votes: 362
32. Triumph of the Spirit (1989)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
In Greece during World War II, a young Jewish boxer, his girlfriend, and their families are sent to Auschwitz. When the camp guards learn of his boxing abilities, they force him to participate in weekly boxing matches.
Director: Robert M. Young | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle
Votes: 2,785 | Gross: $0.41M
33. Bent (1997)
NC-17 | 105 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 1930s Berlin, a gay Jew is sent to a concentration camp under the Nazi regime.
Director: Sean Mathias | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Clive Owen, Mick Jagger, Brian Webber
Votes: 8,822 | Gross: $0.37M
34. The Island on Bird Street (1997)
PG-13 | 107 min | Biography, Drama, War
During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
Director: Søren Kragh-Jacobsen | Stars: Patrick Bergin, Jordan Kiziuk, Jack Warden, James Bolam
Votes: 1,900
35. Sunshine (1999)
R | 181 min | Drama, History, Romance
The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle
Votes: 15,800 | Gross: $5.10M
36. The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama, War
A carpenter in the Fascist Slovak State is appointed "Aryan controller" of a Jewish widow's store.
Directors: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos | Stars: Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kroner, Frantisek Zvarík, Hana Slivková
Votes: 9,735
37. The Pawnbroker (1964)
Approved | 116 min | Drama
A Jewish pawnbroker, victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez
Votes: 10,719
38. The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Irena Sendler, a social worker who was part of the Polish underground during World War II and was arrested by the Nazis for saving the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto.
Director: John Kent Harrison | Stars: Anna Paquin, Goran Visnjic, Michelle Dockery, Danuta Stenka
Votes: 4,660
39. The Hiding Place (1975)
PG | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
During WWII, a Dutch family caught hiding Jews is sent to a concentration camp where their Christian faith helps them endure the hardships.
Director: James F. Collier | Stars: Julie Harris, Jeannette Clift, Arthur O'Connell, Robert Rietty
Votes: 2,398
40. Die Wannseekonferenz (1984 TV Movie)
87 min | Drama, History
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
Director: Heinz Schirk | Stars: Dietrich Mattausch, Gerd Böckmann, Friedrich G. Beckhaus, Robert Atzorn
Votes: 1,270
41. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Approved | 179 min | Drama, War
In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich
Votes: 85,568
42. Rosenstrasse (2003)
PG-13 | 136 min | Drama, War
After the death of her father, Hannah becomes concerned with the strange behavior of her mother. As her mother's troubled childhood is revealed, Hannah realizes how little she ever knew.
Director: Margarethe von Trotta | Stars: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Svea Lohde, Jutta Lampe
Votes: 2,537 | Gross: $0.73M
43. Naked Among Wolves (1963)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, War
In the last weeks of World War II, inmates of Buchenwald concentration camp hide a Polish child from the SS guards, hoping that the advance of the American forces will set them free.
Director: Frank Beyer | Stars: Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Krystyn Wójcik, Fred Delmare
Votes: 837
44. Gebürtig (2002)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A holocaust survivor now living as a respected writer in Manhattan is the only person who can identify a suspected Nazi back in his native Austria. When a beautiful reporter eager for a ... See full summary »
Directors: Robert Schindel, Lukas Stepanik | Stars: Peter Simonischek, Ruth Rieser, August Zirner, Katja Weitzenböck
Votes: 233
45. David (1979)
125 min | Drama, War
David (Mario Fischel), the son of a local rabbi (Walter Taub), sees the rise in anti-Semitism in 1930s Germany, but it isn't until his father's synagogue is burned down and his mother (... See full summary »
Director: Peter Lilienthal | Stars: Mario Fischel, Walter Taub, Irena Vrkljan, Eva Mattes
Votes: 171
46. Max and Helen (1990 TV Movie)
100 min | Drama, Romance, War
Based on the fact-based novel by Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal based on his 1962 prosecution of the head of a German factory whom he learns was a murderous labor camp commandant. To be able ... See full summary »
Director: Philip Saville | Stars: Treat Williams, Alice Krige, Martin Landau, Jonny Phillips
Votes: 186
47. Murderers Among Us (1946)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Hildegard Knef, Elly Burgmer, Erna Sellmer, Hilde Adolphi
Votes: 2,547
48. Edges of the Lord (2001)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A twelve-year-old Jewish boy hides with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis.
Director: Yurek Bogayevicz | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Willem Dafoe, Richard Banel, Liam Hess
Votes: 3,693
49. The Aryan Couple (2004)
PG-13 | 120 min | Drama, War
A WWII Drama about a German/Jewish industrialist who, in order to ensure his family's safe passage out of Germany, is forced to hand over his business to the Germans.
Director: John Daly | Stars: Martin Landau, Kenny Doughty, Caroline Carver, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 1,263
50. The Truce (1997)
R | 125 min | Drama, War
Based on Primo Levi's autobiographical "The Reawakening".
Director: Francesco Rosi | Stars: John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija, Massimo Ghini, Stefano Dionisi
Votes: 1,829 | Gross: $0.07M
51. The Devil's Arithmetic (1999 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A 16-year-old American girl with an apathetic view towards her Jewish family history finds herself pulled through time into 1941 to a small Polish village where the Nazis have just begun their genocidal propaganda.
Director: Donna Deitch | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Paul Freeman, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 4,487
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