Jewish Film Series runs Sept. 19-Nov. 19

The Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian State University is sponsoring a Holocaust film series this semester. All films will be shown in Plemmons Student Union's Greenbriar Theater at 2 p.m. The films are free and open to the public. For more information, call (828) 262-2231.

The Joseph and Freida Ross Foundation and the College of Arts and Sciences are underwriting the series. The schedule is as follows:

Sept. 19 - Triumph of the Will (1934, 110 minutes) - This piece of Nazi propaganda covers the events of the sixth Nuremberg Party Congress. The original intention was to document the early days of the regime, so future generations could look back and see how the Third Reich began. In reality, Triumph of the Will shows historians how the Nazi state drew in the masses through propaganda.

Sept. 26 - All Jews Out (1990, 82 minutes, German with English subtitles) - This documentary film traces the story of the German-Jewish Auerbacher family of Goppingen, Germany, from 1933 through 1945. It begins with home movies of the family in the 1930s and follows Inge Auerbacher from her hometown to her deportation to Theresienstadt, where she suffered for three and a half years and was among the 100 children who survived.

Oct. 3 - Conspiracy (2001, 115 minutes) - This film recreates the infamous meeting on Jan. 20, 1942, at which top Nazis planned the implementation of the Holocaust. Chaired by the SS Gen. Reinhard Heydrich and attended by Adolf Eichmann and 14 other Third Reich members, this two-hour meeting decided how the Jews of Europe would be murdered. The documentary is based on the Wannsee Protocol, the sole surviving transcript of this meeting.

Oct. 10 - Island on Bird Street (1997, 107 minutes) - Alex is an 11-year-old boy who, during WWII, hides in the Jewish ghetto from Nazis after all the relatives have been sent to the concentration camp. The movie portrays the ghetto through his eyes.

Oct. 17 - Einsatzgruppen (2009, 180 minutes, German with English subtitles) - Nazi mobile killing squads, led by highly educated officers and aided by local collaborators, systematically murdered more than a million Jews. Who were the men who carried out mass murder at close range? This documentary film features a powerful array of astounding, never-seen-before film and photographs.

Nov. 7 - Schindler's List (1993, 185 minutes) - This Academy Award-winning picture presents the indelible true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, womanizer and war profiteer, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.

Nov. 14 - Defiance (2008, 137 minutes) - Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarusian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants.

Nov. 21 - The Last Days (1998, 90 minutes) - Using candid interviews with survivors of one of the most intense and brutal periods of killing during the Holocaust, this film chronicles the experiences of Hungarian Jews. Vivid and haunting, it was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1999.