The Claims Conference: Reckonings: The First Reparations and associated educational materials.

• Collective Responsibility
• Forgiveness
• Leadership
• Nation Building
• Compensation for Persecution
• Injustice
• World War II
• Holocaust Survivors After the War

MORE ON THE FILM AND GUIDE

Reckonings: The First Reparations, a film directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman released in 2022, is a fascinating documentary chronicling the harrowing process of negotiations between Germany and the Jewish world in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The film, which features Jewish and German leaders risking their lives in 1952 by meeting in secret under threat of death in a castle near the Hague to negotiate the first ever reparations to be paid by a state to the individuals they persecuted, captures the anger, shame and anguish experienced by the various parties post-World War II. Featuring original interviews width Holocaust survivors, world-renowned scholars and the last surviving member of the negotiating delegations, Reckonings powerfully illustrates how political will joined by a sense of morality sought to bridge an impossible divide. A 37-minute high school version of the film has been produced, to be utilized by teachers and schools. Educational materials, including lesson plans and a teacher’s guide, are available and can be used to compliment the screening of the film.

• Why is “collective responsibility” important for a nation?
• What can we learn from the leadership of Adenauer and Ben Gurion who followed a vision for their countries – despite public opinion opposing them?
• Is accepting responsibility necessary for paying reparations?
• How do concepts of reparations, justice and forgiveness intersect?
• How can nation building occur in nations with a history of atrocity?