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Join WTTW and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center on Monday, September 19 at 7:00 pm for an in-person preview and discussion of The U.S. and the Holocaust, a new film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick & Sarah Botstein. This three-part, six-hour series tells the story of how the American people grappled with one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century, and how this struggle tested the ideals of our democracy. The U.S. and the Holocaust premieres on all WTTW platforms beginning on Sunday September 18 at 7:00 pm.

Join us to preview selections from the film along with Paris Schutz, co-anchor of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, who will moderate a conversation with two of the film’s advisors: Daniel Greene, President and Librarian of the Newberry Library and curator of Americans and the Holocaust, on which The U.S. and the Holocaust is based; and Peter Hayes, Professor of History and German, Theodore Zev Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation Professor of Holocaust Studies Emeritus at Northwestern University. Hayes’ book Why? Explaining the Holocaust is featured in the documentary. The conversation will focus on the periods leading up to and during the Holocaust, and will take a candid look at the roles that eugenics and racism, as well as xenophobia and antisemitism, played during this crisis and throughout American history.

At 6:00 pm, guests will have an opportunity to visit the IHMEC’s Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II exhibition, which tells the story of the U.S. Army’s 23rd Special Troops who used disguise, sound, and radio deception to mislead the Germans about the location, strength, and movements of U.S. Army units.

The U.S. and the Holocaust is directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein with a telescript by Geoffrey C. Ward, and produced by Burns, Novick, Botstein, and Mike Welt.

Lead support for THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST on WTTW is provided by the Crown Family in memory of Jo Minow. Major funding is provided by Rita and John Canning, The Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, Marshall Field, and the George and Sarah Ohlhausen Foundation. Additional support is provided by Sylvia Eisenstein Furner, the Leo J. & Roslyn L. Krupp Family Foundation, the Donald M. Ephraim Family Foundation, Sonia T. Marschak, and an anonymous donor. With special thanks to Norman and Virginia Bobins and the Newt and Jo Minow Family.

FUNDING FOR THE U.S AND THE HOLOCAUST WAS PROVIDED BY: Bank of America; David M.Rubenstein; the Park Foundation; the Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation; Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling; The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; and by the following members of The Better Angels Society: Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine; Jan and Rick Cohen; Allan and Shelley Holt; the Koret Foundation; David and Susan Kreisman; Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder; Blavatnik Family Foundation; Crown Family Philanthropies, honoring the Crown and Goodman Families; the Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; Dr. Georgette Bennett and Dr. Leonard Polonsky; The Russell Berrie Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierley; John and Catherine Debs; and Leah Joy Zell and the Joy Foundation. Funding was also provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.