A new documentary and book from longtime Boston College faculty members John and Susan Michalczyk offer a scholarly investigation of Adolf Hitler鈥檚 Mein Kampf as a prelude to genocide.
The Michalczyks have written, directed, and produced the documentary 鈥淗颈迟濒别谤鈥檚 Mein Kampf: Prelude to the Holocaust.鈥 The film examines how Hitler鈥檚 hateful words about Jews, the disabled, and mixed races laid the groundwork for the Shoah. In addition, it offers interpretations of contemporary incidents, such as rallies in Charlottesville in 2017 and Atlanta in 2018, that reflect the rise of anti-Semitism and white supremacy.
The film features interviews with Holocaust scholars, historians, educators, and journalists.
鈥淗颈迟濒别谤鈥檚 Mein Kampf certainly has overtones of potential genocide, but as we indicate in the documentary, it is only once he comes to power as chancellor in 1933 that he takes significant steps in that direction through propaganda, violence, and the legal system,鈥 said Professor of Film Studies John Michalczyk, director of the University鈥檚 Film Studies Program.

The Michalczyks鈥 film had its world premiere earlier this year in Germany at the Snowdance Independent Film Festival, not too far from the prison where Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. In late April, the film was screened on campus at a Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Commemoration sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning, Film Studies Program, German Studies Program, and Music Department.
Clarice Henry of the Landsberger Tagblatt [Landsberg Daily newspaper] wrote of the film: 鈥淚t may take time, but the work of Susan and John Michalczyk may have laid a significant foundation for a new way of dealing with the subject of National Socialism鈥攁nd with it, a possibility that such a thing will indeed never happen again. One comes [to the film] with a bias that cannot be dismissed and leaves with hope.鈥
鈥淲e witnessed in the extensive interviews for our documentary the painful and powerful connection between the past and the present,鈥 said Susan Michalczyk, associate professor of the practice in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences.
As filmmakers, the Michalczyks have worked on a number of documentaries that focus on issues of discrimination, hatred, human rights, social justice, and conflict resolution in the U.S and places such as Northern Ireland, Germany, the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, Sicily, and Russia.
鈥淗颈迟濒别谤鈥檚 Mein Kampf: Prelude to the Holocaust鈥 was a collaborative project with members of the Boston College community contributing to the filming, editing, musical composition, narration, and translations, according to the Michalczyks.
亚色影库 faculty and staff contributors are: Professor of German Studies Michael Resler; Art, Art History, and Film Department faculty members Robert Heim, Gautam Chopra, and Joe LaRocca; Audio, Video, Graphics & Photography staff Chris Soldt and Jonathan Sage; Associate Professor of the Practice of Theatre Patricia Riggin; and David Lewis of Information Technology Services. Martin Menke, an adjunct faculty member in the Woods College of Advancing Studies, appears in the film.聽
亚色影库 student and alumni contributors are Andrew Wilson 鈥21, Angelos Bougas 鈥21, Robert Clark 鈥22, Josie N. Bearden 鈥16, Michael Bonilla 鈥21, Kylie Rolincik 鈥13, and John Michalczyk III 鈥08.
Elisabeth Salina Amorini Bolognini, benefactor of the Jacques Salmanowitz Program for Moral Courage in Documentary Film, and Kevin X. Reynolds '79 provided financial support for the documentary and related text.

A companion to the documentary is the book, , edited by the Michalczyks and Bryant University Professor Michael S. Bryant. It is the first systematic examination of <