This year, some students in Terminale S took part in the prestigious National Education competition by making an excellent documentary.

“The first thing that struck us when we looked at this subject was without doubt its philosophical and almost instinctive aspects. With this came the first difficulty: how to define the dehumanisation of man? During the course of our research, some people said such a thing was impossible; others that the Nazis only developed ideas that are present in daily life. It was impossible to attribute a universal definition as humanity is a personal concept appealing to emotions and instincts.    

But then, how could we show and explain such a concept to an audience? We came to the conclusion that precisely because the Holocaust was such an exceptional event, the only way to explain this dehumanisation of man was through the eyes of those who had experienced it.

That is the whole idea of our film: attempt to retrace the journey of deportee, gather the most profound moments of their dehumanisation so that the audience could arrive at their own definition and understand in their own way what the dehumanisation man in the Nazi concentration camps was.

We therefore hope that our project was able to strike at the heart of the audience by making them feel rather than simply showing them the dehumanisation of man in the Nazi concentration camps. Therefore, they were able to follow the feelings of a survivor, Micha Gelber, and understand fully what he experienced. Consequently, we believe that this project completely met its object which is above all to maintain the importance of remembering.”