Kristallnacht screening of "Rosenthal: The Great Showman" at MOT

Commemorate Kristallnacht at MOT with a screening of “Rosenthal: The Great Showman” + Q&A with Prof Paul Lerner, Max Kade Institute at USC

This in-person event is free and open to the general public. Donations suggested! to help keep our programs free!

About the event

Commemorate Kristallnacht with a special screening of the drama Rosenthal, The Great Showman, followed by a Q&A with Paul Frederick Lerner, Professor and Chair, Van Hunnick History Department Director, Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies, University of Southern California

About the film:
Based on a true story: Germany’s most popular TV presenter in the 1970s must face his traumatic past—and that of the whole country.

Germany, 1978. Hans Rosenthal is the country's most popular TV presenter, and, what few people know: he is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor. The 75th edition of his beloved live game show is about to be broadcast, but the celebratory mood is dampened by the air date: November 9th. Exactly 40 years after the Nazi pogrom against the Jewish population, Hans is expected to entertain and distract an audience of millions with his harmless TV show, rather than attend the first official German memorial for the victims. Hans finds himself in a dilemma: has the Jewish showman become himself a henchman of repression? Or will he find the strength to address his family trauma?

Directed by Oliver Haffner

Germany, 2026/Drama/German with english subtitles

92 Minutes

Sponsored by the Villa Aurora

In partnership with the Museum of Tolerance, Goethe Institut-LA, and Menemsha Films