TV REVIEWS : CBS’ ‘Holocaust’ Disturbing Yet Timely

This being a time of year for Christians to honor the Prince of Peace and for those of the Jewish faith to celebrate their festival of lights, today’s “CBS Schoolbreak Special” is a surprisingly fitting, if disturbing, offering.

Hosted by a somber Keanu Reeves, “Children Remember the Holocaust” spans the years between 1933 and 1945 in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, when scapegoating and bigotry were carried to dehumanizing, unthinkable extremes.

In the documentary, written by D. Shone Kirkpatrick and directed by Mark Gordon, historic photos and film footage create an extraordinarily moving, chronological portrait of life and death as seen through the eyes of children, beginning with the gradual disintegration of all they had known in normal life--friends, school, home and family.

The poignancy is heightened by the narrative. Children’s voices (Kirsten Dunst, Cynthia Nixon, Gabriel Olds, Casey and Nina Siemaszko) speak in eloquent, simple words taken from real journals, letters and published recollections of young Holocaust victims in the ghettos and camps.

This is not an easy hour. There are stark images of suffering and death, wrenchingly humanized by a child’s perspective. Young people shouldn’t watch alone. Why should anyone watch? Because this program, although set in the past, resonates with the world’s current conflicts, global and local, and painfully brings real meaning to the seasonal mouthings of “peace on Earth, goodwill toward all.”

* “Children Remember the Holocaust” airs at 2 p.m. today on CBS (Channel 2).