Holocaust Movies for Middle School and High School

The Holocaust was one of the worst times in history and is a tough subject to teach. Here is a list of Holocaust movies for middle school and high school that are PG-13 or under.

Disclaimer: Some of the following links are affiliate links. I make a small commission from some of the links on this site. You can read my full disclosure here.

I am a major supporter of teaching history through movies. Nothing can bring history to life like the big screen. Even if they’re not 100% historically accurate, many invite looking further into the topic and the true story surrounding it. (History vs Hollywood is a great resource for easily vetting what was true and what wasn’t.)

I also don’t think it’s very wise to show a fourth grader Schindler’s List. After the positive response from Historical Movies for Kids, I expanded into movies for teens that aren’t appropriate for kids, but aren’t a hard R either. Not all of these movies have a happy ending, but each conveys a strong message of hope, resilience, sacrifice, justice, faith, and more. I also don’t include any R rated movies, until the very end where I name a select few of my favorites.

Side note: I purposefully left Pearl Harbor and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas out of this list, just because I felt for this post, both were really unrealistic without offering much in return. You can read about the dangers of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas here.

Holocaust Movies for Middle School and High School

The Courageous Heart Of Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler, a small Polish Catholic social worker, rescued 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. As a social worker, Irena was able to legally enter the ghetto. With the help of an underground resistance network, she bravely used everything from toolboxes and potato sacks to ambulances to smuggle children out. Incredibly, every single child she brought out survived.

This classic Hallmark Hall of Fame film strays away from violence, sexual content, and profanity without downplaying anything. There is a torture scene towards the end that’s not graphic but very difficult to watch. Otherwise, this movie is well-acted and well made, and is among my top favorites. Find the movie guide at my store or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Image credit: The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler

Island On Bird Street

Inspired by the semi-autobiographical children’s novel, the Island on Bird Street. Alex is an 11-year-old Jewish boy living in the Warsaw Ghetto. When he is suddenly separated from his uncle and father, he must find the courage and wits to survive on his own. This film is a great introduction to the Holocaust, since it is accurate, but not gruesome. It’s great for middle school students and is Dove family approved for ages 12+.

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Polish Zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski sheltered 300 Jews and resistance fighters in their zoo during the war. They have an incredible, unique story of the sacrifices they made and the courage they showed. Grab the movie guide at my store or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Run, Boy, Run

Based upon a true story, Run, Boy Run is the unbelievable story of a nine-year-old Jewish boy who survives the Holocaust on his own for two and a half years. With his innocent charm and newly learned Catholic prayers, Jurek survives by living in the woods and relying on friendly Polish farmers to take him in for a night or two.  During this time, he also loses his arm in a freak accident – and survives it all. It is also on Amazon Prime! Image credit: Run, Boy, Run

Hidden In Silence

Based on a true story, teenager Stefania Podgorska and her younger sister shelter thirteen Jewish people in their attic for two and a half years. This film’s content is low and is Dove family approved for ages 12+. It is also pretty accurate based on everything I’ve researched.

Anne Frank: The Whole Story

There’s been a lot of movies about Anne Frank, but this is probably my favorite edition. Anne Frank was a young Dutch Jewish girl who lived in hiding for a couple of years. Although she died in a concentration camp, her father survived the war and published her wartime diaries.

Life Is Beautiful

This classic Italian film won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor, Best Music and Best Foreign Language Film. The first part is an innocent romantic comedy, about a mischievous Italian man, Guido, who wins the heart of a miserably-engaged woman. The second half is set in a concentration camp, where Guido uses his wit and humor to protect his young son.

Life is Beautiful, known as La Vita E Bella is poignant, heart-warming, unforgettable, and probably my favorite film. It in no way makes fun of or downplays the Holocaust, but instead offers a story of hope and triumph of the human spirit. I’d also recommend watching it in Italian with English subtitles, even if foreign language films aren’t your favorite. Find the movie guide at my store or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Image credit: La Vita E Bella

No Place on Earth

In 1942, 38 Jewish men, women, and children made the drastic move to live in an underground cave in order to escape the Nazis. This documentary/docudrama follows where they lived for one and a half years, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted time underground in the process. The film’s site has a bunch of great resources for looking more into the story and has an educator’s discussion guide.

Walking With the Enemy

This is an incredible story based on real events, a young man disguises himself as a Nazi and uses his position to rescue thousands of people during the war.

It is rated PG-13, but I was surprised it did not receive an R rating. It has several violent scenes including several shootings, torture, and attempted rape.

The Hiding Place

Corrie ten Boom has inspired millions across the globe with her story of faith. The Hiding Place is based on her memoir filled with faith, hope, love, and light in the midst of history’s darkest days. Being older, it is less graphic than some modern Holocaust movies. Find the movie guide at my store or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Return to the Hiding Place

Many know of Corrie ten Boom’s heroism during the Holocaust, but few know of her small group of teenage resistance fighters. Hans Poley is a talented physics student, who refuses to join the Nazi party and instead becomes involved in the resistance movement. The film is obviously from a Christian perspective, but never felt preachy. You can view my full review here. Image credit: Return to the Hiding Place

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

A group of university students at the University of Munich banded together to create the White Rose, a nonviolent resistance movement. Being accurate and true to fact, this German movie is far from a happy ending. These young heroes never flinch or renounce their beliefs, and are a steadfast inspiration for all young people.

Nicky’s Family

I typically don’t include documentaries in movie lists, but I really enjoyed the storyline, and never felt like it was a “boring documentary.” British stockbroker Nicholas “Nicky” Winton rescued 669 Czech Jewish children during the Holocaust, by placing the children with British families right before the war broke out.

Decades later, Nicky was brought as a guest on an old TV show. At the end of the segment, the host asks everyone in the audience who was saved by Nicky to stand up. In the emotional second that followed, everyone in the crowd stood up. He has also been featured on 60 Minutes. Nicholas died in July 2015 at the incredible age of 106.

Escape from Sobibor

The Sobibor death camp claimed the lives of 250,000 people. This true story follows the largest successful escape from a concentration camp. It’s a made for tv film and older (it was made in the 1980s), so the violence is more toned down than other films set in a concentration camp. Around 600 prisoners managed to escape during the 1943 revolt, although only about 50 survived the war.

Valkyrie

There were over 42 assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life. Valkyrie shines a light on one close attempt by Germany army officer Claus von Stauffenberg. In July 1944, von Stauffenberg was part of a group that was planning to assassinate Hitler with a bomb, and immediately surrender to the Allies after his death.

Unfortunately, the plan failed and Hitler committed suicide nine months later, doing what so many others had attempted to do. Despite having an obviously predictable ending, the movie is fast-paced without relying on soap-opera drama to get it through. Image credit: Valkyrie

Escape from Auschwitz

Over one million people, deemed “undesirable” by the Nazis, died at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. It was rare enough to survive, and escape was impossible. There were only around 800 known escape attempts, with only about 144 successful tries. I first read Rudolf Vrba’s story in The Auschwitz Escape by Joel C. Rosenberg.

Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler made their daring escape by hiding in a woodpile Because the Germans only searched for escape prisoners for 72 hours, they waited for three days before setting out on their actual escape. After 15 days of traveling across Poland, the two found freedom in Slovakia, and spread the news about the horrors of Auschwitz in the Vrba-Wetzler report. Eventually, over 100,000 Jewish lives were saved by their incredible act of courage. Grab a study guide on PBS, and watch it for free on there too. (it’s a docudrama, not a movie)

Holocaust Movies for High Schoolers and Adults

These are some Holocaust movies that I really enjoyed, but they are rated R for violence and profanity. In each of the films, I felt the positives outweighed the negatives.

Schindler’s List

Schindler’s List is an Academy Award winning classic for a reason. It tells the true story of a Nazi, Oskar Schindler, who employed 1,200 Jews in his factory, saving their lives in the process. There is heavy violence, sexual content, and language. For mature teens, this is an excellent film. Even if middle school students can handle the violence, I think this is best left for mature high school students since the themes and discussion are heavy, in-depth topics.

The Pianist

With an incredible, haunting soundtrack, The Pianist is the true story of one Jewish pianist’s survival during the Holocaust. The story follows through his struggles, from his freedoms being stripped away to hiding out during the remaining months of the war. Adrian Brody offers a brilliant performance, which earned him a well deserved Oscar.

It’s rated R for some brief but rough language and war violence. (PS If you’ve seen the movie before, watch the real Wladyslaw Szpilman play the movie’s theme, Nocturne in C# Minor.) Image credit: The Pianist

The Counterfeiters

Telling the story of history’s largest counterfeit operation, this German film won a much deserved Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Before WWII broke out, Salomon Sorowitsch was a career counterfeiter. After being arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Sorowitsch finds himself in part of the Nazis’ counterfeit schemes.

First, the group masters the British pound (even getting it approved by the Bank of England) and then they work to counterfeit the American dollar. A battle of ethics evolves: in order to survive, they must show the Nazis progress. However, if they were to become successful, Germany would have a much higher chance of winning the war. Some parts were dramatized a bit, but it remains a unique story and a good film. You can read more about the true story in an interview with one of the counterfeiters.

Defiance

After witnessing the murder of their parents and the mass murder of their village, the Jewish Bielski brothers fled to the woods as a safe haven from the Nazis. As other Jewish refugees (including women, children, and the elderly) fled to the forests, the Bielskis find themselves the leaders of a growing a community, with ordinary citizens, including children and the elderly. The ragtag group of partisans survived for a miraculous two years, with incredibly high survival rates. All in all, the Bielski partisans helped shelter 1,200 Jews during the war.

Based on the amazing biography, Defiance remains one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s a thrilling story of family, faith, honor, resilience, and triumph of the human spirit. (I also think this summary doesn’t do the film justice) Grab the movie guide at my store or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Image credit: Defiance

The Relief of Belsen

In April 1945, the British army stumbled across the horrendous aftermath of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. There were 40,000 barely-living inmates, 10,000 unburied corpses scattered around the camp, and a major epidemic of typhus.

Faced with an impossible task, the British work to bury the and rehabilitate the living with the very few resources they have. Much of the horror in The Relief of Belsen comes from real-life footage that blends with the reenactment of the British’s desperate attempt to save as many lives as possible.

Fateless

Based on the memoir by Imre Kertesz, Fateless is a Hungarian film about one boy’s story of survival through the camps. I really enjoyed this one – it is well made with a great storyline.

In Darkness

I was hesitant to include this film at first. But, I came to the conclusion that overall, with the remote nearby to fast forward some sexual scenes, the good truly outweighs the bad. This Polish film was an Academy Award nominee and is the true story of sewer worker (and petty thief) Leopold Socha. He originally begins hiding a group of desperate Jewish people in the sewers for a hefty profit. As time continues, he begins to grow a conscious and continues risking his life for them, as he helped shelter them for 14 months.

Ten of the twenty people survive. There is violence and heartache that is extremely difficult to watch, but it is still a very great movie of one man’s character development. Image credit: In Darkness

Band of Brothers Episode 1×09: Why We Fight

The Band of Brothers miniseries is rated R for a reason, and is for mature audiences only. In this episode, as the war is drawing towards a close, Easy Company liberates a concentration camp. There is realistic violence and rough profanity, and (I think) this is the only episode with any sexual content in it (at the beginning). Each episode of Band of Brothers opens with the real-life members of Easy Company, and ends with facts.

Post-Holocaust Movies

Denial

In this true story, a woman battles a Holocaust denier in this great court case. It is a fantastic courtroom drama that sheds light on Holocaust denial.

Operation Finale

Starring Ben Kingsley, this movie details the hunt for Adolf Eichmann, who was known as the Architect of the Holocaust.

The Little Traitor

In this sweet coming-of-age movie, Proffy (short for “professor”) is a young Jewish boy growing up right before Israel officially became a country in 1948. Israel, with its people young and desperate for freedom, want nothing more than the British to leave them alone.

At the time, Britain owned Israel, which was then called Palestine. Proffy has similar views. That is, until he befriends a British soldier. It doesn’t try to show the big picture, but instead the story of a Jewish boy and British soldier. It has a smidgen of partial nudity/Proffy becomes interested in women (you can skip this part), but other than that is great for 12+ with some discussion.

Make a movie night educational

Make a movie night educational with my growing collection of movie guides! Find movie guides for favorites like Unbroken, The Zookeeper’s Wife, or Defiance. You can also find me on Teachers Pay Teachers.

You may also enjoy my Holocaust unit study, Tell Them We Remember. It is a comprehensive unit study designed for students in grades 6-8 to inspire discussion about four of the main aspects of the Holocaust.

More Historical Movie Lists

18 Righteous Holocaust Rescuers: Their Memoirs and Movies

100+ Historical Movies for Middle and High School

50+ Historical Movies For Kids

50+ Holocaust Books for Middle School and Jr. High

WWI and Great Depression Movies for Teens

WWII Movies Set in the Pacific

Civil Rights Movies for Middle and High School

For all of my historical book and movie lists, visit learnincolor.com/history.