Lewis explained his reason for choosing the project and the emotional difficulty of the subject matter in an interview with an Australian documentary film crew . A 31-minute version was shown on the German television station ARD , in the documentary Der Clown . It was later put on DVD and shown at Deutsches Filminstitute Within historical context , the movie was the earliest attempt by an American motion picture director to address the subject of The Holocaust , preceding by thirteen years Claude Lanzmann 's groundbreaking film '' Shoah '' , and more than twenty years , Steven Spielberg 's '' Schindler 's List '' and '' Life is Beautiful '' , dealing with similar themes . Significant speculation continues to surround the film . Following this , Lewis would take a break from the movie business for several years
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Jerry Lewis