Holocaust
The Gathering Darkness
TV Flash files “The Gathering Darkness” as a desk essential hour — Holocaust (1978) on NBC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1978-04-16, 140 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 5 in the Holocaust guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1978-04-16 (140 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “The Road to Babi-Yar” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “The Gathering Darkness”. The Gathering Darkness is night one of NBC's living-room Shoah. Melodrama as civic education, messy and massive: the miniseries already forcing a conversation networks usually ducked.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In 1935 Berlin, the Weisses celebrate son Karl's marriage to Inga Helms. When Erik Dorf is unable to find work as a lawyer, wife Marta urges him to apply for a Nazi government job. Erik Dorf warns Dr. Weiss he should leave Germany. Karl is arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, and Dr. Weiss is deported to Poland. Erik Dorf continues to advance in the Nazi hierarchy.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Gathering Darkness sit in the Holocaust guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 5 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Holocaust S01E01 air?
The Gathering Darkness aired 1978-04-16 and is listed at 140 minutes.
Is this a documentary?
No. It is a 1978 NBC miniseries: interwoven fictional families inside historical machinery. Melodrama as civic education, not a newsreel.
In the series
Why this series still plays
NBC puts the Shoah in American living rooms as a four-night event, with Meryl Streep among the early heat and a German broadcast fight that followed. Melodrama as civic education, messy and massive. The miniseries that forced a national conversation networks usually ducked, commercials and all.
Calendar first: four nights, 1978, NBC, the Shoah in American living rooms as an appointment, commercials included. Holocaust, from Gerald Green, did not hide in a documentary slot. It booked the week. Interwoven families — Jewish victims and a rising SS officer — trace the machinery of Nazi genocide across the war years with Meryl Streep's Inga, James Woods's Karl Weiss, Michael Moriarty's Erik Dorf, Fritz Weaver, and Rosemary Harris. **Watched by tens of millions in the U.S.**, with major European impact and…
Filed against
- Meryl Streep as Inga Helms Weiss
Meryl Streep’s Inga Helms Weiss walked NBC’s Holocaust into American living rooms as a four-night event — 1970s miniseries as civic education, messy and massive, a German broadcast fight in the aftertaste. Melodrama that forced a…
- James Woods as Karl Weiss
James Woods’s Karl Weiss put NBC’s Holocaust into American living rooms as a four-night event — Shoah as 1970s miniseries civic education, melodrama massive enough to force a conversation networks usually ducked. Messy, watched, argued.…
- Michael Moriarty as Erik Dorf
Michael Moriarty’s Erik Dorf walked NBC’s Holocaust as the other half of a four-night civic dare — 1970s miniseries that put the Shoah in American living rooms, melodrama as education, a German broadcast fight in the aftertaste. TV Flash…
- Fritz Weaver as Dr. Josef Weiss
Fritz Weaver played Dr. Josef Weiss on Holocaust — NBC's four-night Shoah in American living rooms, melodrama as civic education, messy and massive, a German broadcast fight that followed. The miniseries that forced a conversation…
- Rosemary Harris as Berta Palitz Weiss
Rosemary Harris's Berta Palitz Weiss carried Holocaust into American living rooms as a four-night NBC event — Shoah as civic education, melodrama messy and massive, Meryl Streep among the early heat, a German broadcast fight that…