A friend of Matt Stone (who is also Jewish) and Trey Parker, who created the hit animated series, the character ‘Schlomo’ appeared in a number of episodes, including The Passion of the Jew and Jewbilee.

“It was a great honour — and I am credited on the pilot episode as a crew member, which was really nice,” laughed Rich, who now lives in the Israeli town of Kadima.

Decades on, however, and the 59-year-old is involved with a completely different sphere.

Now a lecturer in Holocaust film at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem, his book, Holocaust Cinema Complete: History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide (McFarland & Co Inc), is a comprehensive guide to the cinema of the Shoah.

It contains statistics on the content of the films, essays on their methods, descriptions and capsule reviews and information for educators looking to use Holocaust films in their curriculums.

Documentaries are not included, but made-for-TV films and miniseries under three hours in length are.

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