It was the 16th episode of the fourth season of the CBS television series Playhouse 90, and also the final broadcast in the show's four-year run.

Rod Serling wrote the teleplay, and the cast included Charles Laughton, Arthur Kennedy, Susan Kohner, and Robert Redford.

Lott returns to the Hellers' apartment, professes his love for Rachel, begs the rabbi for forgiveness, and offers to escape with her.

Richter, Sam Jaffe as Emmanuel, Robert Redford as Sergeant Lott, Otto Waldis as Kohn, and Bernard Kates as Israel.

In the original story, Paul refused to consent to his sister leaving with Lott, and Rabbi Heller killed his son so that his daughter would have a chance to live.

[3] A writer's strike in January 1960 created a shortage of scripts, and Serling's Warsaw Ghetto story was scheduled for production.

[4] The production was ultimately sponsored by Allstate Insurance, a consortium of natural gas companies, and Camel cigarettes.

"[10] Cynthia Lowry of the Associated Press called it a well-acted, grim and impactful drama that "pulled no punches" and "carried its bitter lesson.

On the other hand, he concluded it was "not entirely successful" as a drama as it lacked "the full-blooded flow of action" and ended up as "primarily a study in words rather than in deeds."

[13] Bill Fiset in the Oakland Tribune praised Laughton's performance as "superb" and wrote that "[t]elevision's most distinguished program" "went out in considerable style.

"[6] The CBS switchboard was flooded with calls after the broadcast, some complaining of the show's purported anti-Semitic aspects, including Paul's derision of his father's religious devotion and the sympathetic portrayal of Sgt.

The novelist Leon Uris sent a telegram to CBS president Frank Stanton declaring the play to be "the most disgusting presentation in the history of American television" and demanding that the negative be burned.

[4][14] Stanton replied to Uris with a defense of the production and an expression of "shock that an eminent author would demand action tantamount to book burning.