The film [2] chronicles Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, the persecution and destruction of Jews during the Holocaust, and the lasting effects on survivors.
The title "The 81st Blow" comes from the testimony of Michael (Miki) Goldman, a Holocaust survivor and former police officer who served as an assistant to Gideon Hausner, Israel's Attorney General and the prosecutor in the Eichmann trial.
During the trial, Dr. Buzminski, a dentist from the Pszemysl ghetto, testified about a Jewish boy who received 80 lashes from a Nazi officer.
The film uses the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial as a key narrative device, presenting survivors’ accounts of their suffering during the Holocaust.
The film was produced by Beit Lohamei HaGhettaot (Ghetto Fighters' House), a museum dedicated to Holocaust remembrance.