Claude Lanzmann, whose production Shoah was called the greatest single film ever made about the Holocaust, has died at the age of 92.

He died on Thursday morning at a hospital in Paris, according to Gallimard, the publishing house for his autobiography.

In a tribute, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said he was “single-handedly responsible for keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive in the hearts and minds of so many around the world.”

Mr Lanzmann’s 1985 French documentary film Shoah, which was nine-and-a-half hours long and took 11 years to make, was lauded for containing no archival footage or musical score.

Instead it interspersed survivors’ recounted memories with footage of trains and the barren landscape that he filmed during his visits to Poland in the 1970s.

“His magnum opus, Shoah, captured the horrors of that period through the personal testimonies of survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators alike and was the first time many were confronted with the reality of the Holocaust as told by those who were there,” Mr Sharansky said.

“His personal dedication to commemorating the Shoah was unparalleled, and he travelled around the world, even in his later years, to ensure the memory of the victims was never forgotten.

“For that, we owe him a great debt of gratitude. May his memory be a blessing.”