Distributed by the Office of War Information. Other credits: Script: Eric Maschwitz; Arthur MacRae; Jenny Nicholson; Gerard Kersh; Guy Trosper; Editor: Robert Verrell; Music: William Alwyn Received an Academy Award in 1946 for the Best Documentary (feature length). Received National Board of Review Award in 1945 for Best Picture (English language). Duplicate scenes are on Film ID 157.
Miscellaneous excerpts: 06:13:17 Parts of Reel 1, with an introduction, scenes of Nazis in power, and a map. German officers inspecting coastal defenses in France. 06:14:15 Parts of Reel 9, POWs marching. Belsen prison camp is occupied, shows scenes of Nazi atrocities, corpses. Josef Kramer going on trial. Women yelling. Pan, Belsen with survivors, emaciated bodies, corpses. Mass pit; woman crying; woman holding soldier's hand. Voiceover of British soldier:"We'd taken the Belsen Concentration Camp. Uh...I'm not squeamish. I've seen amputations, operations, deaths, long before I went into the Army in 1941. I was a warden. I lost count of all the arms and legs I pulled out of the wreckage down in Croydon...Got quite used to it. But this was different...very different. I, I don't know any words big enough to make you understand what we all felt. All I can say...and I'm proud of this is...I had to fall out and be quite sick in the courtyard. As I say I'm...I'm not squeamish...but well I'm human and thank God for it" Trucks with Congress? visiting Belsen. More survivors. Voiceover of American soldier. Truck arriving at camp with potatoes, survivors grabbing for food (staged). Aerial shots of army advancing, transporting supplies. 06:16:27 Cut to brief scenes at conference tables as German leaders surrender. Cemetery. Aerial shots of tanks, fighting, map, at beach.
Allied invasion and conquest of W. Europe; Belsen at liberation