Propaganda compilation of graphic newsreel and documentary materials showing concentration camps as Allied cameramen entered between 1945 and 1946. Opening credits:"An AF Film Releas" (Actualites Francais Films);"Sterling Film" ;"Camps of the Dead / They need no explanation, no titles. Just look and be glad you live in America""Langestein [sic" Langenstein: Corpses in open area, pits, doctors and other civilians, exhumation, lining bodies on soil."Ohrdrus [sic" Ohrdruf: Corpses, pits, VAR CUs. Two male survivors."Dacha" Soldiers at gate with eagle. CU sign,"Zentral Bauleitung der Waffen SS U. Polizei Muenchen Dacha" US soldiers. Removing corpses from lake. Barbed wire, barracks, survivors at hospital, CU tattoo, wounds. Female survivor walking towards camera, helped by two soldiers. VAR shots, pile of corpses. Crematoria. Men passing water buckets, pulling decomposed body parts from water. CUs skulls."Buchenwal" Clock tower, soldiers giving a tour of Buchenwald. Survivors in striped uniforms, cooking, CUs of their faces. INT barracks, CUs group of male survivors looking at camera. Showing crematoria ovens with a pile of bones inside. Demonstrating torture mechanisms. Civilians interview survivor. MS pile of bones. Corpses in pits. MS, civilians, taking notes, responding to atrocities. CUs bodies and skulls. LS, tattooed skin laid out on a table, some with ink drawings - man with hat, woman with hat -, lampshade, shrunken heads mounted on wooden bases. Gardelegen [missing intertitle] Pile of bodies in doorway. Footage, some still photographs of various atrocities and massacres. CUs skulls."The End / A Sterling Fil"
Two versions of this film were distributed in the United States: 1)"The Camps of the Dea" about 20 minutes with English narration and 2) a silent abridged version called"Camps of the Dea". The original was produced in France; a negative in French is available at the Bundesarchiv in Germany. Many clips contained in this compilation appear in better visual quality on other tapes in the USHMM collection. Most were shot by the US Army Signal Corps. Contact the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive for more information. Sterling Films was established in 1946 by Saul Turell and Robert Rhoades. No burn-in time code on VHS copy.
Atrocities; liberation of concentration camps