Prelude to war and scenes of destruction inflicted by the invading German army in Warsaw

http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn1003527 an entity of type: Record

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1939 September

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Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

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irn1003527

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Prelude to war and scenes of destruction inflicted by the invading German army in Warsaw

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Sequence of outtakes begins with German planes flying overhead in 1939 during the German invasion of Poland. The Germans surround Poland from the south and the north, eventually reaching Warsaw and destroying the city. CU at 01:18:19 that shows an eagle insignia, in the hands of a soldier, who is marching along the street, air attack over Warsaw, scenes of Warsaw and posters that were on the streets. They are all in Polish, they are propaganda posters featuring swastikas and soldiers. Warsaw burning [most likely stock news footage] at 01:18:32, followed by shots of Poles taking to the streets of Warsaw to dig trenches to protect against the ongoing Germany army attack. More stocks shots of bombs dropping from planes. 01:18:53 Julien Bryan footage resumes with shots of victims walking over the rubble of destroyed buildings in Warsaw, including a church and a hospital, cleaning up, etc. 01:19:00 Scene of dead bodies in a field, a woman is covering the faces of the dead. CU of a young girl wiping tears from her eyes as she looks at the corpses. 01:19:13 Little boy with his canary in a cage in the midst of all the rubble. 01:19:42 In a Warsaw hospital maternity ward-one doctor and one nurse care for several mothers with their newborn babies lined up in the hospital's basement hallways on the floor (shelter from ongoing bombings). 01:20:04 More scenes of the city burning. Frontline footage of the Polish army with tanks and cavalry attempting to defend their lines. More stock shots of an unidentified bridge exploding, a building collapsing in flames, etc. The war years scroll by on an animated map with flames, beginning with 1940 until 1945. **From Julien Bryan's film"Poland the Country and the Peopl" released in 1948.**

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The original film reel was also labeled"JB Pol Neg A 7771 Pol A33B Orig Neg R1 and R". Detailed preservation notes from the film lab are available in Film and Video department files. Additional photographs are available in the USHMM Photo Archives.

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