us-005578-irn1003783
type: RecordSet
biographical history: In 1936, at the behest of Paul Baerwald and Felix Warburg and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), David Glick, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania attorney, traveled to Germany to act as an independent liaison between Nazi officials and Jewish organizations. His primary objective in this capacity was to assist German Jews in leaving the country, through whatever legal means possible. He met with Heinrich Himmler (Head of the Secret State Police), Reinhard Heydrich (head of Security Services), Dr. Karl Haselbacher (Deputy in Charge of the 'Jewish Problem'), and Dr. Werner Best (Deputy Leader of the Secret State Police). From 1936-38, David Glick, as the unofficial representative of the JDC in Germany, criss-crossed the country meeting with leaders of major Jewish organizations and members of various congregations. Much of his work was conducted at great risk to his own personal safety. He worked with the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (The Council for the Representation of Jews in the Third Reich), and the U.S. and British governments to assist thousands of German Jews in emigrating to Palestine and South America. In 1937 he successfully negotiated the release and emigration of 120 of the 300 Jews who were then prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp. In 1939, David Glick visited every country in South America on behalf of the JDC to survey the needs of the German and Austrian refugees who had settled there. He brought with him a 16mm camera, and he filmed his experiences with the new refugees in many of these countries. The films in this collection are the only photographic documentation known to exist of David Glick's journeys. They are a testament to the work that a private American citizen was carrying out on behalf of the Jews of Germany when the official U.S. government policy had yet to acknowledge the extent of Adolf Hitler's plans to eradicate European Jewry.
date: approximately 1938-1939
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had some members with language: Silent
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn1003783
note: A report titled"Rescue and Resettlemen" that was prepared by the donor, Mr. Allen Hepner contains copies of JDC letters, David Glick's letters while in Germany, and David Glick's country reports back to the JDC while traveling across South America. Please contact Film and Video Archive to access these materials.
note: Mixed on reel: 16mm, Kodachrome camera reversal original, film date coded 1939; black and white camera reversal original, film dated coded 1938.
scope and content: Begins in color: A hydroplane is docked on the water in Trinidad."Pan American Airline" logo and lettering, crew members work on propellers and engine, walking along the wing, in the FG a young boy looks at the camera and watches the men on the"dec" of the plane. Several passengers board the plane, both men and women, all seem to be American or European. INT of plane: the cargo hold. MCU, camera pans interior of plane and passengers, some are working, writing notes on a tablet, others look out the window, and still others recline over several seats and go to sleep. EXT, MS, a young local boy stands looking at the camera, wearing only a shirt, no trousers. Pan left to another young boy also clothed only in a shirt, holding a sign on a wooden stick. The letters are not legible on the sign. The boys stand along a dirt road, the camera follows them as they turn and walk away. LS, the young boy with the sign stands on a dirt road in a residential area. Several houses look somewhat downtrodden. Local Trinidadian women, all wearing head scarves. VS, scenes of daily life on the streets of Trinidad, women carry bundles on their heads, children run about in the streets, cars, horse drawn carts and bicycles pass by. LS of a field where men and boys are playing soccer. 01:02:34 EXT, MS, good downtown and market scenes featuring the following shops:"Islamia S.A.Wahid & Co" selling silks, curios, art work, brassware and jewelry."Shanghai Bazaa" owned by Moses Tzafaty,"Hindoo Bazaa", also visible are signs advertising photo processing services. INT, MS two of the men seen inside the Pan Am plane are sitting at a table talking (JDC representatives?). EXT, MS an Indian beggar in the market in Trinidad. LS, waterfall cascading from a hilltop, male and female bathers at the bottom. EXT, Venezuela. LS, several men in straw hats and women (a mix of locals and Europeans) mill about in the BG, in the FG there are piles of steamer trunks that belong to the German Jews who are immigrating t…
title: David Glick's JDC mission to South America in the late 1930s