Brzeziny ghetto: snow; synagogue; hanging

Brzeziny ghetto: snow; synagogue; hanging 

Film taken by a German, possibly Propaganda Kompanie 689. Sign:"Wohngebiet der Juden! Das Betreten ist unbefugten verboten..." [Jewish residential area! No unauthorized admittance...] CU, sign with a star marking, pan down to street view. Crowds in the cold snowy streets of the Brzeziny ghetto. Jews walking, bundled up, with yellow stars. Children in FG. VAR shots, street scenes, snowing, children in the windows of wooden homes, Jewish homeowners, filming through a fence. CUs, children with yellow star marking"Jude" elder, baby. Walking up a stairwell. Men pushing ice in the river. People looking at the camera in a courtyard, shoveling snow, daily business, walking in the streets, transporting items in the street with a cart. Ghetto gate in BG. Men with stars on the back of their coats, some tip their hats to the camera, crossing the street. Getting water from well/pump. Pan up of vacant apartment buildings. Sweeping snow. Police force a group of Jews to march quickly in the street. Pan up, Brzeziny town synagogue with Hebrew writing on EXT (later destroyed by the Nazis). Hanging sequence behind the synagogue in Brzeziny. Guards protect the gallows with multiple nooses (sustained scene). CU, armband with Star of David. Quick cut of film leader with handwriting, followed by a view of officers and spectators gathered in a town square for the hanging. LS, men (some with armbands) are marched from a hut to the gallows; MS, their hands are tied around their backs and ropes placed around necks. One man has trouble standing, a woman stands beside him on the platform. View of a huge crowd spectators. 

Located near Lodz, the town of Brzeziny had a Jewish majority - 6,850 of 13,000 inhabitants as late as 1939. During the Nazi occupation, a ghetto was established (Feb. 1940) which held nearly 6,000 people and was liquidated on May 19-20, 1942. Elderly Jews were sent to Chelmno and the rest to the Lodz ghetto. 

This is the product of joint preservation project between Beit Lochamei Hagetaot, Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at Hebrew University, Israeli Film Archive-Jerusalem Cinematheque, and USHMM. For more details, refer to departmental files. The location of this ghetto has been misidentified over the years as Łódź. On a sign seen in the film appears the name"Loewenstad" (the German name of Brzeziny). The hanging in Brzeziny took place behind the ruined synagogue. Comparing the synagogue seen in the film with a photo of the synagogue at its glory (Photo Archive 12231) indicates that it is, indeed, Brzeziny. Refer to SSFVA files for Bundesarchiv photo documentation which is said to be from the Lódz ghetto in 1941 of a troop of cameramen in what appears to be SS uniforms in a jeep or car filming the ghetto. In the passenger's seat one sees an officer who looks precisely like Willy Wist, who filmed the Warsaw ghetto in May 1942 (RG-60.3431). Lohamei Hagetaot may refer to this film as"Hanging in Lod" [number 43/44] or"Lodz Ghett" [video number 697]. For a shorter and flawed version, see RG-60.4656 on Film ID 2848 (a 2005 transfer from Jerusalem Cinematheque). See also Story 3820, Film ID 2324 and Story 759, Film ID 505 for duplicate footage from National Center for Jewish Film.