SIGNIFICANT FILM DOCUMENTS ON THE HOLOCAUST 1933-1945
The following meticulously selected motion picture film titles are, in the archival research staff of HFA's opinion are significant in that they laid the foundations of the opening stages of the Holocaust in prewar Germany (crude Nazi propaganda films are included in this collection); other titles refer to important film titles documenting the Holocaust itself, as well as the landmark postwar motion picture documents on the Holocaust produced by liberating Allied troops in 1945.
NOTE: All of the following motion picture records are stringently RESTRICTED and copies will not be released without prior written permission from the rights holder. NO EXCEPTIONS WHATSOEVER.
German Boycott of Jewish Shops [c. 04.01.1933]
Orig. title: "Deutscher Boykott juedischer Geschaefte" Deulig 1933 Fragmented Film 25:00 B/W sound HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF
This newsreel production produced by the Deulig newsreel company in April 1933 documented the first official Nazi boycott against Jewish-owned businesses in Berlin on April 1, 1933. This was the first anti-Jewish action taken against Germany's Jews. This film depicts brown-shirted S.A. stormtroopers as they stand outside Jewish-owned shops and businesses in the center of Berlin, shouting anti-Semitic slogans, demanding regular Germans to not purchase goods from these shops - "only buy German goods." Others, stand with placards with similar anti-Semitic propaganda slogans.
Julius Streicher's Anti-Jewish Address from "Triumph of the Will" [c. 08.04.1934]
Orig. title: "Julius Streichers abtijuedische Ansprache aus 'Triumph des Willens ' Ufa/LR-FP Film 1934 Excerpt 1:37 B/W sound HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain.
This film excerpt from Leni Riefenstahl's political propaganda "documentary" "Triumph of the Will" (c. 1935) depicting Franconian Gauleiter Julius Streicher deliver his address before the hallowing throngs in the packed Luitpoldhalle during the six Reich Party Day Congress on September 4-10, 1934 held in the medieval city of Nuremberg. Surprisingly, this address by Streicher was the only anti-Semitic speech in Riefenstahl's entire film, however, it did set the Nazi anti-Jewish tone at the time, proclaiming "A people that does not protect its racial purity will perish." Streicher was chief Jew-baiter #1 and published the virulent anti-Semitic newspaper, "Der Stuermer,' with its repugnant brand of racism. Streicher would eventually be hung for his contribution to National Socialism in 1945 when he, as well as other Nuremberg defendants were found guilty of war crimes and were ceremoniously executed for their crimes.
The Nuremberg Race Laws [c. 09.15.1935]
Orig. title: "Die Nuernberger Rassegesetze" NSDAP-Filmleitung/Reich Ministry of Propaganda 1935 14:25 B/W sound HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
This Nazi-produced film depicts the introduction of the heinous Nuremberg Race Laws which had been duly signed by all top political and government leaders of the new Reich leadership, including Hitler, Goering, Rosenberg, Hess, Luetze, and others in attendance. This short film depicts the actual execution of the new anti-Semitic laws which deprived German Jews of their rightful enfranchised citizenship, as well as their civil rights. It was the first governmental action taken against Germany's Jews as early as 1935. The official laws are read by Hermann Goering, followed with much applause; Hitler delivers the closing remarks on the establishment of the new laws.
Jews without a Mask [c. 12.29.1937]
Orig. title: "Juden ohne Maske" NSDAP-Filmletiung/Reich Propaganda Ministry 1937 90 min. B/W sound HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
The first Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda "documentary"had been produced by Walter Boettcher and Leo von der Schmeide, whom had also penned the toxic commentary for the fraudulent feature-length hate film initially ordered by Joseph Goebbels. The film was scurrilous utilizing excerpts from German feature film classics produced during the Weimarian period depicting such notable cinematic figures as Peter Lorre, Curt Bois, Fritz Kortner, Rosa Valetti, and others. This film had been regarded as lost for many years until a short fragmented excerpt was located (which is in our archive). Since the last twenty years, our archival researchers managed to locate a complete version of the film. The film had been produced in conjunction with the notorious "Eternal Jew Exhibition" which took place the same year in Munich.
Polish Jews in Warsaw [c. 09.15.1939]
Orig. title: "Polnische Juden in Warschau" SS-Filmleitung/Reich Propaganda Ministry 1939 48 min. B/W silent HD Guage; 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
The high command of Heinrich Himmler's SS had been instructed to assist German newsreel camera crews in "documenting" what the Nazis thought would be the final images of the Jewish race in Europe. Although this film material had already been filming Polish Jews in Warsaw, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels had sent his film chief Fritz Hippler to further "document" this visual imagery for usage in the most evil hate film ever produced - "The Eternal Jew" (Dfg, 1940), which would be directed by Hippler as well. It is interesting to note this film footage is the last images of many of the Jews pictured as they would either perish by starvation inflicted by the SS themselves or deported to the East, where they would never be heard from again.
The Eternal Jew [c. 11.28.1940]
Orig. title: "Der ewige Jude" Deutsche-Film-Gesellschaft (Dfg) 1940 70 min. B/W sound HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Fritz Hippler's scurrilous feature-length pseudo "documentary," "The Eternal Jew" (Dfg, 1940) was a celluloid blueprint for the destruction of European Jewry which had been ordered personally by Hitler himself who then delegated the sinister responsibility to Joseph Goebbels whom in turn handed it to his propaganda film chief, Fritz Hippler (Hippler had held an honorary rank of "Obersturmbannfuehrer" in Himmler's dreaded SS). The rest was left to red-hot Nazi anti-Semitic ideologue, Dr. Eberhard Taubert who penned the repugnant commentary. This celluloid piece of fraud alleges Jews control world finance, world politics, world economy, and world opinion. It charges Jews are parasites controlling world banks, the arts and culture, including the cinema, stage, etc. Hippler's disgusting film is obviously one of the obvious examples of direct Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda and its chosen purpose had been preyed upon at the time as it was not only shown widely throughout Germany and the occupied territories, but also to concentration camp guard staff throughout Hitler's empire. It also shows us how the arts and the cinema in general can be manipulated and twisted to serve the cause of evil.
Einsatzgruppen (Operational Execution Squads) [c. 1941]
Orig. title: "Einsatzgruppen" SS home movie 1941 1:49 B/W silent HD Guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Home movie photographed by Waffen-SS soldier of actual "Einsatzgruppen" execution of Jews in Eastern Europe which was the failed first phase known as "murder by bullets" of the pre-Final Solution planning on behalf of Himmler and other key SS and SD officials. This is one of the first visual documents of actual Nazi genocide in Eastern Europe.
Seizure of Power [c. 01.30.1933]
NSDAP-Filmleitung 1933 12:57 Color sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Orig. title: "Machteigreifung" The first official film coverage of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on the evening of January 30, 1933 which had been filmed in color by order of the Nazi party film department at the time. The film depicts Nazi banners parading through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in a celebrative moment singing party songs. This visual image is the first such imagery denoting the beginning of the end for both Germany and the Jewish population contained within its borders. This was the first recorded dark epoch in German history as it tragically marked the beginning of Hitler's 12-Year Reich which would result in the terrible world war and consequent nightmare years of the Holocaust.
Germany's Jews [c. 02.10.1933]
German home movie 1933 49 min. Color + B/W silent HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright; Public Domain.
Orig. title: "Deutschlands Juden" Rare home movies documenting German Jews in Berlin as they appeared on February 10, 1933, the same year Hitler delivered his first public address to the German people as newly appointed Chancellor. This rare lost film depicts Berlin Jews as they went about their normal everyday average lives at the start of the Nazi regime, being unsuspecting future victims of the brutality and viciousness of the people that would become their tormentors and oppressors.
Sachsenhausen KZ [c. 1936]
Orig. title: "Sachsenhausen" NSDAP-Filmleitung/Reich Justice Ministry 1936 25 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Early vintage short film "documentary" of the establishment of one of the first concentration camps (KZ) set-up in Germany on July 22, 1936. Sachsenhausen was initially a labor camp, outfitted with several subcamps, eventually a gas chamber, and a medical experimentation area. This lost film documents the camp in the early state with mainly political prisoners, including Communists and socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Gays, and Freemasons, and later during the war Poles and Soviet POWs.
Heredity Disease [c. 1936]
Orig. title: "Erbkrank" NSDAP-Filmleitung/Reich Propaganda Ministry 1936 25 min. B/W silent HD guage; 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Early Nazi euthanasia propaganda film promoting the elimination of the mentally and physically incurables in Germany which was a perverted precursor to mass murder when it came to the regime dealing with Jews during the Holocaust. This film depicts various scenes of the mentally and physically disabled patients in German asylums. The intertitles between the scenes in the film denote the propagandistic references supporting the unsuspecting victims of Nazi euthanasia.
Deportation of Polish Jews [c. 1942]
Orig. title: "Deportation polnischer Juden" SS-Filmleitung 1942 25 min. B/W silent HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
German-produced documentation on the deportation of Polish Jews in 1942 to Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of Himmler and Eichmann's "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" following the infamous Wannsee Conference in Berlin the same year. This film depicts Polish Jews being rounded-up and systematically deported via railroad boxcars as they are traguically and sadly shipped off to their final destination: Auschwitz-Birkenau.
State Funeral of Reinhard Heydrich [c. 06.4.1942]
Orig. title: "Staatsbegraebnis von Reinhard Heydrich" Reich Propaganda Ministry 1942 58 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF. Original German + English subtitled print versions.
Official German film produced by Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry on the state funeral of Reichs Protector of Bohemia-Moravia in Berlin on June 4, 1942. The film depicts those party, government and military figures, including, Hitler, Goering, Himmler, Goebbels, and others in attendance of the leading butcher of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, as well as the bereaved. Heydrich was one of the central sinister figures of the Third Reich and played an important role in implementing the Final Solution as it was he who first organized the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin the very same year launching Nazi Germany's vicious onslaught against European Jewry during the Holocaust. Historically, Heydrich had a tainted reputation of being firstly, the original founder of the heinous "Einsatzgruppen" extermination squads as head of the SD. His dark path had originally began, however, when he had helped to organize Kristallnacht in Germany and Austria in 1938. As mentioned, his role in the formalized plans for the Final Solution resulted in the deportation and systematic genocide of all Jews then residing in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Warsaw Ghetto [c. 1942]
Orig. title: "Warschau Ghetto" SS-Filmleitung 1942 52 min. B/W silent HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
German-produced film purportedly "documenting" life for Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. The film depicts scenes of Polish Jews as they lived in the extremely inhuman, difficult times of hardship, starvation , and eventually death in the ghetto. Kapos are shown rounding up Jews for the Germans. The "Judenrat" Jewish council is also depicted as had existed prior to the eventual destruction of the ghetto during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.
Theresienstadt KZ: "The Fuehrer gives the Jews a City" [c. 1944]
Orig. title: "Der Fuehrer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt" SD-Filmleitung/Aktualia-Film 1944 45 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Notorious Nazi propaganda film produced on Heydrich's order in an attempt to convince the International Red Cross there were no atrocities being committed in the German concentration camp system. Theresienstadt was the first and only such "model camp" so selected for this evil intention as camp inmates were well-fed, exercised, attended concerts, libraries, attended gardens, and joyfully worked in Nazi factories in the camp. The reality of this tragic film is that following filming, all camp inmates were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were never heard from again. The film's director was himself a camp inmate - Kurt Herron, who had played a prominent role in the history of the Weimarian cinema (he had essayed a role in Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel" (Ufa, 1930)) was too deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau were he too was murdered. HFA hold an original German dialog version (uncut) and an abridged German version with English subtitles.
Allied Liberation of Mathausen KZ [c. 05.03.1945]
U.S. Army Signal Corps 1945 19 min. B/W silent HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s Copyright: Public Domain..
Official film footage of the Allied liberation of Mathausen and Gusen concentration camps in Austria on May 3, 1945. Ultimately, units of the 3rd U.S. Army had liberated 40,000 camp prisoners in both camps. Contains graphic footage of prisoners, conditions in camps; atrocities, etc.
Funeral Pyres of Nazidom [c. 1945]
Universal Newsreels 1945 10 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain.
Wartime newsreel issue produced by Universal Newsreels in 1945 documenting Allied funerals for concentration camp murdered in the spring of 1945. Depicts American advance thru Austria and into the heart of Bavaria in Munich, Nuremberg, etc. upon liberation of Dachau concentration camp. Other contemporary newsworthy events are also depicted.
Hitler Lives [c. 1945]
Warner Bros. Pictures 1945 20 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s Copyright: WB..
Allied propaganda "documentary" warned at the time in 1945 that although Hitler was dead, his ideology continued to live on in some of his fanatical followers still in an occupied divided Germany. Contains rare archival footage from the history of Nazi Germany and the war, with some detail on the discovery of genocide during the Holocaust.
Nazi Murder Mills! [c. 1945]
Universal Newsreels 1945 10 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain.
Allied wartime newsreel produced by Universal Newsreels at the end of the war depicts the heinous scourge of Nazi Germany when the humanity was finally able to grasp the truth of Hitler's Reich when we took a journey into the dark soul of National Socialism when the concentration camps were liberated by Allied forces in the spring of 1945.
Allies seize War Loot and Criminals [c. 1945]
Universal Newsreels 1945 10 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s copyright: Public Domain..
Wartime newsworthy report focused on Allied seizure of Nazi loot, which included valuable art treasures from the conquered territories of Europe. Another report depicts the arrest of Nazi war criminals at the end of the war.
Nazis Face War Crime Evidence [c. 1945]
Universal Newsreels 1945 10 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. copyright: Public Domain.
Wartime weekly newsreel produced by Universal Newsreels in 1945 reported on the activities of the International Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg during 1945-46 in which leading accused defendants included Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Julius Streicher, Hans Frank, and numerous other on trial for war crimes and other heinous Nazi atrocities during the war.
Death Mills [c. 1945-46]
U.S. Department of War 1946 50 ,min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain. Film director Billy Wilder produced and directed "Death Mills" which was produced by the U.S. Department of War in 1945. The film was intended for German movie-going audiences to be reeducated them about the monstrous atrocities and genocide committed by the Nazi regime during the war. A special German version was also produced entitled "Die Todesmuehlen" which had been written and directed by Hanus Burger, while Billy Wilder supervised the editing of the production. Although Wilder was credited with being the director of the American version, he later stated that he in fact did not direct anything in the film: "there was nothing to direct." The production was a greatly condensed version of "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey," a 1945 British government documentary film that was not completed until nearly seven decades later. The special German version was exhibited in the American sector of West Germany in January 1946.
Atonement for Auschwitz [c. 01.08.1948]
Orig. title: "Suehne fuer Auschwitz" Welt im Film 1948 28 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: TF.
Postwar West German newsreel produced by Welt im Film ("The World in Film") released on January 8, 1948. The film depicts the well-known Auschwitz Tribunal which took place on November 24, 1947, in Cracow, when Poland's Supreme National Tribunal tried forty former staff of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps. The torturing of prisoners in Auschwitz who had already been tormented to the extreme was that the evidence of inhuman savagery perpetuated by those defendants, who as a result of the tribunal were sentenced to death.
Nuremberg [c. 1948-50]
U.S. Government 1948-50 75 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain.
Official U.S. government film concerning the first trial as part of the International Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg which was the first such trial against major Nazi war criminals from November 20, 1945 to O October 1, 1946. Although widely released throughout occupied Germany under the title "Nuremberg and Their Lies" in 1948 and 1949, the U.S. government authorities decided not to exhibit the film in American theatres. The production interweaves the courtroom proceedings with excerpts from another Allied production entitled "The Nazi Plan" (which had been assembled for the prosecution) and "Nazi Concentration Camps" (1945) and "Prison Camps" (`1945) which had been evidentiary productions compiled by director John Ford's OSS Field Photo Branch/War Crimes unit. Much attention is paid to film excerpts of Nazi war crimes and atrocities in the concentration camps. The film is regarded as an important visual and audible documentary record of the Nuremberg Trials. HF maintains both English and German language prints in the archive.
Joseph Goebbels: Minister of Hate [c. 1952]
McGraw-Hill/Text-Films 1952 30 min. B/W sound guage: 16mm HD 24 f.p.s. Copyright: Public Domain.
Postwar documentary film depicting the life and career of Nazi Germany's sinister Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels as they man who made Hitler during the Third Reich. Goebbels wielded an iron hand over the German press, theater, the movies, literature, radio from 1933 until his death by suicide in a Berlin bunker in the spring of 1945. Contains archival footage of Goebbels in his heyday with special emphasis on his obsession with the German film industry where he ordered the production of slanted propaganda movies directed against the enemies of the Reich. The Propaganda Minister must be known as one of the chief instigators of the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies and directed such toxic racist campaigns against European Jews during the war.
Trial of the Century: Eichmann tried for War Crimes [c. 1961]
Universal Newsreels 1961 28 min. B/W sound HD guage: 16mm 24 f.p.s Copyright: Public Domain.
Official American newsreel special report on the Israeli trial of major Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann inm 1960-61 who had been captured in Argentina by Israeli Mossad agents and brought to Israel to stand trial. This film depicting excerpts from his trial, which opened on April 11, 1961, was broadcast on Israeli television as well as shown internationally, intended to educate people about the monstrous crimes committed against European Jews, which had been secondary to the Nuremberg Trials. Eichmann was charged woth 15 counts of violating the 'Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law.' Adolf Eichmann was indicted on all 15 counts, and was sentenced to death. and was hanged on June 1, 1962 at Ramla Prison. This film depicts the actual legal proceedings against Eichmann which took place before the Jewish people and the entire civilized world.