Belsen at liberation; Kramer; women jeer at SS
Creator(s)
- Jack Marcovitch (Subject)
- Michael Lewis (Camera Operator)
- Imperial War Museums
Biographical History
Jack Marcovitch (1923-1994) was born in Montreal, Canada. He was the oldest child of Louis and Leah (Barmash) Marcovitch who were immigrants to Canada from Bucharest, Romania. In 1946, Jack married Sarah Berbrier and had three children, Donald, Gloria and Linda. On November 4, 1942, Jack enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and served oversees. When Jack viewed this film many years later, he said "I can smell it." He said he wanted to shoot the commandant but his peers were yelling "Don't do it Jackie." He remarked that what he saw was indescribable.
Scope and Content
CU of commandeered German truck driving burial detail to the mass graves outside Belsen, loaded with British soldiers and SS men in the back of the truck with corpses. Corpses on ground in BG. Naked female corpses dropped into grave, carried by two SS guards in uniform. Exuberant, clapping female survivors in crowd cheer and follow truck of British soldiers. CU of various women expressing pain and fury at SS; one holds her hands in prayer. Back to happy reactions of women towards British. VAR CUs of camp commandant Josef Kramer, under guard, with scarred face and untroubled look, speaks. 17:03:15 Canadian military soldier with a cap, Jack Marcovitch, on Kramer's left side. Kramer being marched out of building to jeep under armed guards. 17:04:22 SS Aufseherinnen: SS women overseers on truck with corpses, Herta Bothe on left. Female ex-prisoners watch truck pass. Aufseherinnen dragging naked female corpse to pit. CUs of bodies in grave. MS, bottom of pit covered with limbs. Various shots as bulldozer begins to fill in pit with dirt, survivors look on.
Note(s)
See cameraman's dope sheets. For some duplicate (although poorer quality) footage, see Story 2642, Film ID 165. The woman shouting might be survivor Helen (nee Hela) Goldstein who appears in Story 60, Film ID 9 and who identified herself in the footage during a visit to the Museum in May 2003.
When Jack Marcovitch viewed this film many years later, he said "I can smell it". He said he wanted to shoot the commandant but his peers were yelling "Don't do it Jackie." He remarked that what he saw was indescribable.
Subjects
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (BRITISH)
- GUARDS
- CORPSES
- BURIALS
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS
- MASS GRAVES
- SURVIVORS
- JEEPS
- BULLDOZERS
- SS (SCHUTZSTAFFEL)
- KRAMER, JOSEF
- BERGEN-BELSEN
- GERMANY
- WOMEN
- GRAVES
- TRUCKS
- LIBERATION
- PITS
Places
- Bergen-Belsen, Germany
Genre
- Unedited.
- Film