Life in German DP camp
Creator(s)
- George Kadish (Camera Operator)
- Mr. George Kadish
Biographical History
George Kadish, born Zvi (Hirsh) Kadushin (1910- 1997), was a Lithuanian Jewish photographer who documented life in the Kovno Ghetto during the Holocaust. Prior to World War II he was a mathematics, science and electronics teacher at a Hebrew High School in Kovno, Lithuania. As a hobby, Kadish was a photographer. He was skilled at making home-made cameras. During the period of Nazi control of Lithuania he successfully photographed various scenes of life and its difficulties in the ghetto in clandestine circumstances. Kadish constructed cameras by which he could photograph through the buttonhole of his coat or over a window sill. He was able to photograph sensitive scenes that would attract the ire of Nazis or collaborators, such as scenes of people gathered for forced labor, burning of the ghetto, and deportations. He enlisted the help of Yehuda Zupowitz, a high-ranking officer in the ghetto's Jewish police to help hide his negatives and prints. Kadish retrieved the collection of photographic negatives upon his return to the destroyed ghetto. After Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945, Kadish left Lithuania with his extrordinary documentary trove for Germany. There in the American Zone, he mounted exhibitions of his photographs for survivors residing in displaced persons camps. He also filmed and photographed life in the displaced persons camps in Germany.
Scope and Content
Tent city and displaced persons in Germany. Families, children idling near tents (Red Cross and JDC). UNRRA jeeps/trucks. DPs milling about with luggage. Pan, crowd of DPs. Man standing on chair, above crowd view of DPs arriving at camp with luggage. DPs with luggage getting onto truck. CUs, women, children, baby sleeping. Pan feet (mostly barefoot). Standing in line for food with buckets. Eating. Distributing food/soup. Boy getting water from a military jeep. Woman with baby, woman knitting, laundry. DPs idling. CU tents. Man dragging child in cardboard box. Man reading newspaper in Landsberg DP camp. Elderly woman crying. Laundry. CU baby. Crowds waiting with luggage, getting onto trucks. Pan of DP tent camp. More DPs with luggage moving towards trucks. Woman speaks to commanding officer, another commanding officer speaks to a group of DPs. Boarding truck, CU family with luggage. Child eating, elderly woman eating. Scouts dancing and singing. Getting off truck. DPs unloading, being deloused. Eating at table. Children writing in journals. Man doing calisthenics. Poster of a man bowling. Gathering at camp for Olympiad sporting events: flag-raising, grandstand with megaphone, spectators, calisthenics, relay races, running races, long jump, high jump, award ceremony, children marching. Hebrew language sign. Children exiting school with backpacks, teachers follow. Man speaking to children eating at table. Distributing UNRRA certificates. Automobile exiting through EXT gate. Switchboard operator. Man with stack of papers, distributing identification papers? Man exiting automobile, salute. Men marching. Samuel Bak from Vilna painting ghetto scenes. Man painting poster with "6,000,000" inscription. Pan of more artwork. Violin, piano. Older men speaking around table.
Note(s)
For some duplicate footage, see also Story 92, Film ID 142B of "The Persecuted," George Kadish's documentary film about the life of Jewish people in DP camps in Germany. See also Story 88, Film ID 142A and Stories 90 and 91, Film ID 142B for duplicate/similar footage.
Original can title: "Rolle 1 DP Camps Selects 1946"
Subjects
- AUTOMOBILES
- TELEPHONES
- SCHOOLS
- MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
- LUGGAGE
- JDC (JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE)
- WOMEN
- JEWS
- DANCING
- PAINTINGS
- FAMILIES
- TRUCKS
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP)
- MARCHING
- FOOD
- VIOLINS
- SCOUTS
- FLAGS
- BABIES
- ARTISTS
- EATING
- POSTWAR
- SINGING
- MILITARY OFFICERS
- SPORTS/GAMES
- DISINFECTION
- HEBREW
- CROWDS
- MUSIC
- NEWSPAPERS
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP) CAMPS
- AWARDS
- RED CROSS
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- SWITCHBOARDS
- ART
- JEEPS
- SURVIVORS (JEWISH)
- CEREMONIES
- SOUP
- TEACHERS
- TENTS
Places
- , Germany
- Landsberg, Germany
Genre
- Film
- Unedited.