Liberation of Nordhausen; Red Cross; V2 rockets
Creator(s)
- Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
- Special Coverage Unit (SPECOU) (Producer)
- George C. Stevens (Director)
- George C. Stevens (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
George Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer. During World War II, Stevens joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and headed a film unit from 1943 to 1946 under General Eisenhower. His unit shot footage documenting D-Day — including the only Allied European Front color film of the war — the liberation of Paris and the meeting of American and Soviet forces at the Elbe River, as well as horrific scenes from the Duben labor camp and the Dachau concentration camp. Stevens also helped prepare the Duben and Dachau footage and other material for presentation during the Nuremberg Trials. In 2008, his footage was entered into the U.S. National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress as an "essential visual record" of World War II.
The Special Coverage Unit (SPECOU) was placed under the control of the Supreme Headquarters' Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). The SPECOU consists of 45 people: writers like Ivan Moffat, William Saroyan and Irwin Shaw; cameramen like Dick Hoar, Ken Marthey, William Mellor, Jack Muth; sound operators as Bill Hamilton, who comes from Columbia, assistant directors, as Holly Morse, who has worked with Hal Roach.
Scope and Content
Shot of stretchers containing emaciated corpses, name "Orlich" and number written on body. Stevens and Moffat talking through window to inmate in striped coat. Inmates in striped coats talking to Stevens and others. Panning shot of camp buildings - Dora in Nordhausen. Bare trees in BG. VS of camp. Small sign reads: "Holzverwertung." Inmate in striped uniform with red cross walks past sign. CU of ambulances and Red Cross tent. Series of Red Cross tents at side of an airfield by ambulances (LoC cataloger's handwritten annotations indicate that this footage is not from Nordhausen, but from another site, and that the prisoner is a French POW). LS, pan of what seems to be a concentration camp in the distance. Shot of unidentified troops in truck, intercut with shots of the camera crew (notes indicate that footage is of Nordhausen again). Shot of jeeps coming from under some kind of camouflage that was built into the side of a mountain. Front jeep has two stars on it. Officers in battle jackets dismount. Two-star general gets in jeep, drives off. General and men have red shoulder patches with white insignia. More shots of camp. Inmate dusting off blanket. GIs, cameramen filming. Corpses covered with blankets on stretchers, pan of concentration camp, MP in FG. Inmates sitting outside of cell block in sun. CU, emaciated inmates in civilian clothes and some striped uniforms. Inmate leaving camp. Olive drab military sedan in FG, stretcher bearers carrying victims past "Holzverwertung" sign. Loaves of bread being carried on stretcher. Elderly bandaged inmate carrying bucket. Sign reads: "Gefahren Zone!" with skull and crossbones. Large metal containers which appear to be connected to gas chambers. Large tubular objects with screens at one end, possibly gas canisters. Pile of tubular objects in CU. Possibly rockets. NOTE: Stevens talked of going to a place where V2s (rocket engines/jet engines) were produced in the Hartz Mountains. These objects are not officially identified. This is followed by a sequence of underexposed shots that are also unidentifiable.
People
- Stevens, George, 1904-1975.
Corporate Bodies
- United States. Army. Signal Corps. Special Coverage Unit
Subjects
- JEEPS
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- DORA-MITTELBAU
- GERMANY
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS
- MOUNTAINS
- UNIFORMS
- MILITARY POLICE
- BREAD
- ZYKLON B
- PRISONERS (FRENCH)
- GAS CHAMBERS
- SURVIVORS (JEWISH)
- MOVIE CAMERAS
- CORPSES
- STEVENS, GEORGE
- BARRACKS
- CAMERA OPERATORS
- NORDHAUSEN
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- CAMERAS
- SIGNS/POSTERS
- RED CROSS
- SURVIVORS
Places
- Nordhausen, Germany
Genre
- Unedited.
- Film