German siege of Warsaw, Poland, Sept. 1939

Identifier
irn1003413
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.214
  • RG-60.3977
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1940
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

Scope and Content

01:04:12:20 CU, shot from low angle of signs on a large contemporary, concrete block apartment building- the address and other information are visible - written in Polish, identifies construction company, etc. located in Warsaw, Poland. Camera then pans the building, which looks deserted, although the bombing has not damaged it. 01:04:23:17 MLS of a destroyed area of Warsaw; it seems to be a bridge over one portion of the river and an entrance into the city from an outlying suburb. Polish soldiers on horseback patrol the bridge, some people are walking along the bridge, one cyclist passes by, CU from edge of bridge of the rubble, in the BG people carrying bundles can be seen walking on the bridge. MS of a destroyed houseboat along the river. More pans of the riverbanks and the bridge far off in the distance now. 01:04:55:02 CU of a large shell casing. Cut to a MLS of bombed out buildings, a soldier and a young boy mill about in the BG, frame right. Pan of an entire street of wreckage. VS, the inhabitants of this area setting up makeshift homes outside, pots of water, trying to clean up, and clean themselves off, etc. They are rescuing all they can from the wreckage of their homes. They are piling chairs, pictures of the Madonna, plates, etc, outside on the ground. 01:05:26:22 A woman comes and picks up her picture of the Madonna and holds it up for the camera, with her two children standing beside her. More shots of the family sifting through the rubble, END

Note(s)

  • Detailed preservation notes from the film lab are available in Film and Video department files. Additional photographs are available in the USHMM Photo Archives.

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.