Polish YMCA and rebuilding in Prague, 1946

Identifier
irn1003604
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.213
  • RG-60.4167
Dates
1 Jan 1946 - 31 Dec 1946
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

CU on the book "Beyond Tragedy" by Reinhold Niebuhr. A woman holds the book and turns several pages in the book. EXT, VS Prague, buildings under reconstruction; town square; EXT of the YMCA;CU of sign that reads: "Polska YMCA"; adolescent boys coming out of the swimming pool in their short, tight trunks, lots of horseplay and other things popping up. 01:04:40:11 to 01:05:02:00 Young men and women gathered in a hall for a social, and then seated to watch a musical performance; band on stage, several cuts back and forth between musicians and audience. 01:08:25:20: Swimming pool, the boys how to dive with a coach, VS, CUs of the coach positioning their bodies, shot from behind, then seen in reverse angle from the front, shot from the opposite side of the pool; more horseplay in the pool. 01:09:54:20: return to concert/recital; CUs of audience members; English lessons at the YWCA with a female teacher.

Note(s)

  • At the time of the filming, Julien Bryan was working under contract for the International Relief Organization/UNRRA and tasked with capturing images of Europe rebuilding. The finished films were intended for an international [European] audience, often screened under the auspices of the US Department of State. 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.