Displaced persons board ship in Bremerhaven, Germany to relocate to the United States
Creator(s)
- International Relief Organization (UNRRA) (Producer)
- Sam Bryan and International Film Foundation
- Julien H. Bryan (Producer)
- Julien H. Bryan (Director)
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
Bremerhaven, Germany at the port of embarkation. US military personnel mill about, arranging signs, helping DPs with luggage, guiding the refugees through this stage of the emigration process. They are on their way to the United States, a large painted banner on the docks reads: "Welcome to the first DP Emigrants to the US, Bremerhaven Port of Embarkation" Refugees board the ship (the General Wm. M. Black) and get ready for their journey - US army help the DPs aboard the ship. Everyone seems very happy, even the children, some have looks of bewilderment on their faces. All are in overcoats, carrying luggage, and they have name tags/ ID tags on their clothing. 01:00:40 and 01:03:40 -- Another banner over the deck of the ship reads: "Ship to freedom" with DPs, including John (Ivan) Poliszczuk. Press and camera crews are visible; a military band plays for the event. As the DPs board the ship, US Army man directs them from the top of gangplank: men are sent to one side, women and children to the other. The passengers wave from the ship's deck to the camera, the camera follows the ship as it heads out to sea. The ship moves out of sight. 01:04:27 VS of dockworkers at the port of Linz (on the Danube River in Austria), loading and unloading other ships and barges with raw materials.
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.
The General W.M. Black carried several thousand displaced persons from Europe to ports in Venezuela, Australia, Brazil, and New York from 1948 to 1949. It is possible that this film shows the transport that arrived in New York on October 30, 1948. This film was originally dated by Julien Bryan as 1947.
Subjects
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (ALLIES)
- MUSIC
- DANUBE RIVER
- WORKERS
- REFUGEES
- CHILDREN
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- JEWS
- UNRRA
- SIGNS/POSTERS
- PORTS
- BANDS
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY
- POSTWAR
- WOMEN
- MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
- SHIPS
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP)
- LUGGAGE
- EMIGRES/EMIGRATION
- GERMANY
- REFUGEES (JEWISH)
- BRYAN, JULIEN
Places
- Bremerhaven, Germany
- Linz, Austria
Genre
- Film
- Outtakes.