David Glick's JDC mission to South America
Creator(s)
- Allen S. Hepner
- David Glick (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
In 1936, at the behest of Paul Baerwald and Felix Warburg and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), David Glick, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania attorney, traveled to Germany to act as an independent liaison between Nazi officials and Jewish organizations. His primary objective in this capacity was to assist German Jews in leaving the country, through whatever legal means possible. He met with Heinrich Himmler (Head of the Secret State Police), Reinhard Heydrich (head of Security Services), Dr. Karl Haselbacher (Deputy in Charge of the 'Jewish Problem'), and Dr. Werner Best (Deputy Leader of the Secret State Police). From 1936-38, David Glick, as the unofficial representative of the JDC in Germany, criss-crossed the country meeting with leaders of major Jewish organizations and members of various congregations. Much of his work was conducted at great risk to his own personal safety. He worked with the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (The Council for the Representation of Jews in the Third Reich), and the U.S. and British governments to assist thousands of German Jews in emigrating to Palestine and South America. In 1937 he successfully negotiated the release and emigration of 120 of the 300 Jews who were then prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp. In 1939, David Glick visited every country in South America on behalf of the JDC to survey the needs of the German and Austrian refugees who had settled there. He brought with him a 16mm camera, and he filmed his experiences with the new refugees in many of these countries. The films in this collection are the only photographic documentation known to exist of David Glick's journeys. They are a testament to the work that a private American citizen was carrying out on behalf of the Jews of Germany when the official U.S. government policy had yet to acknowledge the extent of Adolf Hitler's plans to eradicate European Jewry.
Scope and Content
EXT, Lima Peru. LS, camera pans a shanty town at the base of the Andes Mountains. VS of clear blue sky, clouds and mountains as seen from the window of an airplane, the plane's wing is visible in the FG. EXT, a city in the main plaza and on city streets. The cameraman concentrates on capturing images of the indigenous people in traditional dress with bundles, packages and even their children on their heads or backs. Men, women and children are featured. People in the BG of several shots wear contemporary Western style clothing, and look much more European. 01:26 La Paz and surroundings. The mountains seen from a high vantage point. MS, a local family (mother, father, and child) talk to a European-dressed woman. LS, four people walk down a road in a mountain village. CU, red flowers in bloom, MS, two ox drawn carts moved down a street in a local village. More CUs of flowers. 02:07 possibly Santa Cruz or Cochabamba, Bolivia LS, a high cement wall surrounds a Spanish-style villa, viewed from the road. A palm tree rises high above the walls of the villa. LS, the entrance to the villa, the gate is open, a man in the BG greets the cameraman. LS, road from the gate of the villa. MS, a man in a white suit holds two brilliantly hued parrots on his hand, posing outside the villa (his home?). The house has a Spanish tiled roof. EXT shot from the window of a building overlooking a busy city street, workers sweeping sand off the streets in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Modern skyscrapers are visible in the distance, cars move along. VS of the street, the beach, people walking along the beach, the waves hitting the shore, etc. Workers shovel sand into trucks and onto the beach. VS, architecture throughout the city, several ornate buildings and monuments, gardens, new construction of high rise buildings, the mountains along the shore, etc. LS of the statue of Christ with his hands outstretched atop Cordova Mountain. VS, the city of Rio, locals sunbathing, roads along the mountainside. More shots in the mountains, and views of hotel called the "Miami Colonia," possibly in Uruguay, as well as the street below, lined with palm trees and automobiles, shot from the window of a building adjacent to the hotel. 01:06:02 Scene shifts to Washington, DC. LS shot from inside a moving vehicle, of a line of trees and the tip of the Washington Monument visible above the tree line, LS of the US Capitol.
Note(s)
Mixed on reel: 16mm, Kodachrome camera reversal original, film date coded 1939; black and white camera reversal original, film dated coded 1924/1944.
A report titled "Rescue and Resettlement" that was prepared by the donor, Mr. Allen Hepner contains copies of JDC letters, David Glick's letters while in Germany, and David Glick's country reports back to the JDC while traveling across South America. Please contact Film and Video Archive to access these materials.
Subjects
- PEASANTS
- JEWS
- IMMIGRATION
- EMIGRES/EMIGRATION
- AIRPLANES
- CITIES
- SOUTH AMERICA
- CHILDREN
- RESCUERS/RESCUE
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- WOMEN
- VILLAGES
Places
- La Paz, Bolivia
- , Bolivia
- , Brazil
- Washington, DC, United States
- , Peru
- , South America
- Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.