Twentieth Century Fox version, Reel 4: European Pact; Invasion of Poland and West and USSR; visit to a camp near Minsk; war

Identifier
irn1003971
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2006.73.1
  • RG-60.4506
Dates
1 Jan 1939 - 31 Dec 1943
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

United States Navy Lieutenant E. R. Kellogg certifies motion pictures of Nazi concentration camps in an affidavit presented in the "Nazi Concentration Camps" film by the Americans as evidence during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Kellogg had expertise in motion picture and photographic techniques through his employment with Twentieth Century Fox Studios in California from 1929 to 1941. He attests that he has thoroughly examined the concentration camp liberation films of the Army Signal Corps and found them to be unaltered, genuine, and true copies of the originals in the U.S. Army Signal Corps vaults.

James B. Donovan. United States Navy Commander. Associate Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, where he coordinated and presented all Nazi films at the trials. General Counsel to OSS. Negotiated the exchange of Bay of Pigs prisoners with Fidel Castro as an independent lawyer under backdrop of the missile crisis, securing the freedom of nearly 10,000 people. Portrayed by Tom Hanks in "Bridge of Spies".

Scope and Content

Reel 4 of the English language version of "The Nazi Plan" produced by Twentieth Century Fox with new graphics. Most of this reel consists of German newsreel footage with the familiar German narrator, with an English voiceover. No title. Hitler speaks to the Reichstag. He addresses Roosevelt and says that any rumors of intentions by Germany to attack the US are crude lies. He addresses the British government about rearmament and the policy of encirclement which eliminates the conditions for a naval treaty. Title: "Signing of European Pact 21 May 1939." Italy's foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano and Joachim von Ribbentrop sign the so-called "Pact of Steel." Von Ribbentrop speaks. Hitler and Goering are also present [actual date of signing 22 May 1939?] Title: "Welcome home of German legion from Spanish war 6 June 1939." Hitler reviews the parade of returning Condor Legion troops, including Manfred von Richthofen. Crowds of people watch the parade. 01:05:50 Title: "Part 4 Wars of Aggression 1939 - 1944." "Invasion of Danzig 1 September 1939." Newsreel footage: posters addressed to the German people of Danzig. Fighting in the streets; armored car "Sudetenland." Title: "Invasion of Poland 1 September 1939." Low aerial shot of tanks as Hitler announces that Poland has "attacked" Germany. Marching German troops, the border gate being lifted, troops on horseback. Title: "Goering Discusses Invasion of Poland." Goering threatens England and France with the Luftwaffe (last part of his statement, which uses the words "hit" and "destroy" [schlagen and vernichten] is not translated. Title: "1940" "Invasion of Norway and Denmark 9 April 1940." German warships on their way to invade Norway. Luftwaffe planes flying over Denmark. Tanks and troops in the streets of Denmark while the narrator asserts that they are there solely to protect Danish neutrality. Scenes of the invasion of Norway. Aerial view of the coast. Radio tower being guarded, German troops in Oslo. Title: "Invasion of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg 10 May 1940." Planes taking off; dropping paratroopers over Rotterdam. The German narrator mentions (untranslated) that with the first paratroopers come also cameramen of the Propaganda Kompanie. Dutch surrender. Rotterdam burning at night. Title: "Compiegne 22 June 1940." Signing of the armistice with the French in the rail car at Compeigne. General Wilhelm Keitel signs for the Germans and General Charles Huntziger for the French. Hitler signs the invitation to Mussolini; Henri Petain gets out of the rail car. Hitler dances a jig. Title: "Hitler Pays Tribute to Krupp 13 August 1940" Title not legible. Hitler presents a medal to Gustav Krupp von Bohlen [Krupp was indicted at Nuremberg but found unfit to stand trial]. Title: "Signing of military-economic alliance by Germany, Italy, Japan 27 September 1940." Von Ribbentrop signs document, narrator quotes from his speech. Ciano and Japanese representative present. Title: "1941 Bulgaria Joins Axis 1 March 1941." Von Ribbentrop, Bulgarian prime minister Bogdan Filov and Italian foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano. Von Ribbentrop speaks; the officials sign the pact. Hitler speaks to Filov (?) Title: "Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece 6 April 1941." Serbian border fortifications. Fighting on the Greek front. German troops in Thessaloniki. Title: "Invasion of U.S.S.R. 22 June 1941." Shot of a radio tower. Joseph Goebbels reading Hitler's announcement of the invasion of the Soviet Union. People listening to the announcement on radios. Von Ribbentrop making the announcement to the foreign (Axis) press. German soldiers in Russia. Removal of border crossings. Title: "Meeting with Petain, Laval, and Franco in France October 1941." [Actual date is October 1940] Petain meets with Hitler at the train station at Montoire-sur-Loire. Goering and Hitler in a train car. Hitler greets Franco on a train platform in the town of Hendaye, near the Spanish/French border. Franco salutes German honor guard and Hitler salutes Spanish officers. 01:24:33 Title: "A visit to a camp near Minsk." Well-known footage of Heinrich Himmler visiting a camp near Minsk with his adjutant Karl Wolff. This sequence is shorter than that in the German version of The Nazi Plan. The first part of the footage, in which Himmler salutes uniformed men and interacts with local civilians, is missing. Himmler leaves the SS/SD compound in a car. Shots of the detroyed city of Minsk. Himmler greets officers at the camp. He looks at the prisoners through the barbed wire of the enclosure. The last shot includes a glimpse of Otto Bradfisch, leader of Einsatzkommando 8 of Einsatzgruppe B, on the far right. Title: "Declaration of War on the United States 11 December 1941." Rows of Nazi flags. Hitler arrives at the Reichstag. Dark interior shots of audience, including Italian and Japanese ambassadors. The crowd cheers and stands and salutes Hitler. English translation of newsreel narrator's summary of Hitler's speech. Title: "1942" "A Gift to Hitler February 1942." Very bad quality shots of Vidkun Quisling, Minister President of Norway, shaking hands with Hitler. Quisling presents Hitler with a model Viking ship made of silver. Title: "Japanese Submarine Welcomed in German harbor. 30 September 1942." Karl Doenitz and Erich Raeder greet Japanese submarine commanders. Title: "1943" "Signing of the German Japanese Economic Pact 20 January 1943." Joachim von Ribbentrop receives the Japanese ambassador, Oshima. The two men sign the pact.

Note(s)

  • Some of the sequences in the English version have been edited down. Credits: Legal Supervision by James B. Donovan, Commander U.S.N.R. Search teams commanded by Budd Schulberg, Lieutenant U.S.N.R. Film Editors: Robert Webb, Robert Parrish, and John McCafferty. There is also a thank you to Col. Darryl F. Zanuck for making the adapted English version possible.

  • "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled by Budd Schulberg and other military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers took pains to use only German source material, including official newsreels and other German films (1919-45). It was put together for the US Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality and the US Office of the Chief Counsel for War Crimes. The film was received in evidence as IMT exhibit USA-167. Summary from NARA story card (archive source number 238.1): "On the activities and policies of the National Socialist Party in Germany, 1921-1944, particularly as reflected in the speeches of Adolf Hitler. Shows much of the pagentry associated with the speeches. Consists of four parts: Part I: The rise of the NSDAP, 1921-1933 (reels 1-2); Part II: Acquiring totalitarian control of Germany, 1933-1935 (reels 3-8); Part III: Preparation for wars of aggression, 1935-1939 (reels 9-16); and Part IV: Wars of aggression, 1939-1944 (reels 17-22)."

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