March of Time film advertising United Jewish Appeal campaign

Titles onscreen: Shadows of Hate; produced by March of Time; for United Jewish Appeal for refugees, overseas needs, and Palestine on behalf of Joint Distribution Committee, United Palestine Appeal, and United Service for New Americans. Date onscreen: 1947. Streets crowded with pedestrians going about their business. The narrator states that "The comfortable ways of peace are once more being established," followed by footage of recreational activities. People buy goods at a department store, dress shop, cruise down a highway in cars, enjoy an amusement park and play on the beach. VO "The war is all but forgotten." 01:01:23 A concentration camp behind a barbed-wire fence. Jewish men, women and children in a barracks. Some sit in small, wooden bunk-beds as others read or wash clothes in a barrel. A woman hangs laundry outside beside the fence. A map onscreen shows the Jewish population for each European country "before the Nazi party rose to power in Germany in 1933." Nazi flags wave in the wind. Adolf Hitler, followed by various Nazi officials, walks down a long aisle as crowds on both sides salute and chant in unison. Good shots of Goering, Goebbels, and individual Germans in the crowd. The narrator states, "Hitler and his henchmen instilled in the German people an intense feeling of nationalism, convincing them that the Jews were responsible for all their troubles." A shot of Hitler fades into a Nazi flag which then fades into title cards stating some of the key Nuremberg laws (in English). 01:03:08 VO describes the rise of antisemitism as Germans ride through the streets waving Nazi flags during the April 1, 1933 boycott of Jewish shops. The front page of a newspaper reads: "Nazi Mobs Loot, Burn, Murder." Staged scenes of SA men arresting Jews (these scenes were used in the March of Time production Inside Nazi Germany, which was released on January 21st, 1938). More boycott scenes. The expansion of Nazism is illustrated with shots of Hitler saluting, soldiers marching and a map of Europe overspread by the Nazi threat. Local collaborators, called by the narrator "homegrown fascists," march past the camera with arms upraised in a Hitler salute. 01:04:17 Newspapers with headlines such as "Paris Freed!" and "Berlin Falls." A tank crosses in front of the camera with fallen buildings and debris in the background. Several buildings in ruins. Narration states that 5,700,000 Jews had been exterminated. Defeated German soldiers march down a road. Good CU of German POW with hands raised. Jews stand in a small crowd with their hands in the air. As the narrator explains lingering feelings of antisemitism in Germany, the large swastika on top of the Nuremberg stadium is blown to pieces. A small crowd stands by as a coffin is carried down the street. Feelings of grief and devastation are illustrated with shots of Jewish cemeteries, poorly marked graves, women weeping, and a man wiping his tears. A map of Europe states that 1,500,000 people survived. People carry luggage, stand in lines, and board open trains; all are waiting to "start life anew." Shots of a displaced persons' camp: people wait in lines for food and a boy rests his head on his mother's lap (possibly staged). 01:06:19 - 01:06:30 Despite the narration about the postwar situation of the Jews, the footage used here shows the prewar Jewish population of Ungvar (Uzhgorod), shot in March 1939 in Subcarpathia. See USHMM Story 4582, Film ID 2837. Nice houses on a hillside as the narrator says that Nazis were still living well off money made during the war. People laugh and drink at a lively nightclub. Staged scene of a girl asking her father why they haven't been helped and what became of all the things belonging to the Jews before the war. Her father explains that some was destroyed, some lost, and they still can't get back their old house. American soldiers and civilians on a rubble-littered street. Possibly staged scene of an old man surveying the destruction. 01:07:36 VO "Since the war's end, many momentous problems have claimed the attention of the Allied governments." Officials of the Allied powers meet in a crowded room. The narrator says that the Allies have been busy providing food for Europe and rebuilding destroyed industries and the question of the survival of the Jews has almost been forgotten. A sign on a building indicates that it is an American Joint Distribution Committee facility in Bamberg, Germany. People stand in line for soup, receive donated clothes and get medical care. A man wearing a scarf around his head receives a dental exam from a man wearing a uniform with AJDC and OSE patches on the arm. Men stand in the street and talk. Sign on a window reads: Dr. Richard Bernstein. A woman sits in her home and looks up at her husband sadly (staged scene). Street sign points the direction of a "Jewish Farm." Scenes of people at work on the Kibbutz Nili, the Zionist agricultural collective established on Julius Streicher's former estate in Pleikershof, Germany. Sttudents sit in a classroom as the teacher conducts a lesson in modern Hebrew. A map of Palestine fades into shots of sheep being herded, women gathering hay and people hoeing rows of plants. The narrator says that some 26,000 DPs have been settled in Palestine in the past year, with help from the United Palestine Appeal. Children help with the work. Cheerful workers harvest fruit. LS, then CU of a ship crowded with refugees. The DPs are greeted by friends and family once they disembark. Back in Europe, students sit in a classroom and receive training to travel to the United States. People on a boat smile and wave flags as they pass the Statue of Liberty. CU of the statue. The United Service for New Americans provides aid for those disembarking the ship. The narrator provides the example of Gertrude and Walter Hess, who receive help and are shown at their new jobs (caring for children with disabilities) and in their new home. 01:13:36 VO "But despite all that has been done, thousands upon thousands of Jews still remain in Europe." Staged-looking scenes of DPs as they sit in a poorly furnished room cleaning, preparing food, and sleeping. Shot of the exterior of the White House, followed by a shot of President Truman with others in the Oval Office. The narrator states that Truman has endorsed the campaign of the United Jewish Appeal. Newspaper article reads, "Eisenhower Applauds Aims in Opening Jewish Appeal." Eisenhower speaks at a podium with a UJA banner. Fade to shots of ill, newly liberated prisoners while Eisenhower encourages people to give money to the UJA.