Chaplains panel
Creator(s)
- United States Holocaust Memorial Council
- United States Holocaust Memorial Council
Scope and Content
Chaplains panel, chairman Franklin Littell explains procedure to make living record of eyewitnesses, to speak of lessons of Holocaust. First experience he had finding out what church was and was not doing. Why in Christendom was it possible for a heathen system to carry away tens of millions of the baptized? 15:09:44 Talks of journalists, educators, churchmen being sent to camps after liberation. Talks of facts being denied and repressed. 15:11:12 Describes panel: Father Doyle - liberator of Mauthausen, member of U.S. delegation; Rabbi Nadich - Army Chaplain and Eisenhower's advisor on DPs; Rabbi Schacter - first Jewish chaplain to enter Buchenwald; Reverend Wood - Army chaplain, liberator, and member of U.S. delegation; Father Pawlikowski - who will pool ideas. 15:13:50 Littell introduces Rabbi Judah Nadich. He explains were and what he did. Advisor to Eisenhower. 15:15:03 Explains how got position - war correspondents visiting DP camps were struck that not enough was being done for Jewish survivors, many didn't want to return to their native countries because they often cooperated with the Nazis. So, Truman appointed a commission and Eisenhower assigned Nadich to move around camps to make recommendations as to how to improve conditions. 15:18:09 Visited Dachau first, describes dog kennels for the famished guard dogs; prisoners were tossed in and ripped apart. 15:19:55 Gas chambers, scratches on inside of door. 15:21:20 Crematorium with sacks labeled fertilizer - inside were human ashes. Describes putting arm inside sack so he would never forget what he saw. 15:23:10 Applause (p. 96 "Liberation of the Camps") 15:23:29 Reverend George Wood describes his liberation at Woebbelin, the service and burial of inmates found dead (p. 98 "Liberation of the Camps") 15:39:11 Rabbi Herschel Schacter. Just as charismatic as his earlier speech. Tells the biblical story of Cain and Abel; highlights we should not blame God for the Holocaust but instead man. (p. 101 "Liberation of the Camps") 15:49:53 Father Edward P. Doyle describes liberation of Nordhausen. Talks on Apostle Matthew, 10 commandments, reads his adaptation of "In Flanders Fields." (p. 102 "Liberation of the Camps") 16:00:00 Questions from the audience. (p. 106 "Liberation of the Camps") 16:18:40 Father John Pawlikowski talks of responsibility on next generation to remember Holocaust, bureaucratization of society and the beginning of new era with Auschwitz. The role of Christianity, God, and man in the Holocaust. (p. 104 "Liberation of the Camps")
Note(s)
See Film ID 2648 for duplicate content. 1" master video reel stored with USHMM Institutional Records in the USHMM Archives.
The International Liberators Conference took place at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. from October 26-28, 1981. The conference was sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. A publication titled "The Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps 1945" (1987) summarizes the testimonies.
Subjects
- CONFERENCE (LIBERATORS, 1981)
- HUMAN REMAINS
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- WOEBBELIN
- NORDHAUSEN
- CHAPLAINS
- CHURCHES
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP) CAMPS
- RABBIS
- BURIALS
- DACHAU
- LIBERATION
- MAUTHAUSEN
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- BUCHENWALD
- LIBERATORS
- EISENHOWER, DWIGHT
- GAS CHAMBERS
Places
- Washington, DC, United States
Genre
- Film
- Unedited.