Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps (1945) - full transcript

[man] "I, George C. Stevens,

Lieutenant Colonel,
Army of the United States,

hereby certify that from 1 March 1945

to 8th May 1945,

I was on active duty with
the United States Army Signal Corps,

attached to Supreme Headquarters,
Allied Expeditionary Forces,

and among my official duties

was the direction of the photographing
of Nazi concentration camps

and prison camps
as liberated by Allied forces.

The motion pictures which will be shown
following this affidavit

were taken by official
Allied photographic teams



in the course of their military duties,

each team being composed
of military personnel

under the direction
of a commissioned officer.

To the best of my knowledge and belief,

these motion pictures constitute
a true representation

of the individuals
and scenes photographed.

They have not been altered in any respect
since the exposures were made.

The accompanying narration
is a true statement

of the facts and circumstances

under which these pictures were made.

George C. Stevens,
Lieutenant Colonel, A.U.S.

Sworn to before me this second day
of October, 1945,

James B. Donovan, Commander,
United States Naval Reserve.

[man] I, E. R. Kellogg,
Lieutenant, United States Navy,



hereby certify that from 1929 to 1941,

I was employed at 20th Century-Fox
Studios in Hollywood, California,

as a director of photographic effects,

and am familiar
with all photographic techniques.

Since the 6th of September, 1941,

to the present date of the 27th
of August, 1945,

I have been on active duty
with the United States Navy.

I have carefully examined
the motion picture film

to be shown following this affidavit,

and I certify that the images of
these excerpts from the original negative

have not been retouched, distorted,
or otherwise altered in any respects,

and are true copies of the originals

held in the vaults of the United States
Army Signal Corps.

These excerpts comprise
6,000 feet of film,

selected from 80,000 feet,

all of which I have reviewed,

and all of which is similar in character
to these excerpts.

E. R. Kellogg, Lieutenant,
United States Navy,

sworn to before me
this 27th day of August, 1945,

John Ford,
Captain, United States Navy.

[narrator] These are the locations of
the largest concentration and prison camps

maintained throughout Germany
and Occupied Europe

under the Nazi regime.

These film report, covering
a representative group of such camps,

illustrates the general conditions
which prevail.

More than 200 political prisoners
were burned to death

at this concentration camp
near Leipzig.

Others among the original total
of 350 inmates

were shot down by German elite guards

as they dashed from the prison huts

to celebrate the arrival of
American troops outside the city.

The atrocity story is told
by the few who managed to survive.

They relate how 12 S.S. troopers
and a Gestapo agent

lured 220 starving prisoners
into a big wooden building at this camp,

sprayed the structure
with an inflammable liquid,

and then applied the torch.

Machine guns set up
at various vantage points

mowed down many victims
who ran from the burning building.

Some miraculously escaped
the hail of bullets,

but were electrocuted
by the live wires of a fence

which was the final hurdle
for those fleeing the flames.

The Leipzig victims were
Russians, Czechs, Poles and French.

The dead are viewed by Russian women,
liberated from slave labor.

At Penig, German, a concentration camp
was overrun by the 6th Armored Division,

containing mainly Hungarians

who were people of wealth and esteem
in their native country.

Among them were young girls
of only 16 years of age.

The women show the scars of miserable
existence under Nazi prison rule.

American doctors examine the victims.

Some have gangrenous wounds.

Others suffer from fever, tuberculosis,

typhus and additional
communicable diseases.

All existed under appalling conditions
in vermin-infested quarters

and with little or nothing to eat.

As soon as our troops arrived,

arrangements were made to remove these
people from the miserable surroundings.

Under supervision of
the American Red Cross,

the stricken inmates are removed

to a hospital which belonged
to the German Air Force.

Nazis who formerly maltreated them

are forced to help
look after the patients.

The staff of German nurses is also
forced to attend the victims.

The were able to smile
for the first time in years.

At this concentration camp
in the Gotha area,

the Germans starved, clubbed,
and burned to death

more than 4,000 political prisoners
over a period of eight months.

A few captives survived
by hiding in the woods.

The camp is chosen
for a High Command inspection,

led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Also present are
Generals Omar N. Bradley

and George S. Patton.

The 4th Armored Division
of General Patton's Third Army

liberated this camp early in April.

The generals view the rack that was used
by the Nazis to whip the inmates.

They see the woodshed where lime-
covered bodies are stacked in layers,

and the stench is overpowering.

Former inmates demonstrate how
they were tortured by the Nazis.

American Congressmen invited
to view the atrocities

were told by General Eisenhower,

"Nothing is covered up.
We have nothing to conceal.

The barbarous treatment
these people received

in the German concentration camps
is almost unbelievable.

I want you to see for yourselves and be
the spokesmen for the United States."

The General and his party next see
the crude woodland crematory,

actually a grill made of railway tracks.

Here, the bodies of victims
were cremated.

Charred remains of several inmates
still lay heaped atop the grill.

Another group to visit the Ohrdruf camp
is composed of local townspeople,

including prominent Nazi party members.

They'll be taken on a forced tour
of the camp site

by Colonel Hayden Sears,

commander of the 4th Armored Division's
Combat Command A,

which captured Ohrdruf.

A German medical major is compelled
to accompany the townspeople.

Colonel Sears stands by

as the Nazis are informed that they
must see all the horrors at the camp.

First, the visitors view
some 30 freshly killed bodies

lying in the courtyard of the camp
where they'd been shot

on the evening preceding the entry
of American tanks.

These two are identified
as slave labor bosses

who maltreated, tortured
and killed their workers.

Next, to the woodshed,
which the Nazis are reluctant to enter.

But Colonel Sears demands
that they get a close-up look

at the most gruesome of sights.

The labor bosses enter.

According to reports, the local Nazis
continued their tour of the camp

without apparent emotion.

All denied knowledge of what had
taken place at Ohrdruf.

They are taken to the crematory,
two miles outside the camp,

where the list of the atrocities is read
for all to hear.

The 4,000 Ohrdruf victims
are said to include

Poles, Czechs, Russians,
Belgians, Frenchmen,

German Jews
and German political prisoners.

A day before these Nazis
visited the camp,

the Burgomeister of Ohrdruf
was forced to view the horrors.

He and his wife were later found
dead in their home,

apparently suicides.

American officers arrive
at a Nazi institution

seized by First Army troops.

Under the guise of an insane asylum,

this has been the headquarters for
the systematic murder of 35,000 Poles,

Russians and Germans sent here mainly

for political
and religious considerations.

Those still alive are examined
by Major Herman Bolker

of the American War Crimes
Investigation Team.

The townspeople in Hadamar, Germany,

called this place
the House of Shutters.

Meanwhile, at the graveyard
attached to the institution,

bodies are exhumed for autopsy.

Twenty thousand are buried here.

Fifteen thousand who died
in a lethal gas chamber

were cremated and their ashes interred.

Death books found hidden in
the wine cellar of the Hadamar Institution

revealed part of the story
of the mass killings.

The bulky volumes contained
thousands of death certificates.

"Profession unknown, nationality unknown"
was written after each name.

The corpses are lined up
pending the arrival of W.C.I.T. officers.

Major Bolker performs the autopsy.

A detailed listing is made
of all clinical data.

Interrogating the institution heads.

Dr. Whalmann, the taller man,
was the top Nazi in charge of the place.

The other man entering the room
is Karl Willig, chief male nurse.

He admits to killing inmates
with overdoses of morphine.

The testimony of other witnesses
substantiated the fact

that morphine was issued
at the institution

without attempt at making a record.

As many as 17 at a time died
from the morphine injections.

The investigating officers were told
that the Nazis never bothered to determine

whether a victim may have survived
the over dosage.

Instead, all were hustled off
to the graveyard

and buried in piles of 20 to 24.

The prisoners are removed
to await trial.

A Hadamar judge told the investigators
that when the 10,000 victim died,

the institution heads and Nazi officials
staged a celebration.

This is Breendonk Prison
in Belgium.

It offers evidence of Nazi brutality
imposed on Belgian patriots

during the period of German occupation.

Many of the horror exhibits
remain untouched,

such as the bloodstained coffins.

Demonstrating how the victims
were tied up

for administering vicious beatings.

A barbed wire stick was used
on the backs of the men.

Another method for rendering
a patriot helpless

while he was attacked by
his Gestapo guards.

The Nazis also would tie a man
in chains in this manner,

and then apply the tourniquet.

A Berlin-made thumbscrew,
and how it was used.

A victim shows scars caused
by repeated beatings.

Others show what happened to them

as results of both beatings
and cigarette burns.

A Belgian demonstrates the manner

in which his crotch
was split by the Nazis.

A woman discloses
the results of a beating.

The Harlan Concentration Camp
near Hanover.

Out of 10,000 Polish men brought here
ten months prior to April, 1945,

only 200 remained.

Prisoners who could walk were removed
before American troops entered Hanover.

The others were left to starve and die.

Immediate relief was provided for the men

with the arrival
of a Red Cross Clubmobile.

The men broke into tears
when they were given hot soup,

other food, and cigarettes and clothing.

When questioned, most of these men
could not remember

when they'd last eaten a decent meal.

Many had been beaten and tortured
so long, their minds had failed.

Some of the inmates are too weak
to leave their bunks, or even eat.

Others bunk together to keep
their frail bodies warm.

The deaths continue even after
liberation of the camp.

Some were too far gone
when the Americans took over.

An A.M.G. sergeant checks
the list of inmates.

The victims relate the atrocity story

and photographs are made
for further documentation

of the horrors committed
at the Hanover camp.

This concentration camp was overrun
by American troops in April.

The prisoners were mainly Poles
and Russians.

Maltreated and starved,
1,700 were housed in tents

which contained only 100 bunks.

While our forces were nearing Arnstedt,

the Nazis removed most of the captives.

They shot those who were too weak
to get away fast enough.

Savage watchdogs were used
to help guard the camp.

German civilians are forced
to help dig up the bodies.

This is the second burial ground
for the victims.

The spot where they were originally
buried after the massacre

was apparently too close to the town.

The Arnstedt villagers could not tolerate
the stench of the dead,

and they themselves moved
the bodies to this site.

Now they again must exhume the corpses,

this time under armed persuasion.

Victims bear the marks of violent deaths.

American troops view the evidence
of Nazi barbarism.

Slave labor camp at Nordhausen,

liberated by the 3d Armored Division,
First Army.

At least 3,000 political prisoners
died here

at the brutal hands of S.S. troops
and pardoned German criminals

who were the camp guards.

Nordhausen had been a depository
for slaves found unfit for work

in the underground V-bomb plants

and in other German camps and factories.

Amid the corpses are human skeletons
too weak to move.

Men of our medical battalions
worked two days and nights

binding wounds and giving medications,

but for advanced cases of starvation
and tuberculosis,

there were often no cures.

The survivors are shown being evacuated
for treatment in Allied hospitals.

The victims are mainly
Poles and Russians,

with considerable numbers of French
and other nationalities

also included in the camp roster.

The Burgomeister of Nordhausen
is ordered to provide

600 German male civilians

who will inter the 2,500 unburied bodies
at the camp.

A priest administers
last rites for the dead

while the corpses are being carried
to the hillside for burial.

Then the actual burial in common graves
of the 2,500 Nordhausen victims.

I'm Lieutenant Senior Grade
Jack H. Taylor, U.S. Navy,

of Hollywood, California.

Believe it or not, this is the first time
I've ever been in the movies.

I've been working overseas
in occupied countries,

in the Balkans, for 18 months.

In October '44, I was the first
Allied officer to drop into Austria.

I was captured December 1st
by the Gestapo,

severely beaten--
even though I was in uniform--

severely beaten and considered as
a non-prisoner of war.

I was taken to Vienna Prison,
where I was held for four months.

When the Russians neared Vienna,

I was taken to the Mauthausen
Concentration Lager,

an extermination camp,

the worst in Germany,

where we have been starving and--
and beaten

and killed.

Uh, fortunately, my turn hadn't come.

Uh...

two American officers at least
have been executed here.

Here is the insignia of one,
a U.S. Naval officer,

and here is his dog tag.

Here is the Army officer,

executed by gas in this lager.

Uh...

[man] How many ways
did they execute these men?

Five or six ways:
by gas, by shooting,

by beating--
that is, beating with clubs--

uh...

by exposure--

that is, standing out in the snow naked
for 48 hours

and having cold water thrown
on them in the middle of winter,

starvation...

dogs,

and pushing over a hundred-foot cliff.

This is all true, has been seen,
and is now being recorded.

[man] Where did you get
that uniform you have on?

This uniform, uh,
I came here in uniform,

but it was taken away from me,
and this was substituted

with my number and "U.S.A."

I have been condemned to death

as another American also in this camp,

but, fortunately,
the 11th Armored Division

has come through
and saved us in time.

[narrator] Pictorial evidence of
the almost unprecedented crimes

perpetrated by the Nazis
at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The story in written form is contained
in the official report

of the Prisoner of War
and Displaced Persons Division

of the United States
Group Control Council,

which has been forwarded
from Supreme Allied Headquarters

to the War Department in Washington.

It states that 1,000 boys
under 14 years of age

are included among the 20,000
still alive at the camp,

that the survivors are males only,

and that the recent death rate
was about 200 a day.

Nationalities and prison numbers are
tattooed on the stomachs of the inmates.

The report lists surviving inmates as
representing every European nationality.

It says the camp was founded when
the Nazi party

first came into power in 1933,

and has been in continuous
operation ever since,

although its largest populations date
from the beginning of the present war.

One estimate put the camp's
normal complement at 80,000.

In the official report,
the Buchenwald camp

is termed an extermination factory.

The means of extermination:

starvation, complicated by hard work,
abuse, beatings and tortures,

incredibly crowded sleeping conditions
and sicknesses of all types.

By these means, the report continues,

many tens of thousands of the best
leadership personnel of Europe

have been exterminated.

Bodies stacked one upon the other

were found outside the crematory.

The Nazis maintained
a building at the camp

for medical experiments
and vivisections,

with prisoners as guinea pigs.

Medical scientists
came from Berlin periodically

to reinforce the experimental staff.

In particular, new toxins and antitoxins
were tried out on prisoners.

Few who entered the experimental
buildings ever emerged alive.

One of the weapons used by S.S. guards.

The body disposal plant.

Inside are the ovens
which gave the crematorium

a maximum disposal capacity
of about 400 bodies per 10-hour day.

Gold-filled teeth were extracted
from bodies before incineration.

The ovens, of extremely modern design
and heated by coke,

were made by a concern which
customarily manufactures baking ovens.

The firm's name is clearly inscribed.

All bodies were finally
reduced to bone ash.

Twelve hundred civilians walk
from the neighboring city of Weimar

to begin a forced tour of the camp.

There are many smiling faces and,
according to observers,

at first the Germans act as though

this were something being staged
for their benefit

One of the first thing
that the German civilians see

as they reach the interior of the camp
is the parchment display.

On a table for all to gaze upon

is a lampshade made of human skin,

made at the request of
an S.S. officer's wife.

Large pieces of skin have been used
for painting pictures,

many of an obscene nature.

There are two heads which have been
shrunk to 1/5th of their normal size.

These and other exhibits of Nazi origin
are shown to the townspeople.

The camera records the changes
in facial expressions

as the Weimar citizens leave
the parchment display.

The tour continues
with a forced inspection

of the camp's living quarters,

where the stench, filth
and misery defy description.

They see the result of lack of care
in the bad case of trench foot.

Other evidences of horror, brutality
and human indecency are shown,

and these people are compelled to see
what their own government had perpetrated.

Correspondents assigned
to the Buchenwald story

have given wide notice to the well-fed,
well-dressed appearance

of the German civilian population
of the Weimar area.

[narrator]
Dachau, factory of horrors.

Dachau, near München, one of the oldest
of the Nazi prison camps.

It is known that from 1941 to 1944,

up to 30,000 people were
entombed here at one time,

and 30,000 were present
when the Allies reached Dachau.

The Nazis said it was a prison
for political dissenters,

habitual criminals,
and religious enthusiasts.

When these scenes were filmed,

over 1,6000 priests,
representing many denominations,

still remained alive.

They came from Germany, Poland,

Czechoslovakia, France and Holland.

Incoming prison trains arrived,

carrying more dead than living.

Those strong enough to travel
were brought to Dachau

from outlying points

which were threatened by
the Allied advance.

This is how they looked
when they arrived.

Some survived,

and when the rescuers arrived
they administered what aid they could.

Others died after the liberation.

They were buried
by their fellow prisoners.

As in the case of other camps,

local townspeople were brought in
to view the dead at Dachau.

This is what the liberators found
inside the building.

Hanging in orderly rows
were the clothes of prisoners

who had been suffocated
in a lethal gas chamber.

They had been persuaded
to remove their clothing

under the pretext of taking a shower

for which towels and soap were provided.

This is the brausebad,
the shower bath.

Inside the shower bath,
the gas vents.

On the ceiling,
the dummy shower heads.

In the engineer's room,
the intake and outlet pipes.

Push buttons to control inflow
and outtake of gas.

A hand valve to regulate pressure.

Cyanide powder was used
to generate the lethal smoke.

From the gas chamber, the bodies
were removed to the crematory.

Here is what the camera crew
found inside.

These are the survivors.

I am the officer commanding

the regiment of Royal artillery
guarding this camp.

Our most unpleasant task

has been making the S.S.,
of which there are about 50,

bury the dead.

Up to press, we have buried
about 17,000 people...

and we expect to bury about
half as much again.

When we came here,

conditions were indescribable.

The people had had no food for six days,

and were eating turnips.

The cookhouses have now been organized,

and, although they have to be guarded

so that everybody gets a fair share
of the food,

things are now going fairly well.

The officers and men

regard this job

as a duty that has to be performed,

and none of us are likely to forget
what the German people have done here.

[off-camera woman
gives instructions in German]

[woman speaking German]

[narrator] Speech of the woman doctor
at concentration camp Bergen-Belsen,

24th of April, 1945.

This is the doctor in charge
of the female section

of the concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen.

She was a prisoner at this camp.

[woman speaking German]

She says there were no covers,
straw stacks or beds of any kind.

Persons had to lie
directly on the ground.

They were given 1/12th of a loaf of bread
and some watery soup daily.

Almost 75% of the people
were bloated from hunger.

An epidemic of typhus broke out.

Two hundred and fifty women
and thousands of men died daily.

In the men's camp, they cut out liver,
heart and other parts of the dead

and ate them.

[woman speaking German]

No medicines were available

because the S.S. men
had collected everything.

Two days before the British army came,

the first Red Cross food was distributed.

Two months before,
150 kilograms of chocolate

had been sent to the children
of the camp.

Ten kilograms were distributed.

The rest the commandant kept for himself

and used it as barter
to his personal advantage.

[woman speaking German]

[clears throat]

[speaking German]

She adds that
various medical experiments

were made on the prisoners.

Doctors gave some of them
intravenous injections

of 20 cubic centimeters of benzene,

which caused the victims to die.

She concludes by saying
that sterilizations

and other gynecological experiments
were performed on 19-year-old girls.

[woman speaking German]

Kramer, camp commandant,
is taken into custody.

Such was the speed of the Allied advance

that the guards were taken
before they had time to flee.

Inside Belsen, the same story:
starvation and sickness.

Liberated prisoners
could not control their emotion.

Despite German attempts to cover up,

we found these in the open fields.

Clear-cut evidence of beatings
and outright murder was on every hand.

Nameless victims were numbered
for records which the Germans destroyed.

S.S. guards were impressed
to clean up the camp area.

German woman guards were ordered
to bury the dead.

Sanitary conditions were so appalling

that heavy equipment had to be brought in
to speed the work of cleaning up.

This was Bergen-Belsen.

[no audible narration]