Nazi Concentration Camps

A documentary prepared to be shown as evidence in court. Allied armies entered the concentration camps in Germany and Austria in the spring of 1945. Cameramen went with the units; they had orders to film. This film was compiled from that footage. It proceeds camp by camp: the barracks, the ovens, the mass graves, the survivors, and what the civilians brought in from the nearby towns saw. The narration is entirely plain. The text read over it gives place, date and number; it makes no comment and no music is used. The purpose was not artistic but legal. The film was presented as evidence by the prosecution at the Nuremberg trial on 29 November 1945. So that no question could arise about the authenticity of the footage, two officers who oversaw the filming gave sworn affidavits: they stated that the material had not been edited, that nothing had been staged and that the records were taken as found. The lights in the courtroom were put out for the screening while the faces of the defendants were lit; their reactions were recorded as well. The team that carried out the compilation was led by people who came from cinema and had worked for the army through the war. It runs about an hour. A primary source for anyone concerned with recent history and the history of law. Before you watch, know this: the film contains direct footage of crimes against humanity and softens nothing.