LIBERATED SLAVE LABOUR CAMP IN ESSEN SUBURB 12 APRIL 1945; DIG TO SEARCH FOR ALLEGED SHOT SLAVES NEAR ARNSTADT 13 APRIL 1945; LIBERATED CONCENTRATION CAMP AT WEIMAR 14 APRIL 1945 [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: LIBERATED SLAVE LABOUR CAMP IN ESSEN SUBURB 12 APRIL 1945; DIG TO SEARCH FOR ALLEGED SHOT SLAVES NEAR ARNSTADT 13 APRIL 1945; LIBERATED CONCENTRATION CAMP AT WEIMAR 14 APRIL 1945 [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 514-19
  • Other titles: CONCENTRATION CAMP MATERIAL FOR ALLIED FILM PRODUCTIONS [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Liberated slave labour camp in Essen suburbs with men and women washing clothes, relaxing and some leaving readily on US Army transport. German Prisoners of War (POWs) being made to dig and search unsuccessfully, near Arnstadt, Germany, for sixty six bodies of murdered slave labourers. A concentration camp at Weimar, Germany, (a sub-camp of Buchenwald) containing armed ex-prisoners who are parading for the camera.
  • Description: A large slave labour camp west of Essen. The inmates are seen washing their clothes and hanging them to dry outside their huts, smiling at the camera as they sit or stroll about, and cooking in the open. A man with a wounded leg is helped to hop out into the fresh air by a fellow inmate. There is blossom on the trees and prosperous-looking small houses beyond the perimeter fence. A plump young mother sits on the grass in the camp breastfeeding her baby, a healthy looking toddler wrapped in blankets, sleeps beside her. A pit smoulders and smokes and US army personnel can be seen looking in. There is a large high square building in the compound which otherwise is filled with rows of huts. Some ex-slave labourers come hurrying out through a large hole in the perimeter fence and eagerly board three US army one and a half ton 6x6 Dodge trucks, under the direction of a US soldier. They are waved goodbye as they move off, their colleagues watching them go and returning slowly to the compound. There is a one-man, conical, concrete, air-raid shelter standing beside a slit trench on waste ground just outside the compound. A liberated slave labourer has reported a massacre of sixty six Russian and Polish fellow prisoners, by the German 89th Division, which he claims to have survived. German POWs from the 89th Division POW cage are shown digging in soft, sandy ground on edge of woodland near crossroads under the control of armed US Military Police. A German Major in a leather greatcoat and red cross armband watches but takes no part. He is described in the cameraman's dope sheet as head of hospitals in Arnstadt. They uncover blankets and other items but no human remains. Two US army photographers attend, one is very tall and carries a 35mm single lens reflex, the other has a Speed Graphic with flash, he has a double dark slide holding two sheets of 5"x4" film, for loading into the camera, in his hand. The prisoners continue to dig, removing their coats and having rests.The guards smoke and watch. A large liberated concentration camp at Weimar, Germany, is shown in which serious looking ex-prisoners and slave labourers in various uniforms, some Russian, are seen drilling in a large open space within the compound. A watch tower is seen in the distance and huts are visible behind the slowly marching men, who are all carrying firearms, mostly 7.92mm Karabiner 98k. There is a horizontally tricoloured flag flying at the camp gate.
  • Alternative Title: CONCENTRATION CAMP MATERIAL FOR ALLIED FILM PRODUCTIONS [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: A70 514-19
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-04-15
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Army Pictorial Service (Production sponsor) United States Army Signal Corps (Production company) Holman (Technician/4) (Production individual) Drill, Robert R (Production individual) Owens, Fred (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1100 ft; Running time: 12 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 514-19

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