War Crimes Commission: Leipzig and Penig Concentration Camps
Creator(s)
- United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
- E. R. Kellogg (Director)
- George C. Stevens (Director)
- United States. Army. Signal Corps. (Producer)
- James B. Donovan (Director)
Biographical History
United States Navy Lieutenant E. R. Kellogg certifies motion pictures of Nazi concentration camps in an affidavit presented in the "Nazi Concentration Camps" film by the Americans as evidence during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Kellogg had expertise in motion picture and photographic techniques through his employment with Twentieth Century Fox Studios in California from 1929 to 1941. He attests that he has thoroughly examined the concentration camp liberation films of the Army Signal Corps and found them to be unaltered, genuine, and true copies of the originals in the U.S. Army Signal Corps vaults.
George Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer. During World War II, Stevens joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and headed a film unit from 1943 to 1946 under General Eisenhower. His unit shot footage documenting D-Day — including the only Allied European Front color film of the war — the liberation of Paris and the meeting of American and Soviet forces at the Elbe River, as well as horrific scenes from the Duben labor camp and the Dachau concentration camp. Stevens also helped prepare the Duben and Dachau footage and other material for presentation during the Nuremberg Trials. In 2008, his footage was entered into the U.S. National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress as an "essential visual record" of World War II.
James B. Donovan. United States Navy Commander. Associate Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, where he coordinated and presented all Nazi films at the trials. General Counsel to OSS. Negotiated the exchange of Bay of Pigs prisoners with Fidel Castro as an independent lawyer under backdrop of the missile crisis, securing the freedom of nearly 10,000 people. Portrayed by Tom Hanks in "Bridge of Spies".
Scope and Content
Foreword: "This is an official document made by U.S. military photographers as they advanced into Germany," etc. Two exhibited affidavits attesting to the authenticity of scenes in the film are shown, one signed by Lt Col George E. Stevens and the other by Capt John Ford. A map shows the location of concentration camps in Germany and Europe. "Leipzig Concentration Camp" MLS, empty field, barbed wire, remaining foundation of burnt out building. Three men stand near bloody and burnt corpse. CUs, piles of burnt bodies by barbed wire. At the Leipzig camp more than 200 were burned alive in a building and others shot down or electrocuted by the barbed wire as they ran to welcome US troops. Russian women, who were liberated, view the camp through the barbed wire. "Penig Concentration Camp" This camp was filled with Hungarians, many of whom were young girls. Women survivors, seated outside on benches, boarding Red Cross trucks, lying against wall under blankets. U.S. doctors examine and treat victims with gangrenous wounds. Others have fever, TB, etc. MCU room with two beds; CU profile of woman; woman hobbles outside helped by soldiers. Survivors are carried out of the camp on stretchers by the Red Cross. They are taken to a former German Air Force Hospital. Germans are forced to look after the victims. CUs, smiling girls on stretchers as well as patients in the hospital being treated by U.S. medics.
Note(s)
Reel 1 of The Nazi Concentration Camps, NARA 238.2. Duplicate footage on Film ID 837, Story 2006. The USHMM contains a 16mm film print of "Nazi Concentration Camps" from National Audiovisual Center. However, there is no direct video transfer from this print. The National Archives and Records Administration contains six 35mm reels of "Nazi Concentration Camps" under original archive number 238.2. The USHMM obtained a copy of these reels on Film ID 2815. The USHMM also owns each subject separately, ordered by a US Army Signal Corps (111 ADC) number. The USHMM also holds a copy from the National Center for Jewish Film cataloged as RG-60.2629, Film ID 2322. Original unedited segments of Penig are located on RG-60.2437, Film ID 2272 (111 ADC 9756).
"Nazi Concentration Camps" was compiled as evidence and shown at the Nuremberg Trials on November 29, 1945 as Prosecution Exhibit #230. It contains film evidence of Nazi atrocities at the concentration camps of Leipzig, Penig, Ohrdruf, Hadamar, Breendonck, Hanover, Arnstadt, Nordhausen, Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Dachau, and Belsen. The film was produced for the U.S. Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality in 1945. It was directed by Navy Cmdrs. James B. Donovan and E. Ray Kellogg. George C. Stevens was responsible for directing the photography and filming of the concentration camps as liberated by Allied forces. The film has also been called "Concentration Camps in Germany, 1939-1945".
Subjects
- WAR CRIMINALS/WAR CRIMES TRIALS
- WOMEN
- CHILDREN
- GERMANY
- DISEASES
- FILMS
- HUMAN REMAINS
- PRISONERS (HUNGARIAN)
- HOSPITALS
- PENIG
- DOCTORS
- SURVIVORS (SOVIET)
- WAR CRIMES COMMISSIONS
- CORPSES
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- SURVIVORS
- NUREMBERG (INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL)
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS
- PRISONERS (SOVIET)
Places
- Leipzig, Germany
- Penig, Germany
Genre
- Film
- Documentary.