Jewish displaced persons
Creator(s)
- Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Germany (Producer)
- Stuart Koziol
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education
Scope and Content
Film opens with VS of DPs at Camp Feldafing, in the winter of 1946. There is snow on the ground. LS of barracks/sleeping quarters. VMS of DPs, men and women, young men and women, and some children. Walking out of barracks, some smiling. MS of DPs in wooden bunks, some with somber expressions, others smiling, laughing, eating, sitting around tables playing cards, talking, doing laundry, children sit on the floor of barracks playing. Voice over narration says: "These are the people. Our people. Waiting...waiting...waiting..." VCUs and MCUs of mothers and children, couples, talking, posing for the camera, some children doing schoolwork. LS, EXT, winter DPs milling about, narrator identifies location as, "Landsberg Barracks, scene of Hitler's tyranny." VS, camera looking from EXT to INT of people's homes, elderly woman cooking, also seen from INT in MS. INT, MS, pan from decrepit wall to woman peeling potatoes. VS, elderly women sitting at table, talking, elderly woman sitting on her bed, knitting, another elderly woman cooking in a small pot on a small gas burner, next to her are stacked suitcases and other personal belongings. VS, CUs of older man and woman, posing for the camera. Cut to a young American soldier, MCU, he is in uniform, reading a prepared statement for the camera, against a plain backdrop (he is the narrator): "How long will tyranny hold fast, the hopes and aspirations of a broken people? How long will homelessness pack the dreams of the suffering children of Israel and fill their hearts with despair?" CU, of pamphlet, written in Hebrew and English from the 1946 Conference sponsored by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Germany. Date in pamphlet noted as formal opening of ceremony, Sunday, January 27, 1946, Location of Conference ceremony is City Hall in Munich, Germany. Chairman of Conference is: Dr. Zalman Grinberg. MLS, opening ceremony, cut to CU, cantor singing. VS, of conference participants. Dr. Grinberg adresses the attendees in German. Ben Gurion is among the attendees, featured in a brief CU. Grinberg accuses the world at large of having lacked the courage to defend the Jews, and continuing to lack the courage to rescue the liberated and help them start anew. Interior Minister President Higner greets the conference attendees. Ben Gurion addresses conference attendees, in English, speaks passionately of the need for the free state of Israel. Lady Reading, representing the World Jewish Congress, Colonel Rolf, representing the General of the US Third Army, Rabbi Bloom of Palestine, Judge Simon Ripkin, advisor on Jewish matters to the Chief of Staff and Dr. Schwartsfarb "suggest the shape of things to come." All participants join in song, "Hatikvah". CU, US Army soldier and narrator addresses the camera again. VS of DPs carrying out daily activities in various DP camps. Series of CUs of the tattooed forearms of survivors. DPs around a table, discussing Palestine, looking at and pointing to maps of the region, maps are written in Hebrew. VS, CUs of photo albums, VS, Jewish peasants working the fields and the farm. Milking cows, threshing wheat, working in woodshops and metal shops. Women sewing. Overhead shot, DPs dancing. LS, horse in the distance, sheep grazing, panning shots of landscapes in Palestine. MCUs and CUs of orchards, orange trees, apple trees, grape vines in Palestine. END.
Note(s)
Contains good music: instrumental "Hymn of the Partisans!" and the Israeli national anthem.
Subjects
- COLLECTIVE FARMS
- GERMANY
- HEBREW
- SURVIVORS (JEWISH)
- FARMERS/FARMING
- BREAD
- DANCING
- RABBIS
- MAPS
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP)
- SURVIVORS
- BEN-GURION, DAVID
- SCHOOLS
- TATTOOS
- EATING
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP) CAMPS
- COOKING
- WHEAT
- CANTORS
- WOMEN
- SEWING
- WINTER
- PALESTINE
- LANDSBERG
- WORKERS
- ORPHANS
- ISRAEL
- MACHINERY
- BARRACKS
- STARS OF DAVID
- FELDAFING
- CONFERENCES
Places
- Munich, Germany
- Landsberg, Germany
- Feldafing, Germany
- , Palestine
Genre
- Film
- Documentary.