Spring in Germany; American fertilizer for Europe's fields; Commemoration of liberation of Dachau; Reichsbahn is rebuilt
Creator(s)
- Welt im Film Newsreel (Producer)
- United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
Biographical History
The Welt im Film [World in Film] newsreel series was produced by the American and British military governments to support the denazification campaign in Germany and Austria. Screening was compulsory in cinemas in the American and British zones of Germany until the late 1940s.
Scope and Content
Welt im Film. Issue no. 50 (part) Title: Fruehling in Deutschland [Spring in Germany]. A woman smiles out of her open window at a blossoming tree. People sunbathe and enjoy themselves among the ruins of Berlin. People ski down a grassy slope in Garmisch. Celebration of a religious festival in Traunstein. People at a very crowded fair/carnival in Munich, with a ferris wheel and a puppet show. Title: Fuer die Fluren Europas [For the fields of Europe]. Workers mine phosphate in Florida for use as fertilizer in the fields of Europe. Shots of the phosphate as it is processed. Title: Dachau Gedenkt der Befreiung [Dachau commemorates liberation]. Various ceremonies to commemorate the first anniversary of liberation. Survivors look at a plaque and lay wreaths at the site of a mass grave where 7,000 were buried. A cross and a Star of David stand at the site where the wreaths are laid. The narrator says that German and foreign government representatives, as well as clergy members, speak to the participants. A man in the back of a truck speaks to a crowd. Title: Reichsbahn in Aufbau [German railway under reconstruction]. Scenes of destroyed trains and rail tracks. The narrator says that many train stations were 95 per cent destroyed by the end of the war. Machines lift debris and men work on railroad tracks. Shot of a train travelling from Stuttgart to Wuerzburg, as illustration of the progress that has been made. A train rolls over a newly constructed, modern-looking bridge.
Note(s)
Copyright: Technically the Welt Im Film [World in Film] German newsreels are not in the public domain. Rights are generally held by the Imperial War Museum. However, the Welt Im Film issues sold by the National Archives mainly contain Signal Corps footage which is in the public domain or footage of undetermined Allied forces origin to which no one can claim copyright. Researchers interested in duplication should clear rights through the Imperial War Museum if film excerpts or soundtrack have clear British origin.
Subjects
- GERMANS
- SPEECHES
- RUBBLE
- MEMORIALS
- STARS OF DAVID
- CROSSES
- CROWDS
- DACHAU
- CLERGY
- TRAINS
Places
- Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Munich, Germany
Genre
- Newsreels.
- Film