Dressing and burial of corpses at Falkenau
Creator(s)
- Samuel Fuller (Camera Operator)
- Academy Film Archive
Biographical History
During World War II, Hollywood director Samuel Fuller (1912-1997) was a member of the U.S. First Infantry Division, nicknamed "The Big Red One" for its shoulder patch. He used a 16mm Bell & Howell camera that his mother sent him while he was overseas to record the aftermath of the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp as well as other infantry actions. Fuller made the 1980 film, "The Big Red One," based on his experience in the division.
Scope and Content
Card: "V-E +1, MAY 9, 1945." Card: "Produced in Falkenau Concentration Camp." Card over Nazi swastika and eagle: "in choslovaki [sic, probably meaning Czechoslovakia]" Shot of a handgun, Card: "OST Russia." Card: "Presented by 16th Infantry Regiment." Card: "1st U.S. Infantry Division." Card: "Supervised by Capt. Kimball Richmond." Card: "Photographed by Cpl. Samuel Fuller." Men carrying tools walk down a village street. Soldiers stand in front of barbed wire. Well-dressed, healthy men walk and carry shovels and pitchforks, soldiers watch from the side of the road. Two men stand behind barbed wire, one man walks with cane. Men huddled in group. Emaciated man walks in BG. Survivor pulls up pants. Allied soldiers. Procession of men walking with shovels. Sign on American army truck reads: "Good - Show!" The men stop at the side of the road, stand and put their hands behind their backs. Pile of corpses in a corner inside a room, CU feet, pan up to show blankets covering the bodies. Men sit on top of a hill and look down. Soldiers talk to the men and distribute clothing. Men struggle to put the clothing on a emaciated, naked man lying on a stretcher. Others carry a naked corpse from a hut and dress him. Men observe from the top of the hill, CUs of their faces. A corpse is wrapped in a black blanket, one man clasps his hands in front of him. More bodies are handled and dressed. Soldiers watch, two appear to be covering their faces, barbed wire fence in BG. 4:16 Men continue to dress the bodies. CU of a distraught face. A Red Cross officer instructs the soldiers. Men carry a stretcher, CU, legs. Three corpses on a blanket outside, men dress another. Men look at the blanket and row of corpses while others sit on the hill and watch. Pan of the row of corpses. Men walk around. Wagon. Pan of the feet of the corpses in the row. Men inspect clothing left on the wagon. US Army trucks. More sheets added to the ground and more survivors brought in. Soldiers watch. Pan of Falkenau showing an injured man on crutches. Soldier in glasses glances toward the camera. More bodies carried and added to the group. Pan of the barbed wire fence, fields, and houses behind it and crowd watching the dressing process. Growing row of corpses. Soldiers stand huddled in groups talking. Men walk around the wagon, men carry stretchers with corpses, men stand at attention. Pan of the corpses' heads. Soldiers salute, including wounded soldiers with head bandages. View of the crowd on the hill. 12:29 The survivors are moved from the ground to a wagon, CUs faces. Men watch. Man carries mug up the hill. CUs, feet. The last corpse is loaded, covered with a sheet, and taken away. The "Good - Show!" truck drives away. Wagons pass under a gateway with a star. Head-on view of men proceeding through the streets alongside the carts/wagons. Villagers watch the procession from the sidewalk. Wagon filled with furniture. Men sit on an Army tank. Boy carrying a rifle plays in the street and runs after a tank. Men push the wagons toward a building with a Red Cross flag. Men carry shovels and pitchforks. Women and children walk around and watch. Soldiers take their helmets off. Men push the wagons past trees and uphill, the town can be seen in BG.
Note(s)
It is unclear if the camp's liberated survivors watch from the hillside and whether German prisoners or local villagers prepare the corpses to bury them in a mass grave.
Subjects
- RED CROSS
- CORPSES
- WOUNDED
- SHOVELS
- MILITARY VEHICLES
- CZECHOSLOVAKIA
- MASS GRAVES
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- BARBED WIRE
- LIBERATION
- BURIALS
- CARTS/WAGONS
- SURVIVORS
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
Places
- Sokolov, Czechoslovakia
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.