Postwar economic recovery in Germany; Nuremberg trials
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 Nr. 82 newsreel documenting German economic recovery after the end of the war. Men, women, and children are depicted as happy and hard-working citizens whose labor helps makes Germany prosperous again. 00:00:46 A snowy landscape, possibly in the Alps. People in strange costumes dance and parade in the snow. Children scream and hide from the costumed figures. Men open mask flaps and drink beer that local women bring them. 00:01:06 A woman in an industrial uniform works with machinery. Factory workers use recycled military helmets to make kitchen utensils. Punching holes in metal. Hundreds of stacked colanders. 00:01:29 The War Crimes Branch and a guard on patrol. Inside of crowded courtroom. War criminals on trial sit with number placards on chests. A man holds his head in his hands. Men are called individually to stand before the panel of jurors. Camera pans across row of judges and army personnel. The US flag forms the backdrop for the panel. 00:01:56 Election polling place, possibly in Lauterbach, Germany. Poster calling for citizens of Lauterbach to vote in upcoming election. People place their votes. 00:02:08 LS, snowy landscape with a high church steeple. 00:02:10 Citizens casting ballots. 00:02:19 A huge crowd gathers to watch a football match. 00:02:42 Large factory. Men gather to hear an officer speak. Men clap. Exhibition of factory machinery. 00:03:03 Scenes of Berlin. Women talk in the streets. Troops in Berlin Shakos unload from a van. A soldier grabs a woman. Civilians are rounded up and forced into the van. The van passes through a gate labeled "Eingang". 00:03:40 Cargo ship. CUs of grain being transported. 00:04:02 Children, likely in an orphanage. A high-ranking military officer visits the children. CUs of children smiling and eating. 00:04:13 Footage of damaged Berlin. The former Reichstag Building is nearly destroyed in the BG. Statues and the triumphal arch. Civilians collect and clear rubble and plow empty land. 00:04:31 An American plane in a hangar. Workers unload suitcases. A stairway reads "Tempelhof Berlin." A flight attendant presents another woman with a copy of The New Yorker. 00:04:47 Train pulls into a crowded station. Families wait for their husbands and fathers to come back from war. People greeting one another. 00:05:20 A military vehicle pulls to a stop. Soldier salute to the three high ranking officials as they enter the building. Military panel and jury discussing. CUs, four-star General Joseph T. McCarney speaking. 00:05:53 Civilians-both men and women-constructing and repairing war-torn Munich. Men lay dynamite and demolish an irreparable building. The town hall and the Frauenkirche are visible in BG. A train carrying stone supplies leaves or enters Munich. 00:06:22 A huge crowd of military personnel listen to General McCarney speak. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes addresses crowd. 00:07:01 Scenes of a village. Villagers enter building. CUs, citizens in traditional garb. 00:07:15 Boat dock. Villagers enter polling place and cast ballots. 00:07:29 Nuremberg Trials, the prosecution of high-ranking Nazi officials and collaborators, which lasted from November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946. EXT, Justice palace where the Nuremberg Trials were held. Pan, crowded courtroom. 00:07:34 Defendants. Hans Frank, in the dark sunglasses, is flanked by Wilhelm Frick, in the tweed suit, and Julius Streicher. 00:07:47 Panel of judges from above. Various attendees looking at materials and front of courtroom. 00:08:00 CUs of Hermann Goering. 00:08:09 Military officials read documents out loud to courtroom. Pan, faces of the defendants. 00:08:40 Doors close in courtroom. 00:08:43 An airplane and military personnel wait in an airplane hangar. General Dwight D. Eisenhower shakes hands and boards plane. 00:09:16 Children watch a puppet show. CUs, children screaming and laughing from the play. 00:09:41 A train pulls into a station. Children crying from car. Displaced persons unload train and file into building labeled "investigative agency." CUs of people nursing children, looking at maps, sleeping, and working. 00:10:28 Men walk up stairs outdoors in the cold. Men work in the coal mines. Elevator takes workers down into the shaft. LS, factory. 00:11:04 Men in civilian clothes in a meeting. CUs, Secretary of State Byrnes speaking to group. Men build a house, working in a factory, and plow a plot of land. New economy of Germany. 00:11:32 People skiing in the Alps. Pigs graze in a field. END
Note(s)
USHMM replaced the online streaming video with a file from NARA (digitized Digital Betacam tape) in August 2019.
Subjects
- WAR CRIMINALS/WAR CRIMES TRIALS
- WAR CRIMES COMMISSIONS
- COSTUMES
- EISENHOWER, DWIGHT
- ORPHANS
- STREICHER, JULIUS
- RUINS
- CHILDREN
- GERMANS
- AIRPORTS
- FARMERS/FARMING
- CIVILIANS
- NUREMBERG (INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL)
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- ELECTIONS
- FRANK, HANS
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP)
- INDUSTRY (GERMAN)
- ALPS MOUNTAINS
- REICHSTAG
- MILITARY VEHICLES
- GERMANY
- ALPS
- AIRPLANES
- GOERING, HERMANN
- FLAGS (AMERICAN)
- TRIALS
- POSTWAR
- PERFORMANCES
- SPEECHES
- COURTS/COURTROOMS
- TRAINS
- FRICK, WILHELM
Places
- Munich, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Nuremberg, Germany
Genre
- Newsreels.
- Film