American military at Nordhausen; Eisenhower lands in Frankfurt; soldiers on leave in England
Creator(s)
- William J. Fedeli (Camera Operator)
- Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
Biographical History
Major William J. Fedeli served in the European Theater of Operations with the 534 Quartermaster Group from June 1943 to February 1946. Refer to the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project for more biographical information about Mr. Fedeli. He donated his nine 8mm films to the Library of Congress in July 2003.
Scope and Content
Reel 14: (1945) Concentration camp in Nordhausen, Germany; Ike, Frankfurt; Air trip to England; Cambridge American soldiers board military planes in a field. Sign, "Leave Flight Officers." Ansco (film) logo. At Nordhausen concentration camp, soldiers inspect rocket debris. [Fedeli reports visiting the contentration camp at 'Buchenwald' near Weimar, Germany in late April 1945.] Brief LS of camp buildings along road. Pan of liberated camp and environs from a moving vehicle. Dozens of large containers of ammunition stacked side by side in fields, behind a sign: "Tor II." Displaced families push carts with their belongings. Circular pan of camp with three watchtowers in the distance and Red Cross trucks. Crowds of people, mostly men (civilians? survivors?), queuing for some reason, seen from inside a car. Stacks of stretchers outside a brick building marked "42." Forest and bare trees with camp below, shot from above. Soldiers with Red Cross armbands walk about the camp, one with a still camera poses by barbed wire fencing. Touring and shooting from the moving car, different shots of the camp, destruction, rockets. Locals or refugees pass on foot and bicycle. Countryside. Soldiers gathered around Eisenhower's plane, Sunflower II, at the Frankfurt airstrip. Other aircraft taxis and cars are parked. SHAEF sign. Gen. Eisenhower greets the group of soldiers who stand at attention in front of an American flag and march in formation. Ike boards the plane and it departs. A small group of soldiers walk uphill towards the camera towards a castle, sightseeing. Aerial views from the plane of fields and houses. EXT, the plane and soldiers. Sign on a building reads "US Army Air Forces, Army Post Office." More aerial shots, a plane flies by. Soldiers on leave in and near Cambridge, England at an estate or public park. [Fedeli writes about being on leave in England - Cambridge and seeing General Eisenhower at Frankfurt airstrip in late April 1945.] Man paddles a boat on a stream, ornate building in the distance. Tourist views. Soldiers smile for the camera with a civilian. More sightseeing.
Note(s)
As he reported in an oral history with the Veterans History Project, Fedeli started shooting movies while training in Iowa and brought his camera with him overseas, where he reported having it with him all of the time. At the end of the war he was in Weimar and made his way to Buchenwald. Nordhausen was originally a subcamp of Buchenwald but eventually became a camp with subcamps of its own. It was largely devoted to producing weapons. Fedeli said, "What I saw is what everybody knows; I saw some of the bones that were baked into the oven; I didn't see them being gassed or anything, but I saw how they lived in these bunks four high and so on; Walking bones." When asked about the pragmatics of shooting during the war, Fedeli reported that "I wasn't supposed to do that but they never said anything to me." USHMM originally ordered a digital copy of the reference video (an early transfer of the 8mm films) under 1178645-2-1 in January 2016 as Film ID 4160. USHMM ordered new HD transfers in July 2016 under 2282980-2-2 as Film ID 4260. Refer to SSFVA files for Major Fedeli's notes (ca. 2003) outlining his World War II military experience from 1943 to 1945 with references to the movie reels.
Subjects
- FLAGS (AMERICAN)
- CARTS/WAGONS
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- EISENHOWER, DWIGHT
- MILITARY VEHICLES
- LIBERATION
- CEREMONIES
- VACATIONS
- WEAPONS/ARMS
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS
- NORDHAUSEN
- STRETCHERS
- MARCHING
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- RED CROSS
- TOURISM/SIGHTSEEING
- WATCH TOWERS
- REFUGEES
- BARBED WIRE
- AIRPLANES
- DISPLACED PERSONS (DP)
Places
- Nordhausen, Germany
- Frankfurt, Germany
- , England
- , Germany
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film