Window card for the film “None Shall Escape” (1944)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 22.000 inches (55.88 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm)
Creator(s)
- Columbia Pictures Corporation (Production Company)
- Columbia Pictures Corporation (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The window card was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
Window card for the film, “None Shall Escape,” released by Columbia Pictures in 1944. Window cards were mass-produced promotional materials used until the mid-1980s. They included a blank section at the top for individual theaters to write in dates and show times, and were placed in locations outside of the theaters. “None Shall Escape” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Story. The film jumps between a fictionalized post-World War II war crimes trial of a Nazi officer from Poland, and the events leading up to and during the war. The man is embittered after Germany’s defeat in World War I, becomes a follower of Adolf Hitler, rises in the ranks of the Nazi party, and returns to terrorize his home village. The film was inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s announcement that the United Nations’ intention of identifying Nazi leaders, and called for them to be tried for war crimes. It not only depicted the Nazi persecution of women, but also their persecution of Jews. The film depicted the mass killing of Jews by German machine gunners, and featured a rabbi as a central character. Although the film was released 15 months before the end of the war, it bore strong parallels to the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, following his capture in Argentina by the Israeli Mossad. Unlike the Nuremburg trials, the Eichmann trial featured the testimonies of Holocaust survivors. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Poster printed on rectangular, cream-colored cardstock with images for the film “None Shall Escape.” There is a narrow, white border on three sides, and a wide margin at the top. Pasted over the top margin is a rectangular sheet of cream-colored paper, with printed, red text stating the theater and days of the film showing. The central image depicts a woman and two men in hats carrying a second woman, wearing a torn green blouse and black skirt, who appears to be unconscious. Directly above is a tagline, printed in capitalized, black text. Directly below the image is the film title, printed in large yellow text, outlined in black. A disembodied hand with a pointed index finger is emerging from the shadows of the film title. To the bottom right of the title is a smaller-scale image of a military officer in a blue uniform, carrying another unconscious woman. The lower portion of the poster features a blue box containing white advertising copy, and the film credits, printed in green. Copyright and printing information is in blue within the bottom margin. There are large tears at the top and upper left edges, and some staining along the left edge. Depicted: Frank Jaquet as Dr. Matek, Trevor Bardette as Jan Stys, Dorothy Morris as Janina Pacierkowski, Marsha Hunt as Marja Pacierkowski
People
- Hunt, Marsha, 1917-
- Morris, Dorothy, 1922-2011.
- Knox, Alexander.
- Nelson, Ruth, 1905-1992.
- Rolf, Erik, 1911-1957.
- Travers, Henry, 1874-1965.
Subjects
- Armed Forces in motion pictures.
- Political violence in motion pictures.
- Holocaust survivors in motion pictures.
- Discrimination in motion pictures.
- Nazis in motion pictures.
- Jewish women in motion pictures.
- War crime trials--Motion pictures.
- Antisemitism in motion pictures.
- Poland.
- United States.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in motion pictures.
- Captivity in motion pictures.
Genre
- Display cards.
- Object
- Information Forms