Home movie of prewar Denmark
Creator(s)
- UCLA Library Special Collections
- David P. Boder (Camera operator)
Biographical History
David Pablo Boder was a professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology who traveled in 1946 to Europe to record interviews with displaced persons. Arriving in Paris in late July, Boder would spend the next two months interviewing 130 displaced persons in nine languages and recording them on a state-of-the-art wire recorder. The interviews were among the earliest (if not the earliest) audio recordings of Holocaust survivors. They are valuable not only for the testimonies of survivors and other DPs, but also for the song sessions and religious services that Boder recorded at various points during the expedition. Boder's itinerary included four countries—France, Switzerland, Italy, and German—and sixteen different interview sites. On most days he conducted between two and five interviews, with each interview lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours. As the weeks went by and Boder sensed his time drawing short, he stepped up the pace. Toward the end, he completed as many as nine in a single day (on September 21 in Munich). Most days total half that number; some days are unaccounted for. Boder left Europe in early October, having recorded over ninety hours of material and completely used up the two hundred spools of wire that he had brought with him. A very detailed biography is published at http://voices.iit.edu/david_boder and in Alan Rosen's The Wonder of Their Voices: The 1946 Holocaust Interviews of David Boder, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Scope and Content
Several people riding on bicycles in a city, streetcars in BG, probably in Copenhagen. Sign on the building in th BG, it appears to say “Spirella Veterport” Horse-drawn carriages and a large majestic white building. Sculpture of a man playing a violin. (00:33) Film damaged. (00:46) Crowd walking outside, a social gathering. (2:37) Urban scene of people riding bicycles, streets, trolley car and boats in the water. A man is getting his shoes shined, people talking and laughing. People walk in and out of a building. Taking pictures. Two men walk on the street. Fountain and a large table set festively with people gathered around the table. (6:39) Film is moving quickly, possibly filmed from a car. Crowd in a field/park. Deer. Nighttime. (7:20) Train pulls into the station. Cut to a boat. The film is slightly damaged. Chicken in a cage, large great dane, Train.
Note(s)
Film canister contains handwritten label: "Copenhangen"
Places
- Copenhagen, Denmark
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.