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Brzeziny ghetto: snow; synagogue; hanging

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 2010.499.1 | RG Number: RG-60.4913 | Film ID: 2910

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    Brzeziny ghetto: snow; synagogue; hanging
    Image

    Overview

    Description
    Film taken by a German, possibly Propaganda Kompanie 689. Sign: "Wohngebiet der Juden! Das Betreten ist unbefugten verboten...." [Jewish residential area! No unauthorized admittance...] CU, sign with a star marking, pan down to street view. Crowds in the cold snowy streets of the Brzeziny ghetto. Jews walking, bundled up, with yellow stars. Children in FG. VAR shots, street scenes, snowing, children in the windows of wooden homes, Jewish homeowners, filming through a fence. CUs, children with yellow star marking "Jude," elder, baby. Walking up a stairwell. Men pushing ice in the river. People looking at the camera in a courtyard, shoveling snow, daily business, walking in the streets, transporting items in the street with a cart. Ghetto gate in BG. Men with stars on the back of their coats, some tip their hats to the camera, crossing the street. Getting water from well/pump. Pan up of vacant apartment buildings. Sweeping snow. Police force a group of Jews to march quickly in the street. Pan up, Brzeziny town synagogue with Hebrew writing on EXT (later destroyed by the Nazis).

    Hanging sequence behind the synagogue in Brzeziny. Guards protect the gallows with multiple nooses (sustained scene). CU, armband with Star of David. Quick cut of film leader with handwriting, followed by a view of officers and spectators gathered in a town square for the hanging. LS, men (some with armbands) are marched from a hut to the gallows; MS, their hands are tied around their backs and ropes placed around necks. One man has trouble standing, a woman stands beside him on the platform. View of a huge crowd spectators.
    Duration
    00:09:59
    Date
    Event:  Winter 1940-1941?
    Locale
    Brzeziny, Poland
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Beit Lohamei Hagetaot
    Contributor
    Camera Operator: Unknown German

    Physical Details

    Language
    Silent
    Genre/Form
    Amateur.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Excellent
    Time Code
    01:00:00:00 to 01:09:59:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2910 Film: 16 mm
      Master 2910 Video: HDCam - NTSC - small
      Master 2910 Film: 16 mm
      Master 2910 Video: HDCam - NTSC - small
      Master 2910 Film: 16 mm
      Master 2910 Video: HDCam - NTSC - small
      Master 2910 Film: 16 mm
      Master 2910 Video: HDCam - NTSC - small
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2910 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2910 Film: negative - 16 mm - polyester - b&w - duplicate negative - B-wind
      Preservation 2910 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2910 Film: negative - 16 mm - polyester - b&w - duplicate negative - B-wind
      Preservation 2910 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2910 Film: negative - 16 mm - polyester - b&w - duplicate negative - B-wind
      Preservation 2910 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2910 Film: negative - 16 mm - polyester - b&w - duplicate negative - B-wind
    • User
    • User 2910 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - silent - answer print
      User 2910 Video: Blu-Ray
      User 2910 Video: DVD
      User 2910 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - silent - answer print
      User 2910 Video: Blu-Ray
      User 2910 Video: DVD
      User 2910 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - silent - answer print
      User 2910 Video: Blu-Ray
      User 2910 Video: DVD
      User 2910 Film: positive - 16 mm - b&w - silent - answer print
      User 2910 Video: Blu-Ray
      User 2910 Video: DVD

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    This archival media can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations.
    Copyright
    Bet Lohamei Haghetaot (Ghetto Fighters' House Museum)
    Conditions on Use
    Contact the Archives Manager of Bet Lohamei Haghetaot at anatb@gfh.org.il for permission to reproduce and use this film.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    The US Holocaust Memorial Museum jointly restored this 16mm film of the Brzeziny ghetto. The Museum borrowed original 16mm materials from two repositories in Israel, the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at Hebrew University, and the Jerusalem Cinematheque, in April and June 2010 with the goal of creating an improved, cleaner version of the film. The archival film materials consisted of one 16mm black and white safety print and one 16mm black and white dupe negative. The print contained major splice and perforation damage throughout and was not a camera original. The dupe negative, while damaged, was found to be in much better structural shape and contained more total footage than the print. Colorlab created a new 16mm print from the dupe negative by contact liquid gate, along with high quality high definition video transfers via telecine. The results are tremendous, not only for the additional scenes, but also for the impressive sharpness and quality of the image. Original elements and video copies of the newly restored 16mm film were sent to Israel in September 2010.
    Note
    This is the product of joint preservation project between Beit Lochamei Hagetaot, Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at Hebrew University, Israeli Film Archive-Jerusalem Cinematheque, and USHMM. For more details, refer to departmental files.

    The location of this ghetto has been misidentified over the years as Łódź. On a sign seen in the film appears the name "Loewenstadt" (the German name of Brzeziny). The hanging in Brzeziny took place behind the ruined synagogue. Comparing the synagogue seen in the film with a photo of the synagogue at its glory (Photo Archive 12231) indicates that it is, indeed, Brzeziny.

    Refer to SSFVA files for Bundesarchiv photo documentation which is said to be from the Lódz ghetto in 1941 of a troop of cameramen in what appears to be SS uniforms in a jeep or car filming the ghetto. In the passenger's seat one sees an officer who looks precisely like Willy Wist, who filmed the Warsaw ghetto in May 1942 (RG-60.3431).

    Lohamei Hagetaot may refer to this film as "Hanging in Lodz" [number 43/44] or "Lodz Ghetto" [video number 697].

    For a shorter and flawed version, see RG-60.4656 on Film ID 2848 (a 2005 transfer from Jerusalem Cinematheque).
    See also Story 3820, Film ID 2324 and Story 759, Film ID 505 for duplicate footage from National Center for Jewish Film.

    Located near Lodz, the town of Brzeziny had a Jewish majority - 6,850 of 13,000 inhabitants as late as 1939. During the Nazi occupation, a ghetto was established (Feb. 1940) which held nearly 6,000 people and was liquidated on May 19-20, 1942. Elderly Jews were sent to Chelmno and the rest to the Lodz ghetto.
    Copied From
    16mm dupe negative (Jerusalem Cinematheque)
    Film Source
    Israel Film Archive
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 5425
    Source Archive Number: 43/44
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 08:04:10
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1004506

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