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Persecution of Jewish children

Film | Digitized | RG Number: RG-60.2523 | Film ID: 2282

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    Persecution of Jewish children
    Image

    Overview

    Description
    This is a short FICTION film. Soundtrack is music and 'wild sound'- no narration, no dialogue. The film begins with one of Hitler’s anti-Jewish speeches and is followed by a German military march. An ambulance with a Red Cross sign enters a gate leading to what looks like a school-yard surrounded by barbed wire. As a group of children play in the yard, an SS man fills the gas tank and connects an exhaust pipe to the “ambulance.” In the next scene the children climb into the truck along with their guardian, while a point-of-view shot from inside the ambulance focuses on a group of birds outside. A German shepherd attempts to return a toy to one of the children locked in the truck but one of the officers orders the dog to get down. The last scene depicts the ambulance slowly pulling out of the yard; everyday brutality is depicted through images that are suggestive rather than explicit. The viewer is spared from seeing the asphyxiated children, but undoubtedly reminded of the mass killings at Auschwitz and other death camps.

    Notes from NCJF film catalog: In this haunting short fiction film, a group of Jewish children and their teacher are herded into an ambulance by Nazis; the vehicle, ordinarily representing comfort and safety, becomes the group's death chamber. Morgenstern's presentation of the incident serves as a metaphor for the horror of the Holocaust. The character of the teacher may be considered an allusion to Janusz Korcak (1879-1942), the Jewish educator who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto and dies with his young charges at Treblinka.
    Duration
    00:09:55
    Date
    Production:  1962
    Locale
    Poland
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University
    Contributor
    Director: Janusz Morgenstern
    Producer: Leon Lewandowski
    Producer: Studio Matych Form Filmowy SE-MA-FOR
    Actor: Tadeusz Lomnicki
    Camera Operator: Jerzy Lipman

    Physical Details

    Language
    Polish
    Genre/Form
    Feature.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Mixed
    Time Code
    01:00:01:00 to 01:09:56:07
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - magnetic stripe - projection print
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - color - silent - reversal original - A-wind
      Master 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - magnetic stripe - projection print
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - color - silent - reversal original - A-wind
      Master 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - magnetic stripe - projection print
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - color - silent - reversal original - A-wind
      Master 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - magnetic stripe - projection print
      Master 2282 Film: positive - 16 mm - color - silent - reversal original - A-wind
      Master 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2282 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - small

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    This archival media can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations.
    Copyright
    National Center for Jewish Film
    Conditions on Use
    Contact NCJF at pontius@brandeis.edu for permission to reproduce and use this film.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Note
    Production credits:
    Written by Jerzy Lipman and Andrzej Gronau.
    Music by Krzystof Trzcinski-Komeda.
    Editor: Janina Niedzwiecka

    Awarded in 1962 at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Ambulance was made with the participation of some leading contributors to the Polish School, including cinematographer Jerzy Lipman, composer Krzysztof Komeda-Trzcinski, and actor Tadeusz Lomnicki, who is credited as the author of the script. The film was interestingly shot on location at the airport in Lublinek, near Lodz.
    Copied From
    16mm b/w positive
    Film Source
    National Center for Jewish Film
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 3366
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 08:07:51
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1002578

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