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DPs in Germany

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 1994.119.1 | RG Number: RG-60.0923 | Film ID: 902

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    DPs in Germany
    Transcript
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
    This is what Europe's like.
    Now that the war is over and the Germans are beaten.
    These are a few of the millions of people who were once
    labor slaves of the Nazis and who are now trying desperately
    to get home, home on to a little farm in Poland,
    home to a tiny coastal village in Normandy, on the Leningrad
    3,000 miles away.
    To the Allied Military Government,
    they're known as displaced persons.
    And not until they reach their various countries,
    will there again be order in Europe.
    Obeying AMG's first instruction, the migrants
    leave the roads and move into the open fields,
    where they gather in groups of their own nationality.
    Footsore and weary, they wait patiently, anxiously.
    This mother wonders where she's going to get milk for her baby.
    This woman wants to know if her little girl will have to sleep
    in a ditch again tonight.
    Here a GI attached to AMG interviews
    men who've lost their homes and their families
    and arranges to send them and as many others
    as possible back to one of the hundreds of displaced persons
    camps which already have been set up throughout Europe.
    Yes, sir.
    That'll be 35 Russians, 12,000, three French,
    and three Yugoslavs.
    Yes, sir.
    How many of those are women?
    28 Russian women and 11,000 boys with a priest.
    Yes, sir, we'll be ready for them.
    Expect them in the two hours, Yes, sir.
    Corporal Portman.
    Yes, sir.
    We have 53 people coming in within the next two hours.
    Two of them are wounded.
    Will you instruct the doctor to have
    two beds ready in the infirmary to receive them?
    Yes, sir.
    Lieutenant Helm.
    Yes, sir.
    Will you instruct the Russian liaison officer,
    the Belgian liaison officer, and the French liaison officer
    to be prepared to receive their nationals when they come in.
    All right.
    In about two hours.
    Upon arrival, the children received first attention.
    Children without mothers or fathers,
    children orphaned by the bombs of battle,
    the deadly aim of the Nazi firing squad,
    the hot flames of an oven inside a German death factory.
    In peace as in war English, Russians, French, Belgians, and
    Americans are working together operating
    this displaced persons camp.
    The cooperation and unity that brought about victory
    is helping to bring order out of the suffering and chaos created
    by Hitler.
    Inside, three Belgium officials welcome this Belgian mother
    and her child.
    Name, please.
    Religion.
    Where in Belgium was your home before the Nazis kidnapped you?
    How long and in what capacity where
    you were forced to serve them?
    Well, I played sympathetically the questions were asked.
    And as they're answered by this woman and other arrivals,
    we see how thoroughly and pitilessly Hitler
    uprooted every nationality in Europe
    and chained them to his vast war machine.
    Either these persons turned out guns or planes
    or they went to a concentration camp.
    Either they served the Nazis new order obediently
    or they were killed.
    What's your name?
    [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
    And against Russians like these, the Nazis were most ruthless.
    For half the displaced persons inside Germany
    are citizens of the Soviet Union.
    After being interviewed, every displaced person
    undergoes a thorough physical examination.
    As these people have spread over Europe,
    disease has spread with them.
    And today, Europe is threatened with the same raging
    epidemics that wiped off millions of people
    after the last war.
    Typhus, encouraged by fowl drinking water, bad food,
    and wretched sanitation, endangers not only these people
    but the lives of the GIs who must occupy Germany.
    Here an old farmer who once peacefully plowed his land
    on a Ukraine farm receives a pair
    of shoes that might have belonged
    to a French lawyer or an English newspaperman or a Hollywood
    movie actor.
    Through the efforts of the Red Cross and UNRRA,
    people of goodwill the world over
    have gone into their attics, closets, and lower bureau
    drawers so that Hitler's many victims can
    return as soon as possible to a normal life
    and their own homes.
    Now and never again, to those who
    love peace and decency want a child like this
    to sleep in the last ridden clothes
    he took from the diseased dead in order
    to survive against the cold.
    Come and get it.
    Food, warm and nourishing food for stomachs gnawed with hunger
    and ruined by a diet of grassroots and leaves
    and bread mixed with sawdust.
    For years, these people starved so
    that the Germans could eat better
    than any other nation in Europe.
    Now with victory, all this has changed.
    These people can get the proper amount of vitamins and calories
    every day.
    So a little of the damage done in their health
    can be repaired.
    In another part of the camp, many of these displaced persons
    are being returned home, but on a priority basis.
    Men like this Russian, who have been liberated from German PW
    camps, are given first consideration and leave
    almost immediately.
    But others such as this French woman,
    who worked as a domestic servant for the Nazis,
    learned that skilled labor must be returned home first.
    So that the work of rebuilding damaged
    France can begin as soon as possible.
    While waiting, each nationality has given its own quarters
    in the camp.
    Here they smoke, relax, and play cards
    without fear or nervousness for the first time in many years.
    At the same time, the strong and able-bodied
    are assigned regular details so that the work of the camp
    can be improved and speeded.
    Details that will be accomplished as free citizens,
    not under the gun or a whip of an SS guard.
    Why do we and our Allies help these people?
    Is it charity?
    Is it human kindness?
    Or is America a sucker to bother with these Europeans
    now that we've been Hitler?
    A little of human kindness for these people, yes.
    But not suckers.
    For today, we realize that our half of the world,
    the American half, cannot remain well if the other half is sick.
    We realize that we must rehabilitate
    these displaced persons for our own interest
    and self-preservation as well as theirs.
    If we don't help these people now,
    then the chaos will continue indefinitely.
    And the seeds of a Third World War will take root.
    In another 20 years, we don't want a child
    like this in uniform, or if it is,
    it will probably mean that our own children will
    be in uniform too.
    To guarantee the peace and the democratic future
    of every child in the world, that's
    why this Belgian baby or Russian baby or French baby
    or Polish baby, is today under an army woolen blanket
    marked US.
    Hello, fellows.
    For weeks, men have written in, asking
    for a glimpse of their main street in their hometown.
    Well, we're going to show you half a dozen main streets,
    scattered all over the good old USA.
    One of them may be yours too, even though you
    didn't ask to see it.
    So keep your eyes open.
    To begin with, this is Capitol Street,
    the main drag of Charleston, West Virginia,
    the hometown of PFC Clifton Barker
    of the 627th medical company.
    And here's the main street of Wytheville, Virginia, where
    Corporal Dulaine F. Kitter and his four brothers
    also in the service.
    Corporal Lionel Andrade of the 597th fourth battalion
    wanted to see the main stem of Fall River, Massachusetts.
    Here it is, corporal, with the bus pulling into the depot as
    requested.
    Next, a glimpse of Springfield Street
    looking toward Market Street at the center of Newark, New
    Jersey, as per the request of CV Sam Benson.
    Moving West, far West, here's the main street
    of Winslow, Arizona.
    T3 Jack Jenkins says Winslow is a small town
    and its main street isn't much.
    But as far as he's concerned, it's
    the spot he wants to come back to after Tokyo.
    And while we're out West, here's the main street
    of Tucson, Arizona, where Private LV Clark, Private
    Clark of the Third Marine Division
    writes that his outfit has seen a lot of action down under
    and several of his buddies would like
    a look at their old hometown.

    Overview

    Description
    Reel 1: "Displaced Persons" Displaced persons in Germany are herded into a field; given food, clothing, and medical care; interviewed by officials of the American Military Government.; and assigned billets in a camp. "By Request" Shows brief shots of Charleston, WV; Springfield, IL; Newark, NJ; Tucson and Winslow, AZ; Whiteville, VA; and Fall River, MA.
    Duration
    00:11:00
    Date
    Event:  1945
    Production:  1945
    Locale
    Germany
    New York, NY, United States
    United States
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration
    Contributor
    Producer: United States. Army. Signal Corps.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Genre/Form
    Newsreels.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Fair
    Time Code
    01:01:21:00 to 01:12:21:00
    Film Format
    • Master
      • Master 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
    • Preservation
      • Preservation 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 902 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Public Domain
    Conditions on Use
    To the best of the Museum's knowledge, this material is in the public domain. You do not require further permission from the Museum to reproduce or use this material.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Legal Status
    Permanent Collection
    Film Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased this from the National Archives and Records Administration in September 1994.
    Note
    Army-Navy Screen Magazine, no. 59, produced by US Army Information Branch, Army Pictorial Service, Air Forces, and Navy Department in 1945.
    Copied From
    35mm; b/w
    Film Source
    United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 1372
    Source Archive Number: 111 SM 59 R1
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:45:39
    This page:
    http:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1000768

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