- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Film Provenance
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased a copy from the National Archives and Records Administration in June 1991. The footage was obtained as research for the Museum's Permanent Exhibition.
- Note
- The film was seized by the U.S. Army in an SS barracks near Augsburg, Germany, and was delivered to the military police, who, in turn, delivered it to the legal office of the U.S. Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Major European War Criminals. The film was introduced as evidence (USA Exhibit 280) at the International Military Tribunal trial of war criminals at Nuremberg, to demonstrate Nazi mistreatment of defenseless men and women. A textual description of the scenes (Document 3052-PS) was also included in the documentation. The film was eventually deposited at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and copies of it have been made available to the public. Since its discovery and screening in Nuremberg, the original film has deteriorated to such an extent that it is no longer possible to project it or attempt to reproduce it as motion picture film. In an attempt to make the information available to the public, the Motion Picture, Sound Recording and Video Branch of NARA arranged for 35mm negatives and contact prints to be made of each frame of the film. This photographic documentation (35mm negative film strips and positive image contact sheets) was transferred to the Still Pictures Branch of NARA in October 1984 and is found in record group RG 238.7. The film has no documentation that provides information about the location, date, subject matter or author of the moving images. Researchers reviewing materials for inclusion in the permanent exhibition of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in the period between 1990 and 1993 compared the film with other still images of Lviv (Lvov, Lemberg) in 1941 and determined that the film was most probably taken at that time and place. [Sources: National Archives and Records Administration index file record, RG 238-AF; US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Film and Video Report, Story no. 441; Email dated 10 November 2004 from Sarah Ogilvie (former USHMM PE photo researcher) to Sharon Muller (USHMM photo archivist).]
NARA note: "Damaged film cannot be reproduced as a motion picture. Transferred to 35mm neg film strips and positive proof sheets. Physical custody transferred to NARA in October 1983."
USHMM contains two copies of each tape format--one is normal, the other is "slow mo." Footage may be in USHMM files as USHMM Film ID 408 or 408A and Story 447. See duplicate footage on Film ID 67, Story 2417. Footage (possibly longer or shorter than here) also appears in slow motion in "Nuremberg and Its Lesson" and in Chronos Film's "Yellow Star"
- Copied From
- 8mm; b/w
- Film Source
- United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
- File Number
- Legacy Database File: 2110
Source Archive Number: 238.7