Train station and sights in Krakow; Nazi motorcade
- Genre
- Amateur
- Duration
- 00:03:03
- Event Date
- late 1939-1940?
- Locale
-
Krakow,
Poland
- Language
-
Silent
- Genre/Form
-
Amateur.
- Credit
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Niklas Frank and Erika Noebel
Handwritten film title card reading "Krakau." A train pulls into station. German soldiers carry bags down the stairs. Men unload luggage and cargo from the cars. A child sells newspapers in Krakow's main square. Troops and civilians mull about. Horses and carriages are lined up for passengers. Telegraph offices, St. Mary's Basilica, and the Podgorze Church. Street scenes including a tram and horses and carriages. A Polish civilian in a business suit crossing the street heils for the camera. Peasants exchange goods at the marketplace. Polish women smile at the camera. CUs of money and food exchanging hands. A German soldier in uniform with swastika armband buys radishes. 01:02:38 Motorcade with motorcycles and cars carrying Nazi officials drive past a large building. Civilians heil. License plate read "Ost".
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Record last modified: 2018-08-08 16:29:02
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1004691
Also in Hans Frank private motion pictures
Hans Frank was a lawyer and major figure in the Nazi Party. In October 1939, Hitler named Frank Governor-General of occupied Poland. He was responsible for the exploitation of the civilian population (both Jews and non-Jews), the plundering of Polish cultural treasures for his personal benefit, and the deportation and execution of Jews. After the war, Frank was tried, convicted, and hanged by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. One of the private 16mm film reels illustrates the everyday life of the Frank family at work and home and on vacation. The other, in color and black and white, was probably shot by someone in the Frank family or a very close member of his staff. It includes relaxed and informal scenes of the Frank family at Wawel Castle and in the Polish countryside, Nazi officials visiting Frank, and a rare color view of Jews in the Krakow ghetto. Hans Frank’s films and diary came into the possession of Walter Stein, an American intelligence officer who interrogated Frank, at the end of the war and remained in the US until the early 21st century. After much negotiation, the films were donated to USHMM in June 2016 by Hans Frank's son Niklas Frank, who has been vocal in his criticism of his father and the Nazi regime.
Frank's headquarters at Wawel castle
Film
Wawel Castle where Hans Frank set up residence after being named Governor General of the German-occupied (General Government) Polish territories in October 1939. LS and CU of Nazi flag waving from the castle. Pans of Wawel's open courtyard and a memorial statue of Nicolaus Copernicus. 01:04:32 Pan down stone sign for the Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (established at Krakow on April 20, 1940 as a German-dominated scientific and historical arm of the General Government of Poland to investigate race and nationality in Poland). A guard stands on duty in the courtyard. Nazi official and a civilian in a suit pose for the camera. Presumably the civilians are members of the staff of the institute. INTs of castle offices with staff secretaries and men at work at desks. A German official teases and kisses a laughing secretary. CU of official document envelope with a Nazi stamp. Another Nazi (he looks like Himmler but is not) and two women smile and pose for the camera. CU of fingers typing. A woman drinks from teacup. Nazi officials and a few women depart from Wawel Castle. Several officials, SS officer, and some secretaries stay behind in the courtyard and pose for portraits. One man is wearing a cap with a death's head insignia (01:07:01). INT official on the telephone. Pan of the dark interior of the Wawel offices. 01:07:30 Hans Frank, the Governor-General of the occupied Polish territories, conducts a meeting on a balcony in Wawel, likely in May or July of 1940. Dr. Josef Friedrich Bühler, Frank's deputy-governor, and Frank review folders labeled "Treuhand" and "Vierjahresplan." 01:07:50 Richard Schalk, a Nazi official sent to the region in April 1940, speaks with Frank. One of the family dogs roams the balcony. CUs, Frank speaking.
Nazi officials at Berghaus Krakau; dining; official document
Film
People descend stairs of stone building (probably the "Berghaus Krakau" in Tatra mountains also seen at 01:16:51 which served as a guest house for high-ranking German officers during the Nazi occupation). Pan up to Nazi flag. Women and children enter through a door (probably at Berghaus Krakau). Nazi officials drink beer and eat in a large dining room with patterned curtains. 01:08:39 CU, handwritten document 2749-PS signed by Heinrich Himmler dated 28 January 1940. 01:08:44 Frank and two other men (possibly Bühler to the left and Dr. Karl Lasch to the right) in civilian clothes eat dinner in same dining room. Quick shot of spire (maybe of the Wawel Castle where Frank maintained residence?).
Frank family at an estate and visiting the Polish countryside
Film
Large estate. Three people walk (probably Hans Frank's wife Brigitte and her two older sons, Sigrid and Norman) a dog on the grounds of the estate. They tour the Polish countryside and villages with a horse and carriage. Railroad crossing. Scenes of the countryside from a moving train. 01:10:20 Soft focus shots of Polish children posing for the camera beside a fence, a woman washes in the river. More scenes of the three people on the carriage, then returning to the wooded estate with a guarded gated entrance with Nazi flag (good view of guard at 01:11:28). 01:12:00 The Frank family and their dog sit and read on the balcony. Frank's sons pose for the camera. CU of small dog.
Nazi officials tour Polish countryside
Film
German military truck with diamond insignia on city street. License plate reads: WH 701975. Women in luxurious coats and Nazi officials tour Poland, maybe the Tatra mountains with its park headquarters in Zakopane. Frank's wife, Brigitte, wears a fur coat and headscarf. Hans Frank and Brigitte sit indoors and listen to someone speak about a natural spring or flame encircled with iron railing. 01:12:34 Pan of the Polish landscape and a city/town. A friend chases a goat. 01:13:17 Group of Nazi officials (men and women, including Hans and Brigitte Frank and Charlotte Waechter) tour outdoors. The man in uniform is unidentified. Another view of some kind of spring or well. The group climbs stairs of a building with the sign PATRIA. Hans Frank, in the white coat, and other Nazi officials and their wives leave the building. They shake hands and salute. The group walks along a sidewalk toward the camera. CU of a Polish child. Pan of building (PATRIA?) with distinctive railings seen earlier. 01:14:31 A Nazi official, possibly Karl Lasch, jumps over a wooden hurdle inside a stadium in slow motion. CUs, the man laughs and poses for the camera. 01:14:48 Dark shots of Germans touring the Polish countryside.
Nazi officials visit Tatra mountain region
Film
Perutz logo. 01:15:20 In color, CUs of an poster "Kampf den Wanzen!" (Fight against bedbugs!) and poster for 1939 UFA comedy film "Ich bin gleich weider da" starring Paul Klinger and Mady Rahl. A soldier adjusts a camera tripod. 01:15:45 Scenes of the Polish countryside and Tatra mountains from a slow-moving funicular. 01:16:06 Hans Frank (in the middle with a cane) and other Nazi officials walk outdoors in the snow by a gate that reads "Berghaus Krakau," a mountain hotel on Kalatówki in the Tatra Alp region which served as a guest house for high-ranking German officers during the Nazi occupation. Car with SS license plate (SS 19148) pproaches the hotel. Pan of the snowy landscape and mountains. EXT of hotel with Nazi flag (seen earlier at 01:08:21).
Jews in Kazimierz in 1940 before the establishment of the ghetto
Film
In color, inside the Jewish neighborhood of Krakow, Jews wear arm bands with the Star of David. Men peer at camera from a shop entrance in BG. Pan of public announcement poster in Polish signed by Schmid (Bekanntmachung LXII was published on May 10, 1940). Red Cross YMCA poster. Schmid served as Stadthauptmann of Krakow from Feb 21, 1940 to March 31, 1941; the ghetto was formed on March 3, 1941. Good CUs of children, one barefoot. Tram, bookstore, and other shops show street activity. Horse and buggy. Street scenes with pedestrians and shuttered shops. 01:18:05 A Jewish man looks at the camera from his storefront labeled with "Jewish store" sign. More shops, including Samuel Pluczenik's textile store [see letters written by the shop's proprietor about a Jewish employee in the Museum's Archive under RG-15.098M]. Street scenes with Jewish children and adults.
Wawel castle; Zakopane carriages
Film
Flag on pole. Guard on duty protects a government (?) building. Wawel Castle exteriors with automobile parked - Hans Frank set up residence in Wawel Castle after being named Governor General of the German-occupied Polish territories in October 1939. 01:18:40 Zakopane sign. People in the city square. Carriages wait for passengers. Street with horse and buggy traffic.
Frank family; high-ranking official visits Wawel castle
Film
The Frank family eats indoors. The children pretend to sleep on the balcony. 01:19:41 HAS of the Wawel courtyard. Hans Frank set up residence in Wawel after being named Governor-General of the German-occupied Polish territories. Procession of marching band and troops in the courtyard. 01:20:06 A high-ranking Nazi official (Himmler?) marches out and salutes the troops. Official Nazi still photographers capture the moment. 01:21:20 In color, CU of document reading "An die polnische Bevoelkerung" [To the Polish Population] dated 25 January 1941(?) by Governor-General Dr. Frank. "Ende" (in reverse).
Hans Frank's newborn; vacation
Film
Brigitte Frank lays in bed with a newly born son, probably Niklas, born in March 1939. Dark interior shots, flowers in the room. 02:01:31 Brigitte (Niklas's mother) stands outside of the Frank family's vacation house in the snowy mountains, pan of the landscape. A man and the nanny play with a still photograph camera. Train passes by.
The Frank family at their vacation home
Film
In summer, the Frank children and mother Brigitte relax outside (maybe 1942 or 1943). Brigitte consoles her son, Michael. Nanny reads book to the child Brigitte. The boys, Niklas first in checkered-trim and Michael, smoke a cigarette. Short scene where the young women don furs on the porch with a uniformed German. The Frank children in traditional German attire pose for the camera; some boys dress as "cowboys and Indians." [could be related to a later scene at 02:24:15]
The Frank family celebrates Christmas
Film
In December 1939, the Franks exit the doorway at their vacation home. Norman gives the family dog a treat. Norman sits near a stack of chairs and furniture. Hans Frank takes a picture of Brigitte with Niklas, then shows Norman how the camera works. Brigitte wraps presents; CUs Norman. CUs, toy train. Hans and Brigitte sit together as Brigitte bounces Niklas on her knee. A boy lights the candles on the Christmas tree. The family sits for a portrait photo (with a spotlight flash). CU of a record player. Man smokes. Woman lounges on a couch. Good MS of Hans Frank, then of Norman and the other children. Record spins. Cover of Ludwig Von Beethoven's Symphony No.9. Hans's father drinks a beer and plays with Brigitte (child) outside. INTs, Hans plays with the family dog. Hans Frank and wife Brigitte cross country ski. 02:11:44 The children ski and jump, some shots in slow motion. The family and children walk and play outdoors in the snow. 02:13:45 INTs, a nanny with newborn (possibly Brigitte or Michael). EXT, Brigitte and her son Norman pose for camera outside their residence; boy climbs a tree.
Newborn child welcomed into the Frank family
Film
EXT, large building, probably a hospital. Hans Frank steps out of a car with license plate reading: "IIA - 23818." INTs, CUs of newborn child, probably Niklas born in 1939. The family poses with the new baby. Nurses. Flowers in the room. On the sidewalk with a tram behind, the children - Sigrid and Norman - push the baby in a pram, with mother Brigitte and a nanny. Sigrid mimics the cameraman. INT shots of woman holding newborn Niklas.
The Frank family with friends
Film
At a home or lodge in the mountains, the Frank family visits relatives (?). CUs of the family with a baby and young boy; one woman wears a swimsuit. The children play and pose with costumes outdoors. 02:19:47 Nazi flag waving, EXT home.
The Frank family at leisure in winter and summer
Film
In winter, the Frank children play outdoors at their vacation home. 02:20:59 Extended CUs of family members, including Brigitte (02:21:17) and Hans (02:21:36). Teenage Sigrid balances a vase on her head. The family excitedly welcomes the children's grandmother to the home in the mountains [Niklas is a toddler, so this could be winter 1940-1941]. The children play and pose for the camera, good CUs. 02:24:16 Party or celebration with relatives in summer. The kids play outdoors and pose for camera. Hans Frank with Brigitte and Michael and their dog take a walk. 02:24:56 At vacation home in winter, Hans with Brigitte and Michael and another man run towards the camera. The children approach camera with skis. Quick shot of cars bearing the Nazi flag in a snowy city street.
