Forced visit of the German civilians to Buchenwald concentration camp by the Allied forces after World War II. Pile of emaciated and starved dead bodies placed one over other. Large numbers of leaned naked dead bodies of Jewish inmates. German civilians walk directed by American soldiers and officers. German women weep at the sight. Men turn their faces around and walk away quickly.
Group of U.S. soldiers wave American flag to stop a U.S. Military Police jeep. A Sergeant gets out of the jeep and greets the GIs. He then gives each of them a carton of cigarettes. Remainder of the scenes show Soviet occupation forces and Berliners subject to Soviet authority. A Soviet woman soldier directing traffic. Russian soldiers pose for pictures in front of the Victory Column in Berlin. View of the golden winged victory statue on top of the column. Three pillars displaying pictures of Stalin and two other Soviet leaders. Soviet soldiers walking near the Brandenburg Gate. Several quiet streets. Elderly German citizens sitting on a bench in front of a granite memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm I. A street filled with destroyed cars, broken buildings and rubble everywhere. Several German citizens struggle to move a laden wooden wagon. A Russian woman soldier directs traffic. Local citizens queue up for water. They read a paper posted with a message from the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. A line of citizens passing bricks to help with rebuilding.
In Berlin, at the end of World War 2, in Europe, a large group of ordinary people gather at a hill of debris where a building once stood. Men and Women use shovels to dig dirt from sidewalk and place it in buckets, that others pass up the hill, in a bucket brigade. Closeup of people filling the buckets at the base of the pile of debris. The bucket brigade consists mostly of women. They transfer the filled buckets up the hill and empty ones down via a separate group of volunteers. The buckets are emptied at the top of the heap. Some women transfer large fragments of concrete to one another. The entire project seems intended to clear more space in the sidewalks and streets. View from a high point reveals skeletons of tall buildings and other groups doing similar work to clear rubble from the city walks and roads.
At the end of World War 2, in Europe, citizens of Berlin (mostly women) cooperate in a bucket brigade to clear rubble from their walks and streets. Lacking any machinery, they use shovels to fill buckets and pass them up the hill of debris at the base of bombed out buildings. A train passes below damaged roadway where camera is located. Camera pans to the cleanup site, where dozens of people are occupied. Closup of a man using a mason's hammer to break concrete slabs so they can be moved by hand. Women inside the walls of a demolished building, where they empty the buckets and throw the concrete slabs.
Bomb damaged Berlin after World War II. The German Reich insignia with the words 'Reichs Kanzlei' at the Reich Chancellory. Shell holes around the insignia. Damaged columns and steps. The Nazi eagle symbol above the steps. Damaged windows in a wall. A car passes a destroyed building. Rubble on the street. A damaged building with an intact gate. Traffic passes under the Brandenburg Gate. The damaged gate. People pass through underneath. The damaged Quadriga driven by Victoria. A sculpture nearby.
Bomb damaged Berlin after World War 2. The bomb damaged Victory Column. Destroyed structures nearby. The statue of Victoria atop the column. The British flag before the Column. Soldiers on the steps. Interior of a destroyed building. Wrecked German helmets on the ground. Wreckage and damage around. Bomb damage and wreckage on the Unter Den Linden leading to the Brandenburg gate. Traffic and pedestrians on the road. Damaged cars and vehicles. Rubble all around.