Tourist destinations and architecture before World War 2 in Western Germany. Elevated view as a locomotive train pulling train cars moves across a bridge and on the railroad track. Smoke comes out of it. View of coal fuel piled high behind locomotive. A large crowd gathers at a marketplace for a Catholic procession in Cologne. Elevated view of the bustling outdoor marketplace in Cologne. A religious procession winds through the streets - likely an Easter procession. Clergy in the procession and a group of nuns in habits. Clergy and sacristans in the procession, followed by young girls wearing white and carrying flowers. Clergy carrying banners. The Cologne Cathedral (Domkloster 4, 50667 Köln, Germany) in the background.
Tourist destinations and architecture in Germany, before damage of World War 2. Gothic architecture of the Cologne Cathedral (Domkloster 4, 50667 Köln, Germany). The Cologne Cathedral main entrance shows 19th century statues. The façade of the Cologne Cathedral. City scenes from a spire. Vehicles and trams on a street. Buildings and monuments on either side of the street. The Deutzer suspension bridge on the river Rhine in the background.
Opening Slate states city is famous for the "Meistersinger" and as home of Hans Sachs and Albrecht Durer. Tourist destinations and architecture in Germany before World War 2. Various buildings seen in Nuremberg such as the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg. The Hangman's Bridge (Henkersteg Henkersteg 90403 Nürnberg) spans the Pegnitz river. Trams and people on Karolinenstraße leading to Nuremberg’s Frauenkirche. Buildings in the background. Merchandisers in front of the Adolf Hitler Platz, now the Nuremberg Main Market (Hauptmarkt, 90403 Nürnberg, Germany). A wheel cart moves on a street.
Opens with bell tolling Victory against Germany in World War II. Next, a slate reads: "Victory Leads to Peace," and a farmer is seen with cattle pulling a plow. But narrator says "the problem now is future peace," and a map of Germany is shown overlaid with "Your Job in Germany." A cartoon of a soldier is superimposed on the map, along with one of a World War 1 American soldier and a figure of possible future soldier with similar mission. Camera focuses on parts of German aircraft in a jumbled heap. Closeups of weary defeated German soldiers at end ot World War II. Glimpse of Adolf Hitler speaking and haranguing an audience from a podium in an animated and forceful way. Swastika flags displayed from houses in a quaint German town. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda, at a microphone. Glimpse of a German concentration camp. But as they appear, each of the Nazi elements promptly disappears, showing the scenes without such Nazi symbols and persons. Skeleton remains of bombed buildings. Flower displays. Bucolic German rural countryside and quaint old villages in peaceful settings. Camera focuses on a book titled "German History." Chapter I, titled "Blood and Iron," shows Image of Otto von Bismarck. German troops march in a parade. Narrator states that "under Bismarck, the German empire was built." (He formed the German Empire in 1871, unifying Germany with himself as Imperial Chancellor, while retaining control of Prussia at the same time.) The film shows mounted German lancers as it alludes to Bismarck's campaigns against Denmark in 1867; Austria in 1866; and France, in 1870. Germany's leaders celebrating its status, in 1871, as the mightiest power in Europe. Troops marching and girls dancing nearby. Farmers plowing field with a horse and cow. Classic peaceful rural alpine scenes with local people in agricultural pursuits. A group of local German musicians playing folk music as village people dance outdoors. Back to the book, Kaiser Wilhelm II is shown on Chapter 2, entitled: "Deutschland über Alles." Gathering of German soldiers in Pickelhaube (spiked helmets). A German Big Bertha howitzer firing. German troops marching against Serbia; Russia; and France (with view of war damaged French cathedral). German invasion of Belgium in 1940 (with view of clock tower resting in rubble). German troops seen in Italy, walking past battle-damaged buildings. German Zeppelin dropping bombs on British targets and view of bombed out London neighborhood. Next scene shows a capsized ship with survivors running across its hull. Film slate labels the scene as United States, as if it is a U.S. ship attacked by Germany. (Actually, it is the Austro-Hungarian Battleship, SMS Szent Istvan, torpedoed, by Italian torpedo boats, during World War I.) Next, American soldiers in trench are seen going "over the top" and into "no man's land" on the western front of World War 1. Glimpse through a window of Kaiser Wilhelm II, after defeat of Germany, in 1918. View of Germans in a Beer Garden. Picturesque view of German town. A German orchestra performing. American soldiers marching out of Germany, with flags waving. Back to the history book,as chapter III is revealed, entitled "Today Germany, tomorrow, the world," and featuring Adolf Hitler. German troops invading Austria (where a civilian lies dead on the ground). German troops entering Czechoslovakia (where local people in tears render the Nazi salute). They march into Poland (where a girl weeps over someone, not seen, on the ground). They march into France (where a wounded, bandaged child cries in a bed). Next, is a scene from England, where a British child victim of bombing lies dead in the remains of a shelter. German troops invading Norway, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and Russia (where a woman tries to rouse a dead woman). They invade Yugoslavia (where women sit near coffins of children) and Greece (where a woman rescues a naked child). A U.S. merchant ship explodes after being torpedoed by a German submarine (unseen). Scenes of destruction with people plucking dead victims from rubble of buildings. American troops invading Normandy, France on D-day, June 6, 1944. Several American soldiers fall to German gunfire on the beach. Wounded American soldiers being transported in jeeps on the battlefield and being placed on landing craft for evacuation. Americans walking past huge piles of destroyed aircraft parts. A landing craft filled with wounded American soldiers. American wounded and dead on a battlefield. Sailors abandoning a burning American ship by jumping into the sea. A sailor picked up in a life boat. A wounded American soldier being dragged from the beachhead at Normandy. Various wounds being treated by U.S. Medical Corps personnel. More scenes of American wounded being moved on stretchers. Scene shifts abruptly to German people folk dancing. Film concludes with question marks about the future.
Famous tourist destinations and architecture in Thuringia, Germany, before World War 2. Various buildings seen in Erfurt, the principal city of Thuringia. View of the Former Governor’s Residence, now the Thuringia State Chancellery building, in Hirschgarten (Thüringer Staatskanzlei Regierungsstraße 73, 99084 Erfurt, Germany). People and vehicles move outside the palace. Views of the Erfurt Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of St. Mary (Dom St. Marien Domstufen 1 99084 Erfurt). Maria Gloriosa bell hangs in the central tower of the Cathedral. View of the Albrechtsburg Castle in Meissen (Meissen Albrechtsburg Castle Domplatz 1 01662 Meißen).
Famous tourist destinations and architecture in Baden Baden, Germany, shortly before World War 2. View of the Collegiate Church (Stiftskirche Marktpl. 15, 76530 Baden-Baden, Germany) in Baden-Baden. People walk on a path in a garden. A bridge seen over a stream. Men and women at the Golf Club. A woman sitting on the edge of a fountain. A large crowd at the Horse Racecourse. Wealthy, high-society men and women celebrate with wine and food. Children enjoy eating cakes and sweets. A man with a fishing rod near a small stream. Pebbles and trees in the background.
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