American, Russian and British soldiers near the Elbe River in Torgau Germany. They stand in front of an "East Meets West" sign on the banks of the river. Generals wait to cross Elbe River. General Reinhardt sits in racing scull. General is rowed across Elbe River in racing scull. General with others disembark on opposite shore of river. Sign "East meets West". GIs of 69th Division shakes hands with Russian Red Army soldier. GIs shake hands with Soviet soldiers. (Note: Opening cameraman slate lists date as 2-24-45, but this event is known to have occurred on April 25 - 26, 1945.) (World War II period).
Hanging of a Nazi war criminal in Landsberg, Germany after end of World War 2. . American Military officers stand and converse near the gallows. The condemned man, attended by guards and a priest, comes out of a building. They climb the stairs of the scaffold for hanging. An American Field Grade Officer speaks of charges against the condemned man. Soldiers stand near the gallows and watch the hanging. The hooded, condemned man is dropped through a trap by the executioner, Johann Reichhardt, who wears the traditional German executioners’ attire of black coat, white shirt and, black bow tie and black hat. (Reichardt who is clearly seen standing on the platform, was a principal executioner for the Third Reich. But he was subsequently employed by the Occupation Authorities from November 1945, through May, 1946. to help execute Nazi war criminals at Landsberg am Lech by hanging. He was subsequently arrested in 1947, interned, and tried in a tribunal at Munich, where he was sentenced to strict punishment measures.) A military doctor uses a stethoscope to confirm death of the hanging man.
Arnstadt Concentration Camp in Germany captured by American forces in April, 1945 near the end of World War II. Prisoners were mainly Poles and Russians. View from the camp gate to tents which were used to house prisoners. Dogs were used to guard the prisoners. Shown is A dog kennel for a watch dog. Local German citizens had exhumed he bodies of concentration camp victims from their original mass grave, and reburied them in a trench further away from the town because of the stench. Now they were disinterring them again under supervision of United States Army soldiers. A corpse with crushed head. Corpses lying outside the graves from which they have just been exhumed. Bodies laid out on the ground are viewed by several U.S. soldiers
Combat footage filmed during the Soviet invasion and Battle of Berlin, Germany during World War 2. Smoke rises from damaged bridges and railroad lines. Ruined buildings of Berlin in aftermath of Soviet air and ground attacks. Piles of captured German weapons. German police officers and soldiers being taken as prisoners of war. Surrendering German troops march along a street. Grafitti on building wall says "Surrender - No." White surrender flags hang from windows and balconies of buildings. (These are contrasted by edited insert of German swastika flags covering the facades of buildings in the past.) German General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defense Area leads other Gernan officers from a bunker in the city, following their surrender to the Soviets on May 2, 1945. Large number of surrendering German soldiers marching, while General Weidling and other Berlin Defense Area officers quietly watch as their troops march past, as prisoners.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill gets a defeat in the 1945 United Kingdom General Elections. Past events show Prime Minister of UK Winston Churchill, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and other delegates attending the Potsdam Conference in Germany.
Portions of a damaged film. Excerpted from original shown during the Nuremburg trials and submitted as "Exhibit USA 280." Nuremberg trial transcripts of 13 December, 1945 include the following excerpted descriptions of the footage spoken by U.S. Commander William J. Donovan: "This is a strip of motion pictures taken, we believe, by a member of the S.S., and captured by the United States military forces in an S.S. barracks near Augsburg, Germany...We have not been able to establish beyond doubt in which area these films were made...The film offers undeniable evidence, made by Germans themselves, of almost incredible brutality to Jewish people in the custody of the Nazis, including German military units. It is believed by the prosecution that the scene is the extermination of a ghetto by Gestapo agents, assisted by military units...This film was made on an eight millimetre home camera...The pictures obviously were taken by an amateur photographer...it is burned...This is a silent film....I wish to...direct the Tribunal's attention to certain of the scenes. Scene 2: A naked girl running across the courtyard. Scene 3: An older woman being pushed past the camera, and a man in S.S. uniform standing at the right of the scene. Scene 5: A man with a skull-cap and a woman are manhandled. Scene 14: A half naked woman runs out of the crowd. Scene 15: Another half-naked woman runs through the house. Scene 16: Two men drag an old man out. Scene 18: A man in German military uniform, with his back to the camera, watches. Scene 24: A general shot of the street, showing fallen bodies and naked women running. Scene 32: A shot of the street, showing five fallen bodies. Scene 37: A man with a bleeding head is hit again. Scene 39: A soldier in German military uniform, with a rifle, stands by as a crowd concentrates on a man coming out of the house. Scene 44: A soldier with a rifle, in German military uniform, walks past a woman clinging to a torn blouse. Scene 45: A woman is dragged by her hair across the street.
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