Death Mills (1945)

Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this film was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi ... See full summary »

Directors:

Hans Burger, Billy Wilder

Writers:

Hans Burger, Oskar Seidlin (narration text)

Star:

Anton Reimer

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Anton Reimer	...	Self - Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this film was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi extermination camps: the survivors, the conditions, and the evidence of mass murder. The film includes accounts of the economic aspects of the camps' operation, the interrogation of captured camp personnel, and the enforced visits of the inhabitants of neighboring towns, who, along with the rest of their compatriots, are blamed for complicity in the Nazi crimes - one of the few such condemnations in the Allied war records.

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Plot Keywords:

genocide | concentration camp | fascism | year 1945 | 1940s | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included in the Blu-Ray of the Orson Welles' film "The Stranger" (Kino)

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Crazy Credits

Placed both at the beginning and at the end of the film: This film will not be shown to the general public without permission of the War Department

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Connections

Featured in Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009)

User Reviews

10 years before "Night And Fog"... and still superior

Alain Resnais famed 1955 French documentary "Night And Fog" took the world by storm... many knew about the death camps in Poland, but few had ever seen the horror of the aftermath of the Holocaust... the dead bodies that were gassed or shot dead but not yet cremated or buried and the collection of shoes, human hair and clothing of the tens of thousands who were cremated was too horrific still for most to imagine in 1955...

Well this film was made by the legendary Billy Wilder 10 years prior, but seldom seen... and this film was more refined, more brutal and featured much more horrific footage then "Night And Fog"

This short 22 minute documentary is actually a truncated version of a documentary titled "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey" but the full 75 minute film would not be completed for another 70 years, losing much of it's potency in the time since.

I can imagine the reaction in 1945 when the war had just ended, judging by the reaction of 'Night And Fog', it would probably pass for a terrifying horror film

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

German

Release Date:

25 January 1946 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Di Toit Milen

Filming Locations:

Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria

Company Credits

Production Co:

Office of Military Government in Germany, U.S. Army Signal Corps

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1