Theresienstadt (film)

Infobox Film
name = Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet


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director = Kurt Gerron
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writer = Kurt Gerron
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released = 1944 (unreleased)
runtime = ca. 20 minutes (surviving footage)
country = flagcountry|Nazi Germany
language = German
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imdb_id = 0194445

"Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet" ( _en. Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement was a projected Nazi propaganda film shot in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

In the summer of 1944 the Nazi government had perpetrated a hoax against the Danish Red Cross by taking them on a tour of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the Sudetenland, occupied Czechoslovakia. They fixed up and cleaned the camp prior to arrival and arranged cultural activities to give the appearance of a happy, industrious community. To cover up the endemic overpopulation of the camp, numerous inmates were deported to Auschwitz before the arrival of the Red Cross delegation.Fact|date=January 2008

The gimmick was so successful that the Nazis attempted to expand on it by having Kurt Gerron, a Jewish actor/director, make a short film about the camp to assure audiences that the inmates kept there were not being abused. In return they promised that both he and his family would live.Fact|date=January 2008 Shortly after he finished shooting the film, however, both he and his family were "evacuated" to Auschwitz where they were gassed upon arrival.Fact|date=January 2008

The footage that Gerron shot was intended to be edited into a film called either "Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet" ("Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement") or "Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt" ("The Fuhrer Gives the Jews a City") however the progress of the war in that period (late 1944 to early 1945) made that impossible, so the scenes were used independently.Fact|date=January 2008 Only about 20 minutes of the film survives.

See also

*List of films made in the Third Reich
*"A Challenge to Democracy"
*"Japanese Relocation"

References

External links

*imdb title|0194445|Theresienstadt
* [http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/main.php?search=simple&dquery=Theresienstadt&cache_file=uia_nTOnYz&total_recs=32&page_len=25&page=1&rec=4&file_num=2703 US Holocaust Museum Steven Spielberg Video Archive entry for the surviving propaganda film excerpts. (Not yet on-line)]
* [http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=1894&archive=Date&match=0&page=5 Film Threat's Bootleg Files: "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7220829978743875704&q=The+Fuhrer+gives+the+jews+a+city&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 Complete Film at Google]