⚠️ Historical Documentation Notice
Historical Documentation Notice

This document is part of a historical archive and is presented for scholarly research and educational purposes.

The content reflects historical perspectives and should be understood within its historical context.

The International Campaign for Real
History1948
the official German newsreel revealed “nearly
300,000 died in Auschwitz“

BY CHANCE we have obtained a videotape of the German ARD Television broadcast, „VOR VIERZIG
JAHREN” transmitted on the
Third Programme on January 8, 1988. This contained the entire German movie newsreel (Wochenschau) released in Germany forty years earlier, on January 8, 1948, with the title Welt im Film. This newsreel contained a report on the closing scenes of the
Krakow Auschwitz Trial late in 1947.

“Da ich sonst nirgends über diesen Prozeß gelesen oder gehört hatte”, our informant tells us, “machte ich mir eine Video-Kopie.” (He has asked to remain anonymous, as Germany’s laws for the suppression of free speech may make his possession of such a film a criminal offence).

Download the original 80-second newsreel segment
(2.5 MB) direct from David Irving’s website

The
1948 German newsreel is a startling, indeed a sensational video-document. Here is a verbatim transcript (with translation) of the 1948 newsreel soundtrack:

The newsreel:
Bildbeschreibung:
Es handelt sich um Welt im Film Nr. 137 vom
8. Januar 1948: “1’20”: Sühne für
Auschwitz – Gerichtsgebäude in Krakau.
Verhandlungssaal. Anklagebank, total. Richtertisch.
Angeklagte mit Kopfhörer groß. Richter spricht Urteil, halbnah. Zuhörer im Saal, total.” [… Ende: 13’05”].

German original:

translation

” IN
KRAKOW the trial of the principal culprits for the
Auschwitz concentration camp came to an end before a Polish court . The defendants were German camp guards or members of the German camp administration staff. Unheard-of atrocities against the camp inmates, particularly against female prisoners, were proved against them. Altogether nearly
300,000 people from the most different nations died in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The court sentenced 23 of the accused to death, six to life sentences, and ten to lengthy jail terms; one was acquitted. The Auschwitz concentration camp remains as it stands today, as a monument of shame to the lasting memory of its three hundred thousand victims.”

„In Krakau ging vor einem polnischen Gerichtshof der Prozeß gegen die
Hauptverantwortlichen für das
Konzentrationslager Auschwitz zu Ende. Die
Angeklagten sind deutsche Lagerwachen oder
Angehörige des deutschen Verwaltungspersonals.
Es wurden ihnen unerhörte Greueltaten gegen die Lagerinsassen nachgewiesen, besonders gegen weibliche Gefangene. Insgesamt kamen nahezu 300.000
Menschen verschiedenster Nationen im
Konzentrationslager Auschwitz um.

Das Gericht verurteilte 23 Angeklagte zum Tode, 6 zu lebenslänglichem Gefängnis, 10 zu längeren Gefängnisstrafen, einer wurde freigesprochen. Das Konzentrationslager Auschwitz bleibt als Mahnmal der Schande so erhalten, wie es heute steht, zum bleibenden Gedenken an seine
300.000 Opfer.”

We provide a free download of the one minute twenty-second clip at this link.

On May 27, 1999, our source sent a letter to the
German Federal Minister of Justice,
Däubler-Gmelin, asking for an explanation; he has received no reply from her so far.

In the so-called “Todesblock” (Block Smierci) of the Auschwitz-Stammlager, there is the following multilingual inscription: http://www.vho.org/D/ffh/Inschrift.jpg

“In der Zeit des Lagerbestehens wurden 405
222 Häftlinge — Männer, Frauen und
Kinder — von der Evidenz umfaßt. Davon kamen in Auschwitz und in anderen Lagern etwa 340
000 Personen ums Leben.”

Website visitor Michel Mills comments on this 1948 German newsreel

© Focal Point 1999-2001

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