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Majdanek - Cemetery of Europe

Filmed immediately after the Red Army liberated the Majdanek concentration camp, this documentary is regarded as the first cinematic record of Nazi genocide. Shot on July 24–25, 1944, it presents stark evidence of atrocities alongside testimony from surviving prisoners representing many European nations, making it one of the earliest films to confront the scale of the Holocaust.

Top Cast

  • Władysław Krasnowiecki

    Władysław Krasnowiecki

    Narrator (voice)

Overview

Filmed immediately after the Red Army liberated the Majdanek concentration camp, this documentary is regarded as the first cinematic record of Nazi genocide. Shot on July 24–25, 1944, it presents stark evidence of atrocities alongside testimony from surviving prisoners representing many European nations, making it one of the earliest films to confront the scale of the Holocaust.

Rating

6.2 / 10
5 Reviews
0 Popular

Recommendations

Night Will Fall

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Night Will Fall

7.6 2014