Theresienstadt as a Tool of Nazi Propaganda: The 1944 Film

In 1944–1945, the Nazis created a propaganda film about the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto. It was filmed in August–September 1944. The title was Theresienstadt: A Documentary Film About the Jewish Settlement Area (Theresienstadt: Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet). This film was not titled “Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt” (“The Führer gives the Jews a city”), even though some survivors and others have referred to it by this name. The film was deceptive. It deliberately misrepresented the horrific reality of deprivation, inequality, and fear that characterized daily life in Theresienstadt.

The film was completed in March 1945 and privately screened several times in April. Today, only short fragments or clips from the film (about 23 minutes) have been found. 

Background: The Theresienstadt (Terezín) Ghetto

Photo

Arrival of a transport of Jews in Theresienstadt (Photo)

On January 20, 1944, a film crew took footage of a transport of Jews arriving in the Theresienstadt ghetto. The transport had left the Westerbork transit camp two days earlier. On board the train were 870 people, including Dutch Jews and Jewish refugees from Germany and beyond. The train arrived in the vicinity of Theresienstadt on January 19, but Nazi authorities held the train overnight at the nearby Bauschowitz train station. They wanted to film the arrival of the deportees at Theresienstadt the following morning. This is a still shot from the January 20 footage. It shows the Jewish deportees with their luggage crossing the railroad tracks at the ghetto. 

Credits:

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum

• View Archival Details

During the Holocaust, the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto was a site of imprisonment for more than 140,000 Jews.1Footnote 11 It was located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It existed for about three and a half years from November 1941 until May 1945. Theresienstadt played several important roles in the Nazis’ persecution and murder of Jews. It was a transit ghetto, where Czech Jews were temporarily held prior to their deportation. Theresienstadt also served as a special “ghetto for the elderly” (Altersghetto). Nazi German authorities deported certain groups of German and Austrian Jews to Theresienstadt. They included elderly people, decorated World War I veterans, and certain well-known figures.

Theresienstadt was deadly. About 34,000 Jews died in the ghetto. Nazi SS authorities deported about 88,000 people from Theresienstadt to other ghettos, camps, killing sites, and killing centers in German-occupied eastern Europe. Of these, only 3,500 people survived. In total, more than 75 percent of the Jewish prisoners sent to Theresienstadt died in the ghetto or after being deported from Theresienstadt to other sites.

Film Footage of Theresienstadt Before 1944

While the 1944 movie is the best-known film from Theresienstadt, it was not the only footage taken in the ghetto. Almost two years earlier, in fall 1942, a film crew took footage for a movie about a Jewish family’s journey from Prague to Theresienstadt. Jewish prisoner Irena Dodalová, who was an experienced filmmaker, directed the filming in the ghetto. Dodalová worked on the movie with SS officers and other imprisoned Jews, including artist Peter Kien. It is unclear exactly who in the Nazi regime ordered the creation of this 1942 film and why. A full copy of the film has never been found. However, some footage was smuggled out of the ghetto during World War II. This smuggled footage was rediscovered after the war. The footage from 1942 was not part of the 1944 film.

The Genesis of the 1944 Film About Theresienstadt

Nazi SS officer Hans Günther was the driving force behind the creation of the 1944 film about Theresienstadt. Günther was stationed in Prague.2Footnote 22 He oversaw the Theresienstadt ghetto and the deportation of Jews from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. His specific goal in creating the film is unclear, but the timing suggests it may have been related to other attempts to deceive the outside world, including a Red Cross visit planned for the summer. Günther likely ordered preparations for filming in late 1943, and the first day of production was set for sometime in January 1944.

On January 20, a Prague-based film crew took footage of a transport of 870 Jews arriving from the Westerbork transit camp in the German-occupied Netherlands. The film crew was from Aktualita, a privately-owned Czech film company that produced short films and newsreels. The camera crew included Karel Pečený (the owner of Aktualita), two cameramen (including Ivan Frič), two sound engineers, and a driver. They were sworn to secrecy by the Nazi authorities.

Photo

Jews upon arrival in Theresienstadt (Photo)

On January 20, 1944, a Czech film crew took footage of a transport of Jews arriving in the Theresienstadt ghetto. The transport had left the Westerbork transit camp two days earlier. On board the train were 870 people, including Dutch Jews and Jewish refugees from Germany and beyond. The train arrived in the vicinity of Theresienstadt on January 19, but Nazi authorities held the train overnight at the nearby Bauschowitz train station. They wanted to film the arrival of the deportees at Theresienstadt the following morning. This is a still shot from the January 20 footage. It shows prisoners of Theresienstadt wearing white aprons distributing food to the new arrivals. 

Credits:

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum

• View Archival Details

The film footage from January 1944 did not survive the war, but several still frames from the footage did. These still images show Jews arriving at the ghetto; being fed a meal by Theresienstadt prisoners wearing white aprons; and listening to a welcome speech. For unknown reasons, filming in Theresienstadt was paused, and this footage was not used in the final film.

Filming at Theresienstadt, August–September 1944

Production of the film about Theresienstadt resumed in summer 1944. This time, the film was put under the direction of Kurt Gerron. Gerron, a prisoner in Theresienstadt, had been a famous German Jewish actor and director before the war. He had been deported to Theresienstadt from Westerbork in February 1944. The film crew from Aktualita began taking footage on August 16. They continued filming off and on for the next month. They finished filming on September 11. 

Today, about 23 minutes of the original 90-minute film have survived. But even these fragments show the film’s deceptive intentions. The voice-over narration is in German. It uses a neutral, documentary tone. The script underscores the Nazi lie that life in the ghetto was productive and pleasant. This portrayal was staged to misrepresent the horrific reality of deprivation, inequality, and fear that characterized daily life in Theresienstadt. 

The fragments of the 1944 film show a “beautified” Theresienstadt. Many of the scenes were filmed in parts of the ghetto that had been built or renovated during the recent beautification campaign (Verschönerungsaktion). This beautification campaign took place before an official visit from the Red Cross on June 23, 1944. It had transformed part of Theresienstadt into a facade meant to make the ghetto area and life in the ghetto look far better than it was in reality. In the available film fragments, there are no guards, walls, or fences. And there is little indication that the people who appeared in the film are prisoners deprived of food, health care, and freedom.

For the most part, the people shown in the film footage are well-dressed, groomed, and appear healthy. In many scenes, they are smiling, talking, or laughing. They also appear to intently work, read, or watch various artistic performances. The only clue that the people in the film are Jewish is the Star of David badges that appear on their clothing.

The surviving clips include footage of men and women of all ages (including elderly people) relaxing, reading, playing chess, knitting, doing calisthenics, and drawing. Children eat buttered bread, play in a wading pool and on a playground, rock on rocking horses, and race each other. Adults and some children work in factories and workshops welding, sewing, and assembling purses. The film includes scenes of a medical procedure and of a clean and calm hospital with nurses and doctors. One longer clip shows children performing the children’s opera Brundibár. There are also clips of an orchestra performance and a soccer match.

The Fate of the Cast: Deportations from Theresienstadt, Fall 1944

After filming completed in September, the SS resumed deportations from the Theresienstadt ghetto. On September 28, 1944, the SS began deporting approximately 18,000 Jews from Theresienstadt to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. There, most of the deportees were murdered upon arrival in gas chambers. Many of the people who appear in the film were among those deported. The last transport to Auschwitz left Theresienstadt on October 28, 1944. On board was the film’s director Kurt Gerron. He was murdered upon arrival at Auschwitz.

Screening the Film

Even though filming ended in September, Aktualita did not finish production until March 1945. The following month, the film was shown several times to small groups. This included an April 6 screening in Prague for Swiss representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and SS officers. There were also screenings in the ghetto on April 16. This screening was attended by SS officers. Other attendees at the screenings included Benjamin Murmelstein (the chairman of the Jewish Council of Elders); Rudolf Kasztner (a Hungarian Jewish leader); and, probably, Benoît Musy (a Swiss racecar driver whose father was a politician). Murmelstein, Kasztner, and Musy were all involved in negotiations with the SS related to the fate of the Jews still imprisoned in Theresienstadt.  

The screenings of the film took place just weeks before the end of World War II in Europe. The film likely had little, if any, effect on the course of the Holocaust or the fate of the prisoners remaining in the Theresienstadt ghetto.