Julien Bryan films the German invasion of Warsaw in 1939

Julien Bryan was an important US documentary filmmaker and photographer who captured the everyday life, work, and culture of individuals and communities in many countries around the globe. 

Bryan was filming in western Europe in the summer of 1939. In the first week of September 1939, Bryan made his way to Warsaw just as all foreign reporters, diplomats, and Polish government officials were fleeing the capital in the wake of the German invasion. One of the few foreign photographers left in the city, he risked his life to record besieged Warsaw. This image shows him filming during the German invasion of Warsaw in 1939.