History Essay
To what extent is Bernstein’s documentary film reliable?
Sidney Bernstein’s film, German Concentration Camps Factual Survey is reliable to a moderate extent in portraying the treatment of inmates, attitudes of German civilians and actions of the allied soldiers. The film tries to depict as accurately as possible the horrors that occurred in the Nazi concentration camps during the liberation through the lenses of British, US and Soviet camera soldiers. The documentary uses a variety of shots and audio voiceovers to describe the treatment of inmates by their German overseers, the attitudes of the German people as well as the response of the Allied soldiers, however does have contrasting sources.
The depiction of the treatment …show more content…
In the documentary, the Germans are portrayed as in denial, indifferent and supportive of the camps. The film shows footage of cheerful civilians as they march to Dachau, with a voiceover saying “Germans knew about Dachau but did not care.”, once again showing only the indifferent and uncaring attitudes of the Germans. However, Sidney Bernstein was the Head of Film at a unit charged with creating propaganda videos, so the accuracy of the chosen footage could be deemed unreliable. Bernstein was also Jewish, thus creating a more personal bias in the creation of the documentary, as his emotions could have played a part in his documentary. The film doesn’t mention any of the German citizens who did help the Jews avoid death camps, an example being Oskar Schindler. Schindler was a wealthy German who employed his Jewish workers in factories that aided in the war effort, instructing them to make faulty products. He created his famous “Schindler’s List” of 1100 Jews who he deemed vital to the functioning of the factory, saving them from being sent to death camps, as they were seen as a benefit to the German war effort. He also used black market gifts and bribes to save workers from being forcibly sent to concentration camps. As the film only …show more content…
The allied soldiers are put into the limelight as heroic figures that deeply cared for the wellbeing of the Jewish inmates. Anita Laske-Walsh, a Jewish woman at Bergen Belsen said “every British soldier looked like a god to us” glorifying the actions of the soldiers with others also describing them as angels. However, governments were said to have known about the Nazi camps from as early as July 1944 but chose to not do anything, as well as not including information about the rapes committed by the Soviet soldiers. With Bernstein being head of the propaganda unit, including such information would be detrimental to the war effort in the Allied Nations and create distrust between the British and the Soviets. One survivor, Helena Citronova said “We thought if we didn’t die of the Germans, we’d die of the Russians.” This sort of information contrasts with Bernstein’s portrayal of the Allies, who were much more angelic and moral. As Bernstein focused on glorifying and depicting the allied soldiers as heroic beings, without including any information on the wrong doings done by soldiers, this aspect is only reliable to a moderate degree as there is some corroborating evidence to support his
To what extent is Bernstein’s documentary film reliable?
Sidney Bernstein’s film, German Concentration Camps Factual Survey is reliable to a moderate extent in portraying the treatment of inmates, attitudes of German civilians and actions of the allied soldiers. The film tries to depict as accurately as possible the horrors that occurred in the Nazi concentration camps during the liberation through the lenses of British, US and Soviet camera soldiers. The documentary uses a variety of shots and audio voiceovers to describe the treatment of inmates by their German overseers, the attitudes of the German people as well as the response of the Allied soldiers, however does have contrasting sources.
The depiction of the treatment …show more content…
In the documentary, the Germans are portrayed as in denial, indifferent and supportive of the camps. The film shows footage of cheerful civilians as they march to Dachau, with a voiceover saying “Germans knew about Dachau but did not care.”, once again showing only the indifferent and uncaring attitudes of the Germans. However, Sidney Bernstein was the Head of Film at a unit charged with creating propaganda videos, so the accuracy of the chosen footage could be deemed unreliable. Bernstein was also Jewish, thus creating a more personal bias in the creation of the documentary, as his emotions could have played a part in his documentary. The film doesn’t mention any of the German citizens who did help the Jews avoid death camps, an example being Oskar Schindler. Schindler was a wealthy German who employed his Jewish workers in factories that aided in the war effort, instructing them to make faulty products. He created his famous “Schindler’s List” of 1100 Jews who he deemed vital to the functioning of the factory, saving them from being sent to death camps, as they were seen as a benefit to the German war effort. He also used black market gifts and bribes to save workers from being forcibly sent to concentration camps. As the film only …show more content…
The allied soldiers are put into the limelight as heroic figures that deeply cared for the wellbeing of the Jewish inmates. Anita Laske-Walsh, a Jewish woman at Bergen Belsen said “every British soldier looked like a god to us” glorifying the actions of the soldiers with others also describing them as angels. However, governments were said to have known about the Nazi camps from as early as July 1944 but chose to not do anything, as well as not including information about the rapes committed by the Soviet soldiers. With Bernstein being head of the propaganda unit, including such information would be detrimental to the war effort in the Allied Nations and create distrust between the British and the Soviets. One survivor, Helena Citronova said “We thought if we didn’t die of the Germans, we’d die of the Russians.” This sort of information contrasts with Bernstein’s portrayal of the Allies, who were much more angelic and moral. As Bernstein focused on glorifying and depicting the allied soldiers as heroic beings, without including any information on the wrong doings done by soldiers, this aspect is only reliable to a moderate degree as there is some corroborating evidence to support his