Death Mills

Death Mills(orDie Todesmühlen) is a 1945 American-German propaganda film directed byBilly Wilderand produced by theUnited States Department of War.The film was intended forGermanaudiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by theNazi regime.For the German version,Die Todesmühlen,Hanuš Burgeris credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with directing the English-language version; however, he later said that he didn't direct anything as "there was nothing to direct".

Death Mills
Death Mills
Directed by	Billy Wilder Hanuš Burger
Written by	Hanuš Burger
Edited by	Billy Wilder(supervisor)
Distributed by	United States Department of War
Release date	1945(1945)(Germany)
Running time	22 minutes
Countries	United States Germany
Languages	English German

The film is a much-abbreviated version ofGerman Concentration Camps Factual Survey,a 1945 British government documentary that was not completed until nearly seven decades later.

The German-language version of the film was shown in the US sector of West Germany in January 1946.

Synopsis

ABritish Armybulldozerpushes bodies into amass graveat Belsen, April 19, 1945.

The film opens with a note that the following is "a reminder that behind the curtain of Nazipageantsand parades was millions of men, women and children who were tortured to death – the greatest mass murder in human history, "then fades into German civilians atGardelegencarrying crosses to the local concentration camp.

Most of the film includes footage of the newly liberated camps over a score of stark classical music. The narrator notes that people of all nationalities were found in the camps, including people of all religious or political creeds. There is no mention of the particular fate ofJewish people.The film states that 20 million people were killed and describes many of the now familiar aspects of theHolocaust,including the medical experiments and the gas chambers.

The Orson Welles filmThe Strangeruses footage of this film during the scene where Edward G. Robinson explains to Mary about Franz Kindler's responsibility for the Holocaust. This film would be included as a supplement on the Kino Lorber Blu-Ray ofThe Stranger.

Concentration camps

American war crimes investigators questionIrmgard Huberat theHadamar Killing Facility,May 1945.

As Minister of Economics,Walther Funkaccelerated the pace of rearmament and as Reichsbank president banked for the SS thegoldringsofBuchenwaldvictims.

The images from the camps include shots of piles of skeletal corpses, naked skeletal survivors (often supported by fellow prisoners) together with footage of prosperous-looking German citizens being forced to observe their suffering. Some are also forced to carry the corpses to be buried, although most of this work was usually carried out by ex-camp guards (as atBelsen concentration camp).

There are shots of mass graves, as well as of individual burials, as atHadamar,now known to be aeuthanasiaorAction T4centre. Some of the footage appears to be of Soviet origin, and includes shots taken atMajdanek death campwhich was one of the first camps to be liberated in 1944 by theRed Army.There are shots of thecrematoriaat several camps, as well as the infamous slogans erected at the entrances of most camps, such asArbeit macht frei.

Lastly, the film shows the piles of stolen personal belongings of gassed victims, filmed by the Soviets when they liberatedAuschwitz,as well as by US troops atBuchenwald.They include piles of clothes, shoes, toys, wedding rings and gold teeth destined for the vaults of theReichsbank.

See also

• German Concentration Camps Factual Survey
• List of Holocaust films
• The Nuremberg Trials– Soviet film about theNuremberg trials
• That Justice Be Done– American film about theNuremberg trials

External links

• The short filmDeath Mills (english version)is available for free viewing and download at theInternet Archive.
• Die TodesmühlenatIMDb
• Complete film at US Holocaust Museum
• The Death MillsatAllMovie