Memory of the Camps

In 1945, British forces approach Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Producer Sidney Bernstein working for the Ministry of Information, leads a film crew to document the German atrocities. The project is called German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. He would recruit his friend Alfred Hitchcock to help create the film, but it gets suspended in the murky cold-war politics after the fighting. The footage was used in Death Mills (1945) and Memory of the Camps (1984). Eventually, the Imperial War Museum decided to expand on the 1984 version to complete the original plan for the movie.

This is an important project. It's important to keep revisiting it over the years. More than this film alone, it's more important to maintain and preserve the endless hours of unused footage. This is the video evidence of the actual truth. From the first rumors of the camps, the deniers were out ready to dispute them. Without the original film stock, they would have a lot more ammunition. As long as the physical evidence exists, the deniers are relegated to the fringe.

70 years on and not a day goes past that I do not give a thought for the horror and sheer misery the individuals ripped from their lives and thrown into the hell that was the concentration camps. How did this happen? The images shown in this documentary should be shown to every child in every school across the globe. This way something like this might never happen again. Sadly I feel that this is nothing short of a pipe dream as we humans have a tenancy to forget history to attempt to make new history which inevitably makes the past look like child's play. For all humans sake inhumane treatment of our fellow man should never be this barbaric ever again. My thoughts are that the quote that by gods grace we will learn is nothing more than lip service as a species domination is all some want and strive for. Those of us who strive for peace and fairness for all need to always aware for the next maniacal leader capable of such horror and end their reign before it gets started.

I hope we can be better people because of this film, but I fear that as time goes on, the impact of these atrocities fade. It's important to remind ourselves how not to be.

This must be shown at every schools.There is a trend among new generation worshipping hitler without knowing actual history.Such cruel personalities must be hated

It was difficult to watch. Over the decades, I think most of us have seen snippets of many of the scenes. However this is an important compilation of much longer and fuller scenes, as well as many we have not seen.

It is most important that it is a filmed proof of the German Concentration Camps scope of brutality and inhumanity. More of the public should learn about this film and watch it.