Article:
A Travelling Archive: Tracing Soviet Liberation Footage

Author(s): Schmidt, FabianEbbrecht-Hartmann, Tobias

Abstract

The study delves into the image migration of liberation films shot by Soviet camera teams in the concentration camps Auschwitz and Majdanek. Scattered and incomplete, these films pose challenges for scholars seeking origin, context, and migration paths. For this exploration, the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘Visual History of the Holocaust’ (VHH) marked a watershed moment. Through digitization and computer aided film analysis, VHH compiled and categorized Allied liberation films, including footage previously unknown to the public. This facilitated a nuanced understanding of how footage migrated in various versions and hence will help to explore its historical significance. The project linked the original liberation footage with its use in early documentaries, revealing how compilation films functioned as carriers for dispersed archives worldwide. In case of the Soviet liberation materials, much of the iconic footage only survived in early compilations like OSWIECIM and MAJDANEK. However, comparisons between newly acquired and known footage allows reconstructing the missing archival records to a certain extent. Geopolitical challenges limited access to certain film versions, emphasizing the importance of external research for completing the archival records. Despite these obstacles, the VHH project showcases how technology and comprehensive analyses transform the study of historical film footage, unveiling layers of untapped cinematic memory.

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BibTex
Schmidt, Fabian; Ebbrecht-Hartmann, Tobias: A Travelling Archive: Tracing Soviet Liberation Footage. In: Research in Film and History, Jg. (2025), Nr. 6, S. 1-29. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/23564.
@ARTICLE{Schmidt2025,
 author = {Schmidt, Fabian and Ebbrecht-Hartmann, Tobias},
 title = {A Travelling Archive: Tracing Soviet Liberation Footage},
 year = 2025,
 doi = "\url{http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/23564}",
 editor = {Tcherneva, Irina and Moutier-Bitan, Marie and Pozner, Valèrie},
 address = {Bremen},
 journal = {Research in Film and History},
 number = 6,
 pages = {1--29},
}
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