New Colour Film on YouTube

[Alexander Zöller]

The eighth one from the bottom in the listing "More Added 27/08/2007" has near the end several scenes of mass executions in Russia, and that makes me wonder if these "news reels" were for public release. Perhaps they were intended for "Official Use Only" and to be viewed by the uniformed military and not by civilians.

This video, like most of the others linked to above, is strung together from various sources, including bits from "Panorama" and material filmed by Hans Bastanier, a war correspondent.

The mass execution scenes were filmed in Pancevo, Serbia, on April 22, 1941. These were certainly not meant to be included in any newsreel, but I forget whether they are "private footage" or possibly a film commissioned by a unit or authority.

EDIT: 1942 -> 1941

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks for the confirmation, Alexander. The people being shot and hanged were probably partisans or hostages. I do not think Pancevo, located across the Danube from Belgrade, was the site for executing Jews. But hostages were executed there.

[Alexander Zöller]

Yes, 36 hostages were sentenced to death, 18 were hanged and 14 shot (another four had already been shot on the previous day) in retaliation for two German soldiers being killed/severely wounded a few days earlier. I made a typo, though: this occured on April 22, 1941 - previous post edited accordingly.

There was at least one war correspondent, Gerhard Gronefeld, present. See http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/ba006080/index.html.

I'm not aware of any color footage of executions of Jews. David Irving claims that Walter Frentz took color slides of the shootings he attended together with Himmler outside Minsk in August 1941, and showed them to Rudolf Schmundt; Schmundt suggested that Frentz promptly destroy them.

[i.spring]

who is Rudolf Schmundt ?
and where did you read that about walter frentz? is there any where good on the internet with info on frentz. Thanks. Ian

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, 36 hostages were sentenced to death, 18 were hanged and 14 shot (another four had already been shot on the previous day) in retaliation for two German soldiers being killed/severely wounded a few days earlier. I made a typo, though: this occured on April 22, 1941 - previous post edited accordingly.

There was at least one war correspondent, Gerhard Gronefeld, present. See http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/ba006080/index.html.

I'm not aware of any color footage of executions of Jews. David Irving claims that Walter Frentz took color slides of the shootings he attended together with Himmler outside Minsk in August 1941, and showed them to Rudolf Schmundt; Schmundt suggested that Frentz promptly destroy them.

Very interesting, Alexander, very interesting, indeed! Many years ago I bought microfilms of all of the German military and political records that pertain to Yugoslavia, 1941-45. I remember reading in the various Kriegstagebücher und Anlagen of the Militärbefehlshaber Serbien about all of the hostage executions carried out there in retaliation for the murder of German soldiers, the SFK, RSK, and Nedic state guard personnel by the Partisans and the sogenannt "illegal" Chetnik bands. It seemed like never a day passed by without 50 to 100 hostages being shot in the various cities and towns in Serbia. In September-October 1941, some 3,300 were executed in just a few weeks. And you know what? It eventually worked. Tito took his main partisan bands out of Serbia and moved them to Bosnia, Hercegovina and Croatia. There were still a few smaller partisan bands and the "illegal" Chetniks that remained, but the ambushes and murdering of German soldiers gradually diminished, at least until spring 1944. This is one of the few examples in modern history where a harsh occupation policy worked and caused insurgents to fold their tents and go elsewhere.

--BHS1956

[Alexander Zöller]

who is Rudolf Schmundt ?
and where did you read that about walter frentz? is there any where good on the internet with info on frentz. Thanks. Ian

Hi Ian,

Schmundt was Hitler's chief Army adjutant. He was one of the victims of the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Schmundt.

The Frentz story is found here and here. I'm afraid there are no extensive online sources about Walter Frentz; the best book available is Das Auge des Dritten Reiches published by Deutscher Kunstverlag.

The right-wing Arndt Verlag has also published a number of volumes comprising Frentz' color slides.

[Larry deZeng]

Here are a few (very, very few!) randomly selected examples of hostage executions in Serbia, taken from the microfilmed records mentioned earlier:

14 Mar 43: 2 German Hipo men (Wachmeister) and 1 Feldgendarm ambushed and killed in Gornji Dubac/25 km south of Čačak while procuring grain. 2 other Hipo men (Wachmeister) were captured, but the enemy stripped them of their uniforms and let them go. On 19 March, Kdr.Gen.u.Bfh.in Serbien ordered FK 610 to carry out the immediate execution of 150 reprisal hostages (previously arrested “suspects”), half Chetniks and half Communists, and the village burned to the ground. (249/091, 097)
26 May 43: Kdr.Gen.u.Bfh.in Serbien ordered FK 816 (Šabac) to shoot 20 reprisal prisoners for the murder or kidnapping of 2 Hipo Wachmeister of Russian ethnicity (probably from the White Russian community living in Serbia). (249/385)
17 Jun 43: 20 civilians suspected of aiding the guerrillas were executed by the Hipo in Užice. (249/646)
19-24 Jun 43: telephone agreement and final order between Kdr.Gen.u.Bfh.in Serbien and HSSPF Serbien for the execution of 575 reprisal prisoners for the ambush of a livestock and grain procurement detachment from 7. Hipo-Kp. near Suvaja – Radojkovici in the Kruševac district (8 killed, 7 wounded). Execution to be carried out by the Kreiskommandantur in Kruševac and then publicized throughout Serbia. (249/559, 686)
23 Aug 43: a Polizei detachment consisting of 4 Reichsdeutsche police, 24 Moslem Hipo police and 10 SSW men in Stragari/25 km NW of Kragujevac was attacked by 500 Chetniks; after a 4-hour fire fight, 3 police dead, 15 Hipo and SSW men missing and Stragari burned down. Punitive measures are underway. (253/181)
14 Sep 43: Chetniks murdered an unspecified number of men from the 9. Hipo-Kp. in Kola Glava near Šabac; in reprisal, FK 816 Šabac was ordered to execute 150 Chetnik hostages on 25 September. (253/350)

This sort of thing went on just about every day in wartime Serbia, and it was even worse to the north in Bosnia and Croatia.

--BHS1956

[navymech1125]

Wow

Great newsreels thanks for sharing..

[i.spring]

just spotted a few new ones added:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw45Z...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPaz4...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykYw...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP0mX...e=user&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2LUVMkMxnA

Ian

[i.spring]

uh, this one is brilliant, just found it now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_t6fDnHpU

this movie was just added only 2 days ago ! :-)

[clevischi]

Very nice movies, thanks all for posting it!

[Elwyn]

In this last roll, very pleasant find of an obscure general: Hans Stieler v Heydekampf!!

Cheers
Elwyn

[Napalm]

Lots have been removed...

[i.spring]

OMG your tottaly right but the good thing is, almost all of those videos were copied onto hardisk by me and a few other members, so they will be back up soon
Ian