One thing Nazi Germany achieved was to turn the rest of humanity in to Basil Fawlty . Even today it's impossible to even think of the word " German " without thinking of at least one vision of the second world war . One of the many unfortunate things about this is how much it confuses historical perspective . Before the war the Germans were perceived as being cultured and morally upstanding people not the goose stepping mass murderers they were thought of after the death camps were discovered . There is a common myth that the war started as a crusade against Nazism by the democracies of the world . This is erroneous since the only reason Britain and France declared war on Germany was that it had invaded Poland . There is effectively no difference between fighting Germany in 1914 than in fighting Germany in 1939
It's important to remember this when watching THE RELIEF OF BELSEN . British forces found the camp in the Spring of 1945 . There had be some vague reports of Soviet soldiers finding a terrible camp of some kind in the Polish town of Auschwitz but this wasn't widely reported and should it be since the USSR had millions upon millions of its citizens killed in bloody battles such Stalingrad and Kursk or had entire towns wiped off the face of the Earth and its inhabitants murdered . The Soviets themselves weren't above cynicism themselves as their role - or rather lack of it - in the Warsaw uprising showed . They might have been allies during the war but the end of the war was in sight and the Soviets obviously weren't going to remain allies for much longer
The story is told through a bunch of medics led by Lt Col James Johnston who have stumbled upon a prison camp at Belsen . It's like no other prison camp ever seen by British forces since it contains civilians , thousands of them , all of them on the brink of death . Their ignorance and shock as to why and how the Nazis are doing this soon gives way to the frustration of how can they save the wretched survivors ? Hundreds upon hundreds still die every day . What can save these people from the worst atrocity inflicted upon humans by other humans
It's well told mixing footage such as Richard Dimbleday's famous commentary along with the drama and the drama does throw a few things that shouldn't be forgotten such as instead of the SS guards being put in a POW camp they were repatriated to the Eatern front and just out a last bit of spite the Nazis sabotaged the camp generator as they left . There are a few flaws to it . One is that it isn't really emphasised enough the effects of feeding a human being starved for years . It was common during this period for liberators to feed the inmates of these camps on their field rations only to watch them die in agony . There's also a blatant lack of budget which means everything is shown in medium shot thereby saving on sets and extras . There's also the irritating director's trick of using the camera lens zoom in and out which might work in a Robert Altman Hollywood satire but not here
It's important to remember this when watching THE RELIEF OF BELSEN . British forces found the camp in the Spring of 1945 . There had be some vague reports of Soviet soldiers finding a terrible camp of some kind in the Polish town of Auschwitz but this wasn't widely reported and should it be since the USSR had millions upon millions of its citizens killed in bloody battles such Stalingrad and Kursk or had entire towns wiped off the face of the Earth and its inhabitants murdered . The Soviets themselves weren't above cynicism themselves as their role - or rather lack of it - in the Warsaw uprising showed . They might have been allies during the war but the end of the war was in sight and the Soviets obviously weren't going to remain allies for much longer
The story is told through a bunch of medics led by Lt Col James Johnston who have stumbled upon a prison camp at Belsen . It's like no other prison camp ever seen by British forces since it contains civilians , thousands of them , all of them on the brink of death . Their ignorance and shock as to why and how the Nazis are doing this soon gives way to the frustration of how can they save the wretched survivors ? Hundreds upon hundreds still die every day . What can save these people from the worst atrocity inflicted upon humans by other humans
It's well told mixing footage such as Richard Dimbleday's famous commentary along with the drama and the drama does throw a few things that shouldn't be forgotten such as instead of the SS guards being put in a POW camp they were repatriated to the Eatern front and just out a last bit of spite the Nazis sabotaged the camp generator as they left . There are a few flaws to it . One is that it isn't really emphasised enough the effects of feeding a human being starved for years . It was common during this period for liberators to feed the inmates of these camps on their field rations only to watch them die in agony . There's also a blatant lack of budget which means everything is shown in medium shot thereby saving on sets and extras . There's also the irritating director's trick of using the camera lens zoom in and out which might work in a Robert Altman Hollywood satire but not here