# When was footage of Nazi death camps first released to the public?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-footage-of-nazi-death-camps-first-released-to-the-public/399976>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 13, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-footage-of-nazi-death-camps-first-released-to-the-public/399976 "2007-04-13T16:55:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-footage-of-nazi-death-camps-first-released-to-the-public/399976/1 "2007-04-13T16:55:02Z")

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All of that footage of concentration camp inmates taken after liberation, when/ how did the average American (Briton, Russian, German, etc) have the chance to see it? Even by modern standards alot of the footage is pretty graphic, could audiences have seen it in newsreel form in the '40s?

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-footage-of-nazi-death-camps-first-released-to-the-public/399976/2 "2007-04-13T17:10:02Z")

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[QUOTE=alphaboi867]  
All of that footage of concentration camp inmates taken after liberation, when/ how did the average American (Briton, Russian, German, etc) have the chance to see it? Even by modern standards alot of the footage is pretty graphic, could audiences have seen it in newsreel form in the '40s?  
[/QUOTE]

My mother recalls seeing it at the cinema:

[Here’s a clip of the Pathe News from 30/4/1945](http://www.britishpathe.com/thumbnails.php?id=22429&searchword=belsen&searchword=belsen)

[Here’s the original BBC radio report from Belsen](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/4445811.stm)