The Death Mills
Directed by	Billy Wilder Hans Burger
Written by	Hans Burger
Editing by	Billy Wilder (supervisor)
Distributed by	United States Department of War
Release date(s)	1945
Running time	22 min.
Country	US
Language	English/German
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Death Mills, or Die Todesmühlen, is a 1945 American propaganda documentary film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by the United States Department of War. It was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. For the German version, Die Todesmühlen, Hans Burger is credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with the English-language version. Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born, Jewish-American journalist, screenwriter, film director, and producer whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. ... Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born, Jewish-American journalist, screenwriter, film director, and producer whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. ... Line drawing of the Department of Wars seal. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Much like American popular music, American cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring ghost named Casper With Rossellinis Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins. ... The Why We Fight Series depicts the Nazi propaganda machine. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born, Jewish-American journalist, screenwriter, film director, and producer whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. ... Line drawing of the Department of Wars seal. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Synopsis

The film opens with a note that the following is "a reminder that behind the curtain of Nazi pageants and parades was millions of men women and children were tortured to death - the greatest mass murder in human history" then fades into German civilians at Gardelegen carrying crosses to the local concentration camp. Gardelegen, a town of Germany, in Saxony-Anhalt, on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. ...

Most of the film is simply footage of the newly liberated camps over a score of stark classical music. The narrator notes that people of all nationalities were found in the camps, including people of all religious or political creeds. There is no mention of the particular fate of Jewish people. The films states that 20 million people were killed and describes many of the familiar aspects of the Holocaust, including the medical experiments and the gas chambers. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... ...

See also

• List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
• List of Holocaust films
• The Nuremberg Trials - Soviet film about the Nuremberg trials
• That Justice Be Done - American film about the Nuremberg trials

During (and immediately after) the war, in addition to the many private films created to help the war effort, many Allied countries had governmental or semi-governmental agencies commision propaganda and training films for home and foreing consumption. ... The is an index of all the films that deal with the Holocaust period in Europe approximately 1938-1945. ... The Süddeutsche Zeitung announces The Verdict in Nuremberg. ... That Justice Be Done was a propaganda film made in 1946 by the Office of War Information for the US Chief of Counsel at Nuremburg and the War Crimes Office of the JAG. The film opens with a shot of the Jefferson Monument and a voice over of Jefferson declaring... The Süddeutsche Zeitung announces The Verdict in Nuremberg. ...

External links

• Complete film at US Holocaust Museum
• Death Mills at the Internet Movie Database (English version)
• Todesmühlen, Die at the Internet Movie Database (German version)