Evening star., 1945-07-09
Moving Pictures
Shown Today at
Western High School

AS War Department motion
pictures of Nazi atrocities moved
today to Western High School,
attendance at the exhibition of
enlarged photomurals of Ger
man cruelty at the Library of
Congress passed the 40,000-mark.
Visitors to the library exhibition,
prepared by the st. Louis Post
Dispatch and being shown here
under joint sponsorship of The Star
and the Post-Dispatch, yesterday
totalled 3,457. This brought the
attendance since the show opened
June 30 up to 41,755.
The photomurals will be open to
the public in the ground-fioor GAL
leries of the library until at least
the end of this week. The building
is open today from 8 am. to 10 pm.
Big crowds were expected to see
the atrocity films as they moved
over to the auditorium at Western
High School, Thirty-fifth street and
Reservoir road NV, where they
were to be screened from 2 pm. to
about 10 pm.
The films opened at the Library
of Congress along with the photo
murals, and now are running at
public schools. They will be shown
tomorrow at Eastern High School,
East Capitol street at Seventeenth
street NE.
Pamphlet Explains Films.
A new pamphlet, issued by The
Star, entitled Lest We Forget" is
ready for distribution to those at
tending the show today at Western
High School, and to future audi
ences. 1t explains the purpose of the
showing, and briefly describes the
films.
The motion pictures. 1t is ex-
planned, were made by the War
Department as a part of the official
record of the war In Europe. They
were not made for public showing.
"They are not pleasant pictures.
But their private screening before
some groups of citizens led to an
official request by the War Writers
Board that the War Department re-
lease them to sponsors in various
communities throughout the coun-
try.
First Shown In st. Louis.
"They were first shown publicly
in st. Louis under the sponsorship
of the st. Louis Post-Dispatch in
with a display of life
size murals of selected still pictures
taken mostly from the films. The
reaction of the public there seemed
q convincing demonstration of the
of exhibiting both the
murals and the films elsewhere.
The murals are now on exhibition,
under the joint auspices of The Eve
ming Star, and the Post-Dispatch,
at the Library of Congress.
THE films are being shown in
in various public school
under the sponsorship
of The Star with the sanction of
the Board of Education, and the
District Recreation Board. No chill
dren under is years old are ad-
"The pictures are being shown
in the belief that our people here
at home, the fathers and mothers
and loved ones of the men who
helped to win the war against Ger
many, will, in seeing them, obtain
better idea of why this war had
to be fought.
Teach Grim Lesson.
"They are shown In the belief
that the pictures themselves teach
a grim lessen against war. And
they are shown in the belief that
those who see them will realize the
extent to which the German people
in giving way to race and religious
prejudice, the persecution of minor
tiles, and the lust for conquest, de-
based themselves along with the
pitiful victims of their atrocities.
The first reels are devoted toI
scenes in connection with the Ger
man atrocities, in concentration
camps and elsewhere.
THE second film-'Your Job In
Germany'-is an indoctrination pic
ture, prepared for American soldiers
in advance of their occupation of
Germany. This film, also, was not
designed for civilians here at home.
Although 1t may be subject to the
merited criticism of being an over
simpliflcation of history, it is essen
TALLY sound. 1t congresses within
a few hundred feet of film a moral
that is not subject to contradiction.
There should be another picture