Majdanek 1944 - Opfer und Täter (1986)

This documentary is the film record of one of the first Nazi war crimes trials, which was conducted while the war was still raging. Majdanek, a concentration and extermination camp located near Lublin, Poland, was erected in 1941 and liberated in July 1944. When the Soviet and Polish troops drove the Nazis out of the region, they uncovered the evidence of Nazi genocide. One month later, a joint Soviet-Polish commission heard evidence from survivors and witnesses of the atrocities that took place at Majdanek. Their testimony is preserved in this film. Bengt and Irmgard von zur Muhlen are German film archivists who unearthed a wealth of material in various Eastern bloc archives. Majdanek 1944 includes documentary material made available for the first time in the West.