Summary Of The Film Kinderblock 66: The Return To Buchenwald

Zachary Jaglowski
Prof. Ghen Zando-Dennis
Media Literacy
Cinematheque # 2

The film, Kinderblock 66: The Return to Buchenwald is not just the account of four men who returned to Buchenwald, it is the story of the 1000's of boys who were imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp called Kinderblock 66. The four survivors tell the story for the 1000s of boys who survived and those who unfortunately died. It's a powerful story of the survival and humanity. I have seen movies and was taught in history class about the World War II and the Nazi's concentration camps, however, this film documentary stands alone in its telling of the children of the Holocaust and the humanity of a group of men that made a difference in their young lives. Who

The film is narrated by Liev Schreiber and the survivor were interviewed about their personal experiences at Buchenwald. Each told of their trepidations and the evil horrid acts and lewdness at Nazi controlled Buchenwald concentration camp, which was a one of the worst Nazi camps in history. The four men, tell how the Jewish people and other prisoners were marched from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, where they were forced into hard cruel labor. These marches were called death marches and many did not survive the march. At the camp many died from starvation, disease and brutality of the Nazi guards. Many who left behind children, now orphans of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, as the years went by, so did the number of orphans as well as the numbers of boys who were sent to Buchenwald from the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Poland and camps at Aushitz. The German Communist-led underground, led by Antonin Kalina, at Buchenwald saw a sudden arrival of children orphaned because their parents were killed by the Nazi's, or died in the camps from starvation or diseases. Kalina and the others decided to establish a block just children. They moved the children in barracks in a section of camp far enough away from the central camp so as the Nazi guards couldn't come for the children. They called it Block 66 or Kinderblock

The producers had accurate accounts from survivors, visited the location, and made sure their historical facts were correct. They also used visual images to convey the words - the words of the survivors. Photos and footage was used to help visualize Walters research text. According Grossberg's book, Making Sense of the Media, in Chapter 6, The Interpretative of Meaning, he explains had "content analysis" is an important method of communicating the meaning of a particular medium (Grossberg). In this case using images such as pictures and historical footage to represent the spoken words of the survivors, therefore creating a more visual representation of the story. This representation of the material is extremely important in a documentary, like Kinderblock 66, which uses personal reflection and historic events to unveil such a powerful story. Cohen captured his audience by focusing on the four men’s stories, and filming their powerful account of the events that happened at Buchenwald. Watching the film made me feel like I was the interviewer and the picture and narrative helped to explain a lot that I didn’t