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RECOLLECTIONS

‘The Unknown War’ a 20-part
documentary on the years 1941-45 .

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“No nation in the niftcis of battle ever suffered more than the
Soviet Union in the course of the Second World War. At least 20
million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms
were burned or sacked. A third of the nation’s territory, including
nearly two-thirds of its industrial base, was turnéd into a waste-
land— a loss equivalent to the destruction of this country (U.S.)

John F. Kennedy
American University’
June 10, 1963.

shook the air. Two post-second
ar generations are growing up
ho were never made to exper-
=e the terrors of that war, who
f =e Met the men and women
ho paid with their blood and
: lives. for the defeat of naziism.
Now some will have the oppor-
‘tunity to learn of this by viewing a
int 20-part documentary film epic cal-
onled “The Unknown War,”’ pro-
uced by the Central Documen-
Film Studio in Moscow for
Air Time International, an
yo American company.
. Paradoxical though it may
Inseem, the Second World War is in

an. A third of a century has passed
eft the last guns of World War
I

. Top: At the official premiere of
«fhe Unknown War” at Kennedy
Centre in Washington. William Av-
erell an American statesman, Fred
‘weiner, vice-president of Air Time
international, and film director
Seda Pumpyanskaya who made
the program’s two films on Stalin-
2 grad.

sn | Bottom: Director of the program,
the late Roman Karmen and U.S.
actor Burt Lancaster who narrates

| the documentary.

some respects indeed an un-
known war to many peaple in
North America. They have never
heard of the Battles of Leningrad
or Stalingrad, never heard of the
extreme trials and deprivation
suffered by the Soviet people and
their decisive contributions to the
defeat of Hitler’s army.

The history of this battle also

‘‘Mercy of any kind is a crime
against the. German nation,”
declared a confidential directive
issued to the troops by the Nazi
command.

came as a revelation to Fred B.
Weiner, vice-president of Air
Time International, who visited
Moscow at the end of 1976. As he
later said, what he learned over-
whelmed him. Air Time Interna-
tional invited Soviet film people to
make a 20-part documentary pro-
gram called ‘“‘The Unknown
War’’ for TV viewing.

Separate one-hour long films

‘ deal with the crucial events and

battles. The first, ‘‘June 22, 1941”
the day Hitler’s armies attacked
the Soviet Union. The second is
“The Battle of Moscow’’. Two
films are devoted to the. ‘‘Battle
for Stalingrad’, known as the
turning point in the war. The bat-
tle for Kursk is shown in ‘The
World’s Greatest Tank Battle’’.
Some others are: ‘‘To the East’’
about the contribution made by
the men and women of the home
front, ‘‘The Partisans’, ‘The
War in the Arctic’, ‘‘The Battle
of the ‘Caucasus’’, ‘‘ The Libera-
tion of the Ukraine’’, ‘‘ The Liber-
ation of Byelorussia’ and ‘*The
Allies’, about the joint struggle
waged by the member-countries
of the anti-Hitler coalition and
‘*The Battle for Berlin’’.

Roman Karmen, the most
prominent Soviet documentalist
was the program’s artistic direc-
tor, and the maker of the opening

de.

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Top: On Noveriber 19, 1942 the thunder of a paras tald down by the Soviet army’s eivaie rocket
artillery signalled the powerful offensive at Stalingrad. The defeat of the nazi army there marked the
beginning of a radical turning-point in the Second World War.

Bottom: Military parade on Red Square in Moscow, November 7, 1941. Right from the parade the troops
marched to the front on the outskirts of Moscow.

and closing films of the series. A
frontline newsreel cameraman,
he filmed both the Battle of Mos-
cow and the capture of Berlin.
To meet the deadline the pro-
duction crew worked day and
night under his direction for a year

The siege of Leningrad lasted
900 days and nights. One in
every three of the city’s inhabit-
ants died of starvation or was
killed in the nazi air raids and
artillery shelling. The city never
surrendered.

and a half. The footage had been
filmed and edited — all that re-
mained to be done was to record
the text — when Roman Karmen
died in May of 1978.

Frontline newsreel cameramen
were the main makers of the film.
Two hundred and fifty were in ac-
tion working on all battle fronts.
One in every five of them failed to
retum home. _

Roman Karmen was one of the

- 250.' Another was Boris Pum-

pyansky, who was killed in ac-
tion. His widow, Seda, directed
two films in the series.

During their work on ‘‘The
Unknown War’’ members of the
production crew viewed about
9,000,000 feet of wartime news-
reels including those made by the
Germans and the Allies. This is
where the bulk of the program
came ‘from.

The Americans also played a
part in producing the documen-
tary..Film director Isaac Klein-
erman, acted as consultant, Rod
McKuen,: composer, poet and
songwtiter wrote the lyrics and

documentary:

music for the song in the last pro-

gram.

A special role was played by ac-
tor Burt Lancaster who acts as
narrator. He told Roman Karmen
that he saw it as his duty as a

member of the older generation to.

tell the truth now about the war of
the Soviet Union against nazi
Germany. At first he was afraid of
being ‘‘dragged into propagan-
da’’. But having visited the battle
sites and learned about the appal-
ling trials, sufferings and courage
of the Soviet-people he accepted
the part.

The documentary was pre-
miered in the National Archives
and the J.F. Kennedy Centre for
the Performing Arts in Washing-
ton, it has since played on many
TV stations in the U.S. and is be-
ing circulated in high schools and
universities. Dozens of other
countries including the Federal
Republic of Germany, Greece,

Austria, Sweden, Iran and
Ecuador have also bought the
program.

In Canada, CHCH-TV in Ham-
ilton is the only station the
Tribune is aware of that is show-
ing ‘*The Unknown War’’. Even
there it has been sporadic because;
of program timing difficulties, the

station reports. CBC says it has -

no plans to show the series.

It would be very worthwhile for
the program to get wide viewing
in. Canada particularly given our

country’s involvement in NATO.

and its apparent indecisiveness
over production of the neutron
bomb. It would be very worth-
while for Canadians to hear what
Leonid Brezhnev has to say dur-
ing his interview shown in the

‘*That war carried off 20 million
Soviet lives. Our people will
never forget it! Not only those
who, like myself, went through
the crucible of the war from the
beginning to the end will remem-
ber it, but also the new genera-
tions born since the war. The
memory of this war urges us to be
vigilant towards any new
schemes or intrigues by aggres-
sive forces and, most important, it
urges us to work tirelessly and
consistently for a durable peace,
for an end to the arms race, for
peaceful cooperation among
countries. We do not want the
young inhabitants of our planet to
have to live through what our
generation lived through in the
war years.”

May 9, 1945 Soviet soldiers point
nazi banners to the ground during
the Victory Day Parade in Mos-
cow’s Red Square.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 16, 1979—Page 9