The Refugee - Today and Tomorrow

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 4th Year

Issue

Issue No.

9

Date Released

1938

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1The Refugee - Today and Tomorrow

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: Bringing to the screen the first factual camera story of one of the most difficult world problems today - that of the pitiable victims of war and racial persecution. ... The March of Time cameramen have been at work for the past two years recording this appalling but true story of the world’s refugees. The film reveals the ecvens in both Eastern and Western nations, which have forced six million defenceless people from their homes and jobs, turning them into helpless wanderers, dependent upon the sympathy and charity of other countries. It points out, first, that as a new year in the world’s history begins, the armed forces of aggressor nation Japan are driving deeper and deeper into the heart of old China, and that in the wake of this army is left another - the pathetic army of China’s refugee people. In China, also, the 50,000 White Russians, who only 20 years ago were forced to flee the Bolshevist revolution, are fearing that once again they will have to become exiles.

On the other side of the world, 10,000 miles from China, are the refugees from the Spanish war, seeking shelter and food in France, where the homeless and oppressed have long found sympathy and help.
But there is, as this film protrays, another kind of refugee in Europe today - the victim not of warfare, but of intolerance. Fleeing from the racial, religious, and political persecution of Nazi Germany, 200,000 have already crossed the borders into Holland, Belgium, France and Switzerland. From the well-documented testimony of German refugees comes the story of Hitler’s hate and intolerence towards the Jew, forming one of the blackest chapters in modern history. The March of Time points out that relentless Nazi persecution has struck cruel blows upon 10,000 of Germany’s professors and scientists, that the music of all Jewish composers, including some of the world’s greatest masterpieces, has been confiscated, that literary works which do not come into line with Nazi doctrines are seized and burned - regardless of their value by the standards of the rest of the world.

For no greater crime than being born a Jew, thousands of men have been subjected to an inhumand existence in Nazi concentration camps, where they are herded as animals, and fed worse than animals.
Meanwhile other nations work to provide a refuge for those people who are strong enough and lucky enough to escape the persecutions of their native land. Switzerland’s Refugee Hostels give temporary shelter to any who can climb the mountain trails and evade Germany’s frontier patrol. In spite of necessarily restricted immigration, boatloads of Jewish children have arrived in England, where generous contributions are being made for their care and education. And nowhere in the world does the German exile find more sympathy and help than in the United States.

In London an international commission headed by George Rublee has been trying to find a permanent home for these refugees. "The Refugee - Today and Tomorrow" shows how this commission is negotiating for the hundreds of thousands of helpless people still left in Germany, how they are studying the present Jewish settlement in Palestine as the only successful example of large scale colonistaion in recent years. Exclusive March of Time pictures from Palestine reveal that 75,000 Jews have brought capital and enterprise to this land, that they have built large factories there, giving employment to thousands, that they have already turned vast acres of undeveloped countryside into fertile farmlands. In this memorable film, the immensity of the refugee problem is discussed in all its phases. The March of Time journalists acknowledge the fact that democratic nations are speaking out more loudly than ever against the tyranny and oppression facing these persecuted peoples. And in the light of this reaction "The Refugee - Today and Tomorrow" considers the possibility of solving this ever-growing problem.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.5 No.5 of the US edition.

Keywords

Displaced persons; War and conflict

Written sources

Fielding, Raymond. The March of Time 1935-1951 (New York, 1978)   p236.
The March of Time Promotional Material   Lobby Card, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Camera

James S. Hodgson

Production Co.

Time Inc.