Soviet Film Footage and Professional Practices (1941–1945)

The documentary footage taken by the Soviets as they uncovered war crimes in the USSR, the Baltic states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary reveals a seminal tension between the media coverage of acts of violence and the expert use of images as evidence. Through an examination of professional, institutional and social constraints under which filmmakers operated, thie article delineates an intermediary space between the orders issued by central authorities and individual intentions – a space where interactions with bystanders, victims and witnesses were codified by the profession.