Sous le Manteau
{{Short description|1948 documentary}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Italic title}}
Sous le Manteau (literally Under the Cloak; usually translated as Clandestinely) is a French documentary consisting of footage shot clandestinely by French officers held during World War II in Oflag XVII-A, a POW camp in northeastern Austria.
Background and filming
Oflag XVII-A was a prisoner-of-war camp operated by Nazi Germany in Austria, on the border of Czechoslovakia. Its 40 barracks housed five thousand French prisoners of war captured during the Battle of France.{{cite news|author=Christian Fraser |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-23423329|title=How French secretly filmed prison camp life in WWII |date=31 July 2013 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=9 April 2014}} According to Robert Christophe, in his making-of booklet on the film, Oflag XVII-A had a Gaullist resistance group called "La Maffia", which had ties to a French Resistance group (apparently the only such collaboration between prisoners outside France and resistance inside it), and thus acquired the materials for the camera (and supplies for escape attempts).{{cite journal|last=d'Hoop|first=Jean-Marie|year=1981|title=Propagande et attitudes politiques dans les camps de prisonniers: le cas des OFLAGs|journal=Revue d'histoire de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale|volume=31|issue=122|pages=3–26|jstor=25729552|language=French}}
Taking advantage of humanitarian packages from France, the prisoners smuggled in materials necessary for the construction and operation of a camera. Film was sent from France in packets with food for prisoners; they were hidden in sausages and other foods, and after being developed the negatives were hidden in the heels of the prisoners' boots (the footage documents such detail). Fourteen rolls were filmed by March 1945. The camera was made from a wooden box, which was hidden in a Larousse dictionary; the spine of this dictionary was capable of being opened like a shutter.
Content
The 30-minute film documents daily life in the camp, including a theater production, food distribution, as well as a surprise raid by the Nazi guards. The film even documents the digging of tunnels for several escape attempts.{{cite book|last=Hugon|first=Philippe|title=Memories solitaires et solitaires: Trajectories dun economist Du development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bsKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|year=2013|publisher=Kalahari|language=French|isbn=9782811110390|pages=13–}} One, of which parts are documented in the film, resulted in 132 prisoners escaping; only two made it back to France.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnet.com.au/french-WWII-P.O.W-built-hidden-camera-filmed-Nazis-339345103.htm |title=French soldiers held in a Nazi prison camp during World War II managed to smuggle in parts to construct a movie camera and film their escape attempt |work=CNET Australia |date=8 August 2013 |access-date=9 April 2014 |author=Michelle Starr }}
Legacy
After the camp was liberated by the Soviets the rolls were hidden in a mess tin and given to the French liaison officer for General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. A booklet by Christopher about the making of the film was published in 1948 by Éditions OPTA.{{cite book|last=Amar|first=Hanania Alain|editor1-last=Amar|editor1-first=Hanania Alain|editor2-last=Feral|editor2-first=Thierry|last3=Gillet|first3=Michel|first2=Jérôme |last2=Maucourant|title=Penser le nazisme: Eléments de discussion|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Tr6mF8HonUC&pg=PA12|date=1 April 2007|publisher=Editions L'Harmattan|language=French|chapter=Avant-propos: Penser le nazisme, mise en perspective|isbn=9782296168381|pages=7–13}}{{cite book|title=Une famille dans la guerre (1940–1945)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkPPijZr_8kC&pg=PA11|publisher=Editions L'Harmattan|language=French|isbn=9782296302075|page=11}} Sous le Manteau has been distributed by Armor Films, with commentary by Maurice Renault and Robert Christophe.{{cite book|publisher=WorldCat |title=Oflag XVII-A : sous le manteau |oclc = 691482395}}
The BBC's Christian Fraser described it as "so professional ... that on first viewing you would be forgiven for thinking it is a post-war reconstruction."
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pPkTNbBX1Y Footage]
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Category:Documentary films about World War II
Category:French black-and-white films
Category:French documentary films
Category:World War II films made in wartime
Category:Documentary films about detention