Wednesday 19 January 2011

Transport XX face to face


Some frames from this video:






'SlideShow' showing some 40 frames (with sound)  from the video "Transport XX face to face"



About this video
A short evocation of the TRANSPORT XX Installation in Brussels 2009, that confronted passers-by with 1200 portraits of Jews (from Belgium, Holland, and other countries) deported on this 20th train convoy from Belgium to Auschwitz on 19 April 1943. Many deportees managed to escape, among others when three young men stopped the convoy that night ...
A first edition of the film was published (see below) as "TRANSPORT XX - installation Brussels" via youtube.com/channel012.
Thank you: Marjan Verplancke and other co-workers of the Kazerne Dossin / Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance in Mechelen (Belgium) and project "Give them a Face".

The Kazerne Dossin digitalized the photo's of the Dossin prisoners, that mostly are from the "National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner's Police, individual files".
With the ‘Give Them a Face’ project the Kazerne Dossin aims to bring together as many portraits of deportees from the Dossin barracks in Mechelen as possible and give them back their face - and the memory alive.

Notes  (3)

1) Making of the film: Note that this movie originally started as pure registration - in a few 'long takes' - of these quite overwhelming visual impressions from my first encounter with this installation (not yet aware actually of the factual history of these portraits). Only the next day, after completing the capturing of 4 long takes while walking back and forth the rows of portraits  - did I read the caption halfway the installation, and first became aware of the background, more or less: that is, the history and 'identity' of the portraits and this 'transport'. This prompted the idea for this visual account with the superimposed montage of the imagery of two of the takes, combined with the ambient sound (with of the lowest levels of wind noise) of a third take.

2) A first edition of this film ("TRANSPORT XX - installation Brussels")  was published on 19 april 2009 via "channel012" at YouTube- and that version was also added in 2009 to the collection of the Dossin Barracks / Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (Mechelen, Belgium).

3) This 'final cut'  now named "Transport XX face to face" has some editing corrections and a new title and credits. This edition was first published October 2010 in the 7th round of the New Arrivals 2010 / 2011 of the dutch broadcaster 'NTR'.
(Also uploaded via Vimeo 2 days ago)


Update 20111215 credits / link info

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Michel,
thanks for your good work. I wanted to point you a small but significant detail: transport XX was the 1rst time where a special wagon (Sonderwagen) was added with 19 resistants and "jumpers" (18 men & 1 women) from previous transports. The wagon was located just before the last wagon with the guards. It is possible that they were marked with red paint on the back of their clothes in order to destroy them automatically on arrival at Auschwitz. The pictures of these 19 prisonners was excluded from the mural exposition outside Dossin Kaserne. In my opinion their pictures should be added as it is our duty to honor their memory.
Alain Blitz - Kibbutz Hasolelim, Israel - granson of Chaskel Feiwel Blitz, N0. 9 on the Sonderwagen of Transport XX