If there is any story to present the case that African-Americans are intentionally omitted from history, the film "Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II" is it.
The documentary, coproduced by award-winning film makers William Miles and Nina Rosemblum. which was broadcast on PBS on Wed., Nov. 11, tells the little-known story of a Black tank battalion, the 761st, which spearheaded Gen. George S. Patton's charge across Europe, and of fellow African- American soldiers from the 183rd Combat Engineer Corps.
Both units were the first to enter the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau to liberate the surviving Jews held in them. Yet the makers of the film "Patton" omitted them.
Recently, Miles and Rosenblum spoke to the AmNews at their Tribeca Film Center office about their 10 years of struggle to present this story to a wide television audience.
According to Miles, "Quite a few people in the 761st tried to get their story out. One man though of using Black History Month to go to libraries, schools and community groups. But nobody wanted to listen. One guy in Florida was very upset that he could not get this story out." Miles went on, "though he has been trying for years. So, back in '82 I promised them that one day we would make it work."
Asked why information of a famous African- American tank battalion was so effectively kept under wraps, Rosenblum said, "Army photographers went by the Black troops and didn't photograph them [in many instances]." As a result, "[It] compounded to create the history in which there is a complete lack of truth," she added.
But the truth came out In 1985 in an article in the New York Times. Miles said, "A White [Jewish] man was really upset that history was altered by people saying he was liberated by the Russians."
The Holocaust survivor. Benjamin Bender, wanted to make it known, Miles said, that he was liberated by Americans. -- Black Americans. "Then," Miles added, "I remember that somebody from the 761st had said his tank went into a concentration camp.
"So, then I put those two (facts) together and thought. `This is what the story should be about: the liberators and the survivors."'
And to get this story aired has been almost as difficult a battle for Miles and Rosenblum as the Black veterans getting somebody to take them seriously, it appears. "We have really fought for 10 years to present this truth," Rosenblum, the winner of several awards for her documentaries, said.
"We were turned down four times by "the American Experience" before they picked us up," Rosenblum went on. "As producers of films like this, you just learn not to take no for an answer. But you never make enough financially to support this effort. It's not only that we can't make any money; we can't even break even."
And this is so, she noted, despite the fact that the film just won the International Documentary Association Award in Los Angeles, which for a documentary is the next highest to an Oscar.
Miles finds his failure to raise money among African-American businessmen somewhat baffling. "Ever since I started doing documentaries that show the African-American experience. I have always gone home first I used to look at Black Enterprise magazine and picked the top 30 of the top 100, he said.
"But." Miles continued, "I would always get the same thing: either no answer or a letter asking, "How much can I make on the deal" Then there was one letter that said, `If I give to you, I have to give to another.
The only Financial contribution the coproducers said they got from an African-American was from this paper's publisher, Wilbert Tatum, who wrote out a $5,000 check, they said, after watching a special screening of the revealing documentary on Black tankers in Europe.
However, Miles credits Harlem Congressmember Charles Rangel for "pointing us in the direction where some people might be able to help us." Despite the fact that "a few Black Caucus members had been in the service and should understand a little more than maybe anybody else," they have failed to respond positively.
Of the caucus members, Miles said, "Rangel has been our biggest supporter."
Noting that this film has gotten its strongest support from overseas, Rosenblum said, "The money initially came from Europe." The documentary has also gotten support from and will be shown also in Australia, she said.
But in the U.S. the story has not been so positive. "The major endowments which fund these films should really examine why they couldn't find any funding for a film like this." Rosenblum said. "I think the National Endowment for the Humanities ought to hang its head in shame."
What Miles finds strange, he said, is that the marketing department of Channel 13 "hadn't been able to secure enough money to make (things) work. When I asked what the problem was, I was told, The topic is too narrow. So, I said if Blacks and Jews are too narrow, we're in trouble."
The executive producer of "Liberators" is Suzanne De Passe and it was aired 9 p.m., November 11, as part of the fifth season of "The American Experience" series on PBS.
Miles and Rosenblum, coproducers of liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II," are available to speak in schools and to community groups. Interested persons should call (212) 941- 3877.
Asked to summarize this documentary, Rosenblum said a Jewish person
who went through the Holocaust and finally learns about the Black liberators
should experience a profound revelation because they would realize every
stereotype we ever believed is not true...They can't see the world the
same way anymore, she went on. "They can't fall into those same kinds of
stereotypes again."
"LIBERATORS
UNDER FIRE"