NINA ROSENBLUM 
DAEDALUS PRODUCTIONS INC.
15 WEST 70 STREET NY, NY 10023

DATE: NOV. 1, 1995
TO:ASA GORDON
FROM:NINA ROSENBLUM

STATEMENT

LIBERATORS: FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS IN WORLD WAR II was first broadcast nationally on the PBS series "American Experience", in the fall of 1991. The film's initial broadcast met with great success. One month later, WNET, Time Warner, African-American and Jewish leaders and Mayor Dinkins' office arranged a second broadcast, live from the Apollo theater, to be followed by a special on Charlie Rose discussing the broadcast. In a highly charged political climate at the height of the mayoral election, LIBERATORS became a political football. The film was the center of a raging controversy which pitted African-American soldiers and survivors, against politicians, veteran's groups and Jewish organizations who tried to discredit them.

LIBERATORS premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 1992. Producers William Miles and Nina Rosenblum were on their way to Berlin to present the film, (the Academy Award Nominations were to be announced two days later), when they learned that WNET/Thirteen had pulled LIBERATORS off the air (following two national broadcasts), due to pressure exerted on their Board of Trustees by organizations including the American Jewish Committee and the "Super Sixers" - the veteran's organization of the Sixth Armored Division.

The Board of Trustees of WNET/Thirteen and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences received pressure to withdraw the film in the weeks before the Academy Award nominations were announced. The Academy received a flurry of faxes which urged the withdrawal of the film, in the hopes of challenging its chances of winning the nomination. (This maneuver did not quash the nomination, but did effectively end the film's chances of winning an Oscar.)

LIBERATORS: FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS IN WORLD WAR II received an Academy Award nomination two days after WNET withdrew the film. Word of the nomination reached the producers in Berlin the night of the festival premiere. The film opened to packed audiences and received wide acclaim.

LIBERATORS was repeatedly broadcast on international television stations and at festivals throughout Europe and Israel, including the Jerusalem Film Festival. Initially a co-production of WDR/Germany, LA SEPT/France, CHANNEL FOUR/UK and CPB/USA, the film was acquired by many international television channels. LIBERATORS received numerous awards, including an Oscar nomination, an International Documentary Association Award, a CINE Golden Eagle and France's Prix C.I.C.E.A. It has been distributed widely in the United States by Direct Cinema, LA and shown at museums and Holocaust centers, military bases, universities, religious, human rights and community organizations.

Survivor Benjamin Bender, who appeared in LIBERATORS, recently published his memoirs. GLIMPSES: THROUGH HOLOCAUST AND LIBERATION, (North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, Calif.) tells the story of his liberation by African-American soldiers at Buchenwald. The book includes statements from Elia Wiesel and William Styron.

The controversy surrounding LIBERATORS has spurred additional historical and military research, leading to such significant findings as Asa Gordons research on the 183rd Corps of Engineers and William Scott, who photographed members of the battalion at the liberation of Buchenwald. Continuing research will serve to challenge the status quo and set the historical record straight in the sensitive areas or African-American military history and black-Jewish relations.

THE END

"LIBERATORS UNDER FIRE"