Russian prisoners-of-war footage (1915) – Rudolf Pöch

Als Anthropologe im Kriegsgefangenenlager – Muslimische Kriegsgefangene bei Tanz und Gebet – Russian soldiers from Central Asia in a prisoner-of-war camp, 1915. Later in the same sequence, they are shown kneeling at prayer in the Muslim fashion.

13:05 mins., b&w, silent.

Source : Filmarchiv Austria. This footage is viewable  here

In 1915, unable to travel abroad on account of First World War, Rudolf Pöch started a programme of research in various Austrian and German prisoner-of-war camps. The primary focus of this research was biological, as he sought to gain further data to establish his raciological theories. However, in the early phase of this research, he also made a number of films of a more ethnographic character about Russian prisoners-of-war, at least some of whom were Muslims from Central Asia (see above). In total, there are 11 different ethnographic sequences, totalling just over 13 minutes of footage.

As with Pöch’s previous films in New Guinea (1905-06) and  in southern Africa (1908), the primary subject matter of these films is dancing and technical processes, mostly, in this case, the construction of artefacts of various kinds (ranging from straw sandals to children’s toys, even a balaika). In the background in many shots, one can see the camp fences and prowling prison-camp guards with rifles over their shoulders.

From a technical point of view, these are the most accomplished films that Pöch made.  In one of the sequences, showing a man making a bone pendant, there is a cut from a wide to a close shot, an unprecedented device in Pöch’s film work. But the most ambitious sequence shows a moment in a pantomime about a peasant wedding, which also involves dancing. This ends  with a remarkably long, 180-degree pan over the audience, who are all soldiers sporting a variety of headgear, suggesting their diverse ethnic origins. This pan is unique in Pöch’s film work and would only have been possible due to his acquisition of a tripod with a panning head, a relatively recent technical development.

The quality of the film stock itself is also apparently much higher than in his earlier films, though this may be due to the conditions for the development of the negative and subsequent storage: even in a prison camp, these would have undoubtedly been better than in New Guinea or Botswana at that time.

These rushes also include a further three-minute sequence showing two of Pöch’s assistants, bizarrely dressed in masks and aprons, making a plaster cast of the head of a (living) camp guard.

 

Texts : Fuhrmann 2010, Lange 2013

 

© 2018 Paul Henley