Westwood : ‘Liberators’ to Be Shown

A controversial PBS documentary about the liberation of Nazi concentration camps by African-American soldiers will be shown at UCLA today, accompanied by a lecture by Leon Bass, a member of the all-black 761st Tank Battalion, one of the units featured in the film.

The film, “Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II,” has generated a spirited debate over its depiction of African-American soldiers as the liberators of the Buchenwald and Dachau camps.

Many camp survivors testify in the film that the first soldiers they saw were black Americans, said Kari Bower, assistant director of Hillel Jewish Student Assn., which has organized the event.

Some critics, however, say the portrayal of the 761st as one of the units that liberated Buchenwald and Dachau is wrong. A recent article in the New Republic, titled “The Exaggerators,” quotes the former commander of the battalion in which Bass served as saying his troops visited Buchenwald after it had been liberated, in response to orders from Gen. George S. Patton that all units in the region visit the camps to see proof of Nazi atrocities.

“Liberators” will be shown at noon at the African-American Studies Center in Haines Hall 158, and at 7 p.m. at the Morgan Center Press Room. Bass’ lecture will be at the Morgan Center at 5 p.m.

The events are open to the public at no charge. For information, call Hillel Jewish Student Assn. at (310) 208-3081.