First American anti-Adolf Hitler film found in Brussels archive after 75 years

Hitler’s Reign of Terror, the first anti-Nazi American film, has been discovered after 75 years in a Belgian film archive Cinematheque.

The 1934 film, which was made from the footage smuggled out of Germany, shows Nazi party rallies, book burnings and the ransacking of Jewish shops, Sky News reported.

The publication has revealed that the movie was produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to the wealthy US industrialist family, who visited Germany as Hitler was voted into power in 1933.

Bruno Mestdagh, head of Cinematheque’s digital collections, said that Vanderbilt was able to capture some spectacular footage, but he just had a few minutes and they constructed a complete film around it.

The film will be shown at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art in October.