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Lieutenant Seymour "Budd" Schulberg

USNR WWII OSS

Office of Strategic Service
Active duty:
March 10, 1943 - March 17, 1946

Budd Schulberg (March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd.

Budd Schulberg
** AKA **Seymour Wilson Schulberg

World War II

While serving in the Navy during World War II, Schulberg was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), working with John Ford's documentary unit. Following VE Day, he was among the first American servicemen to liberate the Nazi-run concentration camps. He was involved in gathering evidence against war criminals for the Nuremberg Trials, an assignment that included arresting documentary film maker Leni Riefenstahl at her chalet in Kitzbühel, Austria, ostensibly to have her identify the faces of Nazi war criminals in German film footage captured by the Allied troops.

In 1945 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and later that year he was assigned to gather photographic evidence to be used at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials.

He was awarded the Army Commendation Ribbon for gathering photographic evidence of war crimes for the Nuremberg trials.

Capturing the War on Film

With the start of World War II, Schulberg joined the Navy. He was assigned to the OSS, where he worked with Hollywood director John Ford’s documentary unit. Film had not been used extensively during a war before, but with the beginning of World War II, it became apparent that it could serve a number of purposes:

Boost propaganda and morale,
Train the troops,
Provide intelligence, and
Record historical events.

During his time serving with the Field Photographic Branch in Europe, Schulberg helped document U.S. combat operations from D-Day to the liberation of the concentration camps.

Following the surrender of Nazi Germany, Schulberg was among the first American servicemen to enter the concentration camps. During the summer and fall of 1945, he worked with the Office of the Military Government – United States (OMGUS) to confiscate film footage. OMGUS had an office whose primary responsibility was to gather films and books from archives and libraries as part of denazification.

The confiscated film footage served as evidence for the Nuremberg trials of the horrendous war crimes that were committed in the concentration camps. Schulberg and his colleagues in the Strategic Services Unit — what remained of the OSS after it was disbanded in September 1945 — worked through 10 million feet of film to gather and coordinate the necessary material. The end result was a four-hour documentary created using only original Nazi films. Schulberg was instrumental in producing the film, which was used as evidence during the Nuremberg trials.

Seymour W Schulberg