Julien Bryan

Julien Hequembourg Bryan was an American photographer, filmmaker, and documentarian. He was born on May 23, 1899, in Titusville, Pennsylvania and passed away on October 20, 1974. Bryan is best known for his work showing everyday life in Poland, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1939, just before the start of the Second World War.

His work helped people see what was happening during a very difficult time. One of his most famous films is called Siege. This film shows how Poland defended its capital city against Nazi Germany in September 1939. The film is kept at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

For his work in sharing the truth about what happened during the Invasion of Poland, Bryan was given a special award called the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture in 1974. His work remains important today as it helps us understand history better.

Before World War II

Bryan grew up in a family that believed in helping others. When he was seventeen, he joined the American Field Service to help during World War I. He drove an ambulance for the French Army in places like Verdun and the Argonne. After the war, he studied at Princeton University and later at Union Theological Seminary, but decided not to become a minister.

He began traveling the world, taking photographs and making films. He shared his experiences through slideshow lectures and sold his films to different companies. His travels took him to many places, including China, the Caucasus, Georgia, the Soviet Union, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. In Germany, his films showed everyday life and important events, which were later used in American films. Bryan’s work gave people a look at life in these countries before World War II.

World War II

Julien Bryan went to Warsaw, Poland, when Germany invaded in September 1939. He was the only foreign reporter there. He used cameras to record the Siege of Warsaw and the bombing of the city by German forces.

While in Warsaw, Bryan asked Polish Radio to tell the American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, about the people being hurt. He then left Warsaw and secretly took his films out to show the world. His pictures were in magazines like Life and Look. He also made a short film called Siege, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

After World War II

Bryan returned to Poland in 1946 with a group from the UNRRA. He visited Gdańsk and Warsaw. His Kodachrome footage of recently destroyed Gdańsk is probably the first film taken there after the war.

In 1958, Bryan went back to Poland. He shared one hundred of his 1939 photos from Warsaw with a newspaper called Express Wieczorny. The newspaper published one photo each week and asked readers if they recognized anything. Many people shared their stories, and Bryan wrote about these in a book.

In 1945, Bryan started the International Film Foundation (IFF). He made short films for schools. His son Sam joined IFF in 1960. Bryan passed away in 1974. After he died, Sam took over IFF. In 2003, Sam gave his father’s photographs and films to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many of Bryan's works are kept by the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive. In 2006, his film Siege was chosen for the National Film Registry of the US by the Librarian of Congress.

In 2010, a documentary called Korespondent Bryan was shown in Warsaw. It used Bryan's 1939 footage with new material.

Honours

In 2022, the President of Poland Andrzej Duda gave Bryan the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal for his important work in showing life during World War II in Poland.