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 capturing everyday life in Poland, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1939, just before and at the start of the Second World War.

His important work showed the world what was happening during a very difficult time. One of his most famous films is called Siege. This film tells the story of 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 and can be watched online in a special, high-quality version.

For his efforts 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 during his last visit to Poland 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 valued helping others. When he was just 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 glimpse into what life was like in these countries before World War II.

World War II

Julien Bryan traveled to Warsaw, Poland, just as Germany invaded the country in September 1939. He was the only foreign journalist there at the time. With cameras and film, he documented the Siege of Warsaw and the bombing of the city by German forces.

During his time in Warsaw, Bryan made an appeal through Polish Radio for help from the American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for civilians being targeted. He later left Warsaw and smuggled his films out to share his important images with the world. His work appeared in magazines like Life and Look, and he created a short documentary film called Siege, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

After World War II

Bryan returned to Poland in 1946 as part of an official UNRRA group, visiting Gdańsk and Warsaw. His Kodachrome footage of recently destroyed Gdańsk is likely the first film taken in the city after the war.

In 1958, Bryan went back to Poland and shared one hundred of his 1939 photos from Warsaw. He worked with the newspaper Express Wieczorny, publishing a page of these old pictures in each issue. The newspaper asked readers if they recognized anything in the photos and invited them to share their stories. This helped Bryan connect with many people in his pictures. He wrote about these experiences in a book titled Warsaw: 1939 siege, 1959 Warsaw Revisited, published in Poland in 1959.

In 1945, Bryan started the International Film Foundation (IFF) and created short documentary films for schools for the rest of his career. His son Sam joined IFF in 1960. Bryan passed away in 1974, just two months after receiving a special award from the Polish government for his photography. After his death, Sam took over IFF. In 2003, Sam donated his father’s photographs and films from wartime Europe to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many of Bryan's works are now 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. It was also nominated for an important film award.

In 2010, a documentary film called Korespondent Bryan was shown in Warsaw, using Bryan's 1939 footage along with new archival 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.