Blockbuster movie Schindler’s List was an prompt basic when it got here out in 1993.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie tells the story of German manufacturing unit proprietor Oskar Schindler’s efforts to save lots of the lives of 1,200 Jews from the Nazis throughout the Second World War Holocaust.
It went on to win seven of the 12 Academy Awards it was nominated for, together with Best Picture.
Then in the years since, one thing nobody might have predicted emerged – a rumour {that a} North East London housing estate was used as the location for the filming of some scenes in Schindler’s List.
It was mentioned Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, in-built 1946, was used to movie scenes of Jewish ghettos in the movie, due to its alleged similarity to the bleakness of the Kraków ghetto.
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London was not listed as a location on the Schindler’s List IMDb web page
(Image: Nico Hogg)
The rumour that Woodberry Down featured in Schindler’s List has apparently been circulating since way back to 2002.
But it actually caught hearth following a 2014 interview in the Telegraph of developer Berkeley Group Holdings’ then Chairman, Tony Pidgley.
Standing in entrance of Woodberry Down, Mr Pidgley, who handed away in 2020, mentioned: “You can perceive why they used it in the movie…It seems to be like a focus camp.”
His agency was in the means of redeveloping Woodberry Down in a challenge which can finally see round 2,000 council or previously council-owned houses changed by 5,500 newbuild items.
Numerous mainstream information shops akin to The Times, Evening Standard and The Guardian have since referred to Woodberry Down as ‘Schindler’s estate’ in reference to the movie.
But in a wide-ranging weblog put up revealed final 12 months, historian Patrick Knill referred to as the Woodberry Down/Schindler’s List rumour an ‘city fantasy’ and ‘lies’.
Mr Knill mentioned: ” The Woodberry Down Estate was by no means used as a location in the movie.”
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In Mr Knill’s in depth article, he spoke to historians and placement managers from the 1993 movie who acknowledged Woodberry Down was not used.
According to on-line movie and tv present database IMDb, Schindler’s List was filmed in two international locations – Poland and Israel, with no point out of London, and definitely not Woodberry Down.
Mr Knill was instructed by Schindler’s List location supervisor, Jan Janik, that “the movie Schindler’s List was made fully in Poland.
“The Ghetto, Plaszow Camp and the metropolis of Kraków [were shot] fully in Kraków. There had been additionally scenes shot in Auschwitz, Olkusz and Skarżysko-Kamienna. The last epilogue scene [was shot] in Israel.”
Elaine Harwood, an architectural historian who had tried to acquire grade itemizing for elements of the Woodberry Down estate, mentioned she’d by no means heard of the rumour.
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She instructed Mr Knill: ” I noticed the movie round the similar time as I was working on the buildings, with a colleague who was additionally researching Woodberry Down.
“That was 1994. We would have seen, I really feel certain. It’s intriguing how these tales are began and unfold round…and now the buildings have gone the myths will solely improve.”
The late Forties council blocks at the moment are gone and the bleak really feel of the estate which first gave rise to the Schindler’s List rumour isn’t any extra, although it is nonetheless being talked about to today.
MyLondon approached Berkeley Group Holdings for remark however they declined.
If you lived on Woodberry Down Estate in the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, we might love to listen to from you. Get in contact by emailing [email protected].
