British cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who filmed the Nazi invasion of Poland and went on to work with director Steven Spielberg on the Indiana Jones films, has died at the age of 103, his daughter told AFP.

He died Monday morning in a hospital in London, Georgina Slocombe said.

He had celebrated his 103rd birthday on February 10.

Slocombe, originally a magazine photographer, broke into film when he traveled to Poland in 1939 as Nazi forces were sweeping eastwards. A magazine photographer by trade, he set off with a 35mm Bell and Howell Eyemo newsreel camera to film the invasion.

Arriving in Danzig, modern-day Gdansk, he found himself "right in the middle of an absolute hotbed of Nazi intrigue," he later told the BBC.

"All the Jewish shops had 'Jude' daubed over the windows and the Jews themselves were attacked."

He recalled filming Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels giving a speech to a crowd of Brownshirts.

"The Eyemo was heavy and could be noisy. Once I was in an auditorium filming a speech made by Goebbels when suddenly it decided to emit a huge snarling sound.

"Goebbels froze and hundreds of uniformed Brownshirts turned and glared at me in anger. It was not a comfortable moment," he told the BBC in a 2014 interview.

Later, he witnessed the burning of a synagogue in the city which set the sky red with flame.

He realized he was being followed everywhere, and he was finally arrested by the Gestapo.

After a night in a cell he decided it was time to leave the country.

AFP