National Cinemas series
Series Editor: Susan Hayward
Australian National Cinema
Tom O,Regan
British National Cinema
Sarah Street
French National Cinema
Susan Hayward
Italian National Cinema 1896- 1996
Pierre Sorlin
Nordic National Cinemas
Tytti Soila, Astrid Soderbergh Widding and Gunnar Iversen
Forthcoming titles:
Canadian National Cinema
Chris Gittings
Chinese National Cinema
YingJin Zhang
South African National Cinema
Jacqueline Maingard
Spanish National Cinema
Nuria Triana-Toribio
I
I
I
:tI
I
I
GERMAN NATIONAL
CINEMA
Sabine Hake
I~~?ia~:~~n~~:upLONDON AND NEW YORK
7 Viktor und Viktoria. Courtesy ofBFI stills, Posters and Designs.
58
3
THIRD REICH CINEMA
1933-45
From 1933 to 1945, the German film industry produced more than one thousand
feature-length films and an even larger number of short films, newsreels, and
documentaries. These numbers suggest two things: that the industry under the
Nazis was a formidable economic force and that films were considered an important
part of everyday life, propagating National Socialist ideas and providing entertainment
along the lines defined by the regime. In order to understand this dynamic
between entertainment and ideology, pleasure and power, one needs to approach
filmic practices in a way that does not reduplicate this period's own obsession
with boundaries. Labels such as 'Nazi cinema' or 'Nazi film' suggest a complete
convergence ofnarrative cinema, cultural politics, and Nazi ideology that was never
achieved, given the continuing popularity of foreign films and the ubiquity of
American products; the conflicting ideas about film-malcing among members ofthe
industry and the Propaganda Ministry; the changing attitudes towards propaganda
and entertainment before and during the Second World War; and the difficulties
ofcontrolling the actual conditions offilm exhibition in the Reich and its occupied
countries.
In coming to power in 1933, the National Socialist German Workers Party
(NSDAP) under its leader AdolfHitler promised a spiritual revolution that would
bring dramatic changes to all areas of German culture and society. His political
rhetoric combined conservative, nationalist, racist, anti-communist, and, above
all, anti-Semitic views with an extremist volkisch ideology that culminated in the
glorification of the Aryan race, the celebration of Volksgemeinschaft (national
community), the myth of Blut und Boden (blood and soil) and the rejection of
liberal democracy for the hierarchical structures associated with the leadership
principle. Central to the regeneration of the German spirit was the integration of
traditional, modern, regional, folkloric, and popular mass culture within an
'authentic', but in fact highly eclectic model ofGerman culture defined less through
internal principles than through its ritualistic purging by all progressive, democratic,
cosmopolitan, and intellectual influences.
Although the basic structure of cinema under National Socialism was firmly in
place by 1934, the years until 1945 saw considerable changes in the application
of political principles to filmic practices; the approach to movie audiences and
59
GERMAN NATIONAL C I NE MA
exhibition practices; and the definition of entertainment and propaganda. Three
main phases can be distinguished: (1) 1933-37: institutional restructuring and
consolidation, (2) 1937- 42: further economic concentration and expansion as
part of the war effort, and (3) 1942-45: monopolisation and mobilisation of all
filmic resources for the final victory. On the institutional level, the subordination
ofall aspects offilm-mal<ing to the interests ofthe state began with the restructuring
ofcultural production in 1933 and culminated in the nationalisation ofthe industry
after 1938. Yet, as a popular entertainment, the cinema continued to function
through the double myths of being both within and outside ideology. Such an
important cultural and socio-psychological function raises a number ofquestions:
Were all films made during the Third Reich Nazi films? Can we distinguish between
propaganda films and so-called apolitical entertainment films?Are there moments
of aesthetic resistance in particular genres or in the work of individual directors?
Is it productive to describe most of the films as escapist in nature, and therefore
political only in terms of institutional affiliations, or rri:~{st ·we coriceive of Nazi
ideology as all-pervasive and all-powerful? Can the effectiveness of film as a form
ofmass manipulation be identified on the level oftextual characteristics, or are the
ideological effects realised only in the larger social and political context and under
specific conditions ofreception? Do the films exhibit aspects ofwhat has been called
fascist aesthetics, or do the continuities with Weimar cinema and Hollywood cinema
predominate?
Two approaches have defined the scholarship on this period: propaganda studies,
which talce a thematic approach and usually include narrative and non-narrative
forms, and more theoretically informed studies on the relationship between cinema
and ideology that focus on genres, narratives, and fantasy effects. In the beginning,
most film historians limited their inquiries to the propaganda films while ignoring
the vast number of genre films (Hull 1973, Welch 1985, Leiser 1974). Drawing
attention to this terra incognita of private pleasures and desires, some historians
used extensive quantitative analyses and historical overviews to assess the significance
of popular traditions (Albrecht 1969, Drewniak 1987). Other scholars
focused on the economic and political manifestations of cultural hegemony and
examined the complicated relationship between narrative and ideology through
textual and contextual practices (Becker 1973, Perley 1979, Lowry 1991 ). More
recently, a number ofcritical studies have been published that suggest how popular
genres offered a solution to conflicts and contradictions in society, and how modern
mass media radically redefined tl1e relationship between art and politics in terms of
fantasy production and public spectacle (Witte 1995, Rentschler 1996, SchulteSasse
1996, Reimer 2000, Halce 2002). This revisionist process has drawn attention
to the stylistic and thematic continuities of German cinema, including in its
relationship to Hollywood; the similarities between Third Reich cinema and other
1930s state-controlled cinemas in Italy and the Soviet Union; and the inherent
connection between classical narrative and the textual articulation of ideological
positions, whether called sexism, racism, or nationalism. The greater emphasis on
the 'failures' ofThird Reich cinema has allowed scholars to move the conceptual
60
TH IRD REICH C IN EMA 1933-45
binaries ofcinema versus politics, propaganda versus entertainment, and art versus
ideology that, until recently, influenced critical assessments in not always productive
terms.
The restructuring of the film industry
The Nazis took over the film industry swiftly and efficiently, establishing the
institutional framework on 13 March 1933 with tl1e creation of a new ministry,
the Reichsministerium fur Volksaufldarung und Propaganda (Reich Ministry for
People's Enlightenment and Propaganda). Heading the effort to turn cinema into
a continuation ofpolitics with other means, Joseph Goebbels became the minister
in charge ofprint media, radio, film, and, later, television; he controlled all aspects
of political propaganda and mass communication. To industry representatives
Goebbels announced that films should have a political tendency but that tendency
and quality were not always the same. The resultant mixture of idealist phrases,
economic promises, and political threats was an essential part of official film politics
and stood behind the repeated calls during the 1930s for more Gesinnung(political
attitude) and Volkstumlichkeit (popular taste) in the cinema.
The Gleichschaltung (forced integration) ofthe film industry in 1933 and 1934
completed the process of economic concentration and politicisation that had
started in the late 1920s with the internal struggles at UFA. UFA, Tobis, Bavaria,
and Terra quickly consolidated their positions as the largest film studios during
the 1930s. Together they produced more than 80 per cent of all feature films .
After 1933, writers, artists, actors, musicians, and so forth had to be organised
in the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Culture Chamber), which controlled cultural
production through its semi-autonomous chambers and a corporatist guild model
tl1at applied the National Socialist prescription for organising culture in a one-party
state. The Reichsfilmkammer (Reich Film Chamber) was the first chamber to be
created, an indication of the great importance attributed to film-making by
the new regime. Only Germans, defined in terms of citizenship and racial origin,
were eligible for membership in the Reich Film Chamber. This rule allowed the
Propaganda Ministry to exclude all non-Aryans and politically unreliable persons
from working in the industry and, in so doing, to purge German cinema of'alien'
influences; of course, exceptions were always granted. In 1935, the provisional
revoking ofscreening licences for all films made before 1933 had a similar purging
effect by rewriting film history from a National Socialist perspective. The names of
Jewish directors were removed from the credits of older films, and political rallies
organised against German films that still featured Jewish actors. The strategic
thinlcing behind the enforcement ofthe new racial policies dissolved arty remaining
concerns about the future of film-making, and of society as a whole, into the
antagonistic terms ofanti-Semitism, with the Jews vilified as the ultimate other.
Most Jews working in the industry left Germany in 1933 and 1934 for other
European countries, often with hopes of a speedy return. The forced integration
of the industry had a devastating effect on individual lives; but it also destroyed a
61
GERMAN NATIONAL C INEMA
lively cinema culture that had emerged in the 1920s with significant contributions
by Jewish actors, directors, and producers. Like the European border crossings
during the 1920s, the exile experience after 1933 must be considered an integral
part of German cinema, whether in the form of structuring absences or through
the import ofGerman - or, to be more precise, Central European-traditions into
other national and cultural contexts, especially the Hollywood film of the 1930s
and 1940s. However, it would be misguided to claim the later films by Lang,
Siodmak, or Wilder for the canon ofGerman film history or to identify exile filmmalcers
with a position of subversive otherness within Hollywood. After all, the
dream factory, whether in Hollywood or Babelsberg, had always thrived on
incorporating and exploiting the spectacle of difference, including through the
identification of famous stars with particular national stereotypes and ethnic
cultures.
Pommer and Wilder were among the lucky few to leave for Hollywood as early
as 1934, with studio contracts in hand. The largest number of exiles came to
Hollywood in the late 1930s under less favourable conditions. The difficulties of
exile were perhaps most pronounced in the case ofactors, whom language problems
often limited to bit parts and 'accent parts'. Apart from Marlene Dietrich, only
Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt, had significant American careers. Known for their
professionalism and technical expertise, cameramen such as RudolfMate and Eugen
Schiiffi:an quickly found artistic recognition, as did composers Friedrich Hollaender
and Erich Maria Korngold. Directors Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Curtis (Kurt)
Bernhardt, Robert Siodmak, and Douglas Sirk (DetlefSierck) became famous for
infusing classical American genres with traditional European cultural sensibilities
and for articulating political concerns coloured by the experience of exile. Some
of these exile sensibilities found expression in the bleak visions and dark moods
identified with film noir (Hilchenbach 1982, Belach and Prinzler 1983, Horak
1984 and 1996, Koepnick 2002).
The purging ofthe film-related professions and the subsequent exile waves were
only the beginning ofmore fundamental changes that brought greater state control
over most legal, financial, and administrative, and, ofcourse, artistic aspects offilmmaking.
The Reichslichtspielgesetz (Reich Film Law) of1934 clearly spelled out the
new principles offilm censorship (Maiwald 1983). Anything considered critical of
National Socialism, from aesthetic styles to moral sensibilities, could be prohibited,
banned, and confiscated. A more far-reaching pre-censorship based on submitted
scripts replaced the standard post-production censorship; now the Reichsfilmdramaturg
(Reich Film Dramaturge) was in charge of the approval process. The
close involvement ofthe Ministry in the pre-production phase limited the economic
risks for the studios while extending ministerial control to all stages ofproduction.
Not surprisingly, the total number of censored films remained insignificant, with
the majority of cases occurring during the early 1940s. Among the twenty-seven
censored films mentioned by Wetzel and Hagemann (1982), the majority featured
an actor or director who had become persona nongrata. A few films were banned
despite, or because, of their National Socialist fervour. In other cases, the censors
62
THIRD REICH C INEMA 1933 - 45
considered certain representations (for instance, of bombed cityscapes) too
demoralising for wartime audiences.
An elaborate system ofdirect and indirect financing provided new incentives for
struggling companies and proved just as effective as more direct forms of political
control. Almost one-third of the feature films received distinctions, or ratings, of
some sort, an indication ofthe Ministry's considerable efforts to promote specific
genres and subjects. Financial support was available through the Filmkreditbank
(Film Credit Bank) which, by 1935, already provided financing to almost
70 per cent of the films in production; these loans were often not repaid. The
system of distinctions, which included 'educational' and 'artistically (especially)
valuable', came with certificates of tax reduction or, in the highest category,
with tax exemption. To tl1ese existing distinctions, the Filmpriifstelle (Film Office)
added 'politically (especially) valuable' and the honorary designation 'film of the
nation', which was awarded only four times: to Ohm Kruger (1941), Heimkehr
(1941, Homecoming), Dergrosse Kiinig (1942, The GreatKing), and Die Entlassung
(1942, The Dismissal). Allfour films were so-called Staatsauftragsfilme (statecommissioned
films), big~budget films with clear propagandistic intentions
commissioned by the Propaganda Ministry to promote key concepts of Nazi
ideology in narrative form. Their stories focused on Prussia's triumphs and defeats,
the struggles of ethnic Germans abroad, and the heroic lives of great men. Many
contributions confirmed race as the foundation of German character and turned
to the past as a premonition of German manifest destiny. Because of their overdetermined
conditions ofproduction, the state-commissioned films were essentially
a genre to themselves, defined less through particular textual characteristics than
through such contextual qualities as the transformation of opening nights into
public spectacles and the many parallels between the events on the screen and
concurrent political developments.
Goebbels, who supervised the implementation of these new policies, had a
personal interest in film and, like Hitler, socialised extensively with people from
the film world. Indeed, the film community - and, in other contexts, the literary
and musical establishment - played a significant role in giving cultural legitimacy
to the new regime. Courted by the power elite, many actors and directors lived
in a world of luxury and privilege. For the most part, their encounters between
the representatives of the Ministry took place in a collaborative spirit, and both
sides profited equally from the undiminished popularity of German films
with German audiences. Goebbels gave special permission to individuals deemed
too valuable to be lost to the new membership laws. These exceptions concerned
several Jewish actors and directors and banned authors such as Erich Kastner
who, under the pseudonym Berthold Burger, wrote the screenplay for Munchhausen
(1943). However, the brute force that could always punish insubordination
also manifested itself in two tragic incidents: the 1942 suicide of actor Joachim
Gottschalk, who had refused to divorce his Jewish wife, and the 1943 death of
director Herbert Selpin in a Gestapo prison after disputes during tl1e production
of Titanic.
63
GERMAN NATIONAL CINEMA
Supported by the new political and cultural elites, the cinema after 1933 emerged
as the most important medium for forging a national community beyond class
boundaries and for staging political fantasies beyond the public-private divide. The
new contingency system sharply limited the numbers of imported films and
curtailed the participation ofnon-Germans in domestic productions. But even the
concerted efforts by German directors to imitate Hollywood styles did not diminish
the appeal of foreign films, which remained a strong presence until the war and
compensated for the dearth of quality films with artistic ambition and social
relevance. In 1933, almost half of all films shown on European markets were
ofAmerican origin. After only one year, their market share declined to 20 per cent.
Nonetheless, more than six hundred foreign feature films would still be seen
by German audiences during the 1933-45 period, with the majority released
between 1933 and 1939 in subtitled or dubbed versions. Confirming the undiminished
influence of American popular culture in all areas of everyday life,
audience favourites from the 1930s included the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette
MacDonald operetta films, the musicals with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and,
ofcourse, everything with Tarzan and Mickey Mouse. Clark Gable, Shirley Temple,
Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Gary Cooper all had a large following. In 1936,
Dietrich could still be seen in the Lubitsch production Desire, despite official
polemics against emigres appearing in foreign films. It was only in 1939, after the
release ofAnatole Litvak's Confessions ofa Nazi Spy (1939), that American films
were taken out of distribution entirely.
The Propaganda Ministry's close attention to the conditions of film exhibition
and the psychology of mass reception reflected persistent anxieties about the
actualisation ofa film's intended meaning. Feature-length films always ran as part
of a mandatory programme that consisted of newsreels and short cultural films.
Because audiences often skipped these pre-films, movie-theatre owners were advised
during the war years to close their doors to latecomers once the newsreel had
started. However, the elusiveness of audience tastes remained a source of deep
concern, even requiring secret reports from the movies by the Sicherheitsdienst der
SS (Security Service). In an effort to reach larger segments of the population, the
Propaganda Ministry instituted the Filmvolkstag (Film People's Day), on which
audiences could attend special screenings for a nominal fee. TheJugend.filmstunden
(Youth Film Hours), organised by the Hitler Youth since 1934, showed documentaries
and short feature films aimed specifically at children and adolescents. In
the 1942/43 season, these Youth Film Hours saw more than eleven million
attendances by young people.
From the beginning, the leading film studios had to deal with the decline of
their export business and, more generally, the effect of cultural isolationism on a
visual medium that had always thrived on its international connections. Although
there was little competition for German studios in neighbouring countries such as
Austria and Switzerland, film exports, including to the United States, immediately
declined by almost 80 per cent. Nonetheless, in 1939, 85 ofthe 272 foreign films
shown in the United States were still produced by German (or Austrian) companies.
64
THIRD REICH CINEMA 1933-45
They found their small audiences in cities and states with a strong German-speaking
immigrant population. The activities of various anti-Nazi groups put an end to
such practices and increased public awareness of the difficult situation in Europe,
including through the anti-Nazi films produced with the involvement ofexile actors
and directors.
Apart from ruining the export business, the Reich's withdrawal from the
international film scene prevented much-needed artistic exchanges. The lack of
creative talent after the purge in 1933 posed a serious obstacle to the studios'
competitiveness in foreign markets. Co-productions remained limited to Austria,
Hungary, Czechoslovalcia and, after 1939, to Italy and Japan. The Venice Film
Festival was reduced to a showcase for expensive but undistinguished productions
by the Axis powers. Contributing to tl1e systematic eradication ofall creative
and critical impulses, film criticism after 1936 offered only factual information
and appreciative commentary. The major trade journals, including the dailies
Lichtbild-Biihne and Film-Kurier, deteriorated into mouthpieces of the Nazi
culture industry. Under such conditions, the founding ofthe Deutsche Alcademie
fur Filmkunst (German Academy for Film Art) in 1938 came too late to develop
alternatives to the pervasive spirit ofconventionality, provincialism, and mediocrity.
The years 1937 to 1942 saw the systematic elimination of all independent
companies through various economic and political measures. Shrinking export
revenues and growing production costs forced even large studios such as Tobis
to accept secret loans from the Ministry. Film attendance increased steadily and
significantly; during the record year 1938, for instance, almost 440 million tickets
were sold. However, the average costs of making a film more than doubled from
RM250,000 in 1933 to RM537,000 in 1937. In 1937, when the losses at UFA
approached RMl 5 million, the Reich bought more than 70 per cent oftheir stocks
through a middleman, Max Winkler of the Cautio Trust; similar deals with Terra
followed suit. Now effectively under state ownership, Tobis, Terra, and Bavaria kept
their names but were more actively enlisted in the new alliance between cinema and
politics. After the invasion of the Sudentenland in 1938, the politicisation and
militarisation of everyday life found expression in a sharper division between
entertainment and propaganda, with expensive prestige productions now openly
promoting nationalistic attitudes and fuelling anti-Semitic and anti-Slavic sentiments.
The conquest of neighbouring countries opened up new export markets,
set new attendance records, and eventually turned the film industry into the
country's fourth-largest industry.
The gradual transformation ofthe audience into a manifestation ofthe national
community extended these expansionist and exclusionary practices into the most
mundane aspects of cinema culture, beginning with the rules of admission. After
1938, Jews were no longer admitted to cinemas; similar prohibitions applied to
foreign labourers and POWs. These practices implicated movie audiences directly
in the staging of highly politicised group experiences and made them part of the
rituals and fantasies subsumed under the concept of Volksgemeinschaft.The political
mobilisation of cinema as a place of collective experiences and an instrument of
65
GERMAN NATIONAL C INEMA
ideological positioning required the implementation of stricter standards
concerning programming practices (for instance, obligatory screenings of war
newsreels). All ofthese changes contributed to the transformation ofthe motionpicture
theatre into a public sphere where the nation could reach an illusory sense
ofself through a radicalised notion ofcinema as a Gesamtkunstwerk.
The annexation ofAustria in 1938 destroyed another German-speaking cinema
that had offered extensive artistic exchanges and shared many cultural traditions.
From its inception, Austrian cinema had conveyed an alternative image of
Germanness in the larger context ofnational fictions and iconographies. With its
decadent charm, ironic sentimentality, and old-fashioned Gemutlichkeit, the myth
ofVienna provided more light-hearted but also more ambiguous interpretations
ofthe conventional genres. Before 1938, Viennese studios had specialised in sound
comedies with the inexhaustible Hans Moser, melancholy love stories with Willi
Forst, and countless musical comedies and operetta films inspired by the identification
of Vienna witl1 music. The new Wien-Film, a state-controlled company
established in 1938 under Karl Hartl, continued to specialise in these fictional
constructs of Austrianness, producing musical biographies such as the Mozart
films Eine kleine Nachtmusik (1939, A Little Night Music) and Wen die Gotter
lieben (1942, Whom the Gods Love), as well as Forst's famous Vienna trilogy,
Operette (1940, Operetta), Wiener Blut (1942, Viennese Blood), and Wiener Madel
(1945/ 59, Viennese Girls).
The overall situation was very different in France after the German invasion in
1939. Since the invention ofcinematography, France and Germany had enjoyed a
close relationship, from tl1e sharing of technologies and the exchange of actors
to the many co-productions that continued throughout the 1930s (Sturm and
Wohlgemuth 1996). In 1940 the Germans took over film production in occupied
France through a sister company ofUFA, Continental-Films, which, among others,
produced Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le corbeau (1943, The Raven). Goebbels's
goal was to produce films that retained their French qualities and could be promoted
as domestic productions in the occupied zone. Maintaining an appearance
of diversity was all the more important as American imports had an increasingly
difficult time reaching European markets. However, such calculations failed to
extinguish the spirit ofresistance, as could be seen in the systematic boycotting of
German films in the Balkans and the Netherlands.
Finally, in 1942, the film industry became fully nationalised, with Cautio acting
as a trust company and the newly formed UFA-Film GmbH, sometimes also
referred to as UFI, operating as a holding company with several subsidiaries. UFAFilm,
which used the old UFA-quality label, was headed by Fritz Hippler as the
newly appointed Reichsfilmintendant (Reich Film Administrator) responsible for
co-ordinating all aspects of film production and distribution with official policies.
Eleven firms were now united in one state-owned trust, including the UFAFilmkunst,
Terra-Filmkunst, Tobis-Filmkunst, Bavaria-Filmkunst, Wien-Film,
Prag-Film, and Continental-Film. The monopolisation of film production made
possible a more effective division of labour in the cinema among the competing
66
THIRD REICH CINEMA 1933 - 45
demands of propaganda, ideology, and entertainment. After several years of
aggressive politicisation, ilie Ministry returned to the double strategy ofproducing
a few big-budget propaganda films and a large number ofconventional genre films
wiili strong entertainment value. Under such conditions, ilie war ended up being
highly profitable for the industry, raising the number of tickets sold from 624
million in 1939 to 1.117 billion in 1943. By the early 1940s, only the United
States had more exhibition venues than the Third Reich with its approximately
8,600 theatres both in Germany and in the occupied countries and territories.
Revelling in these successes, UFA celebrated its twenty-five-year anniversary in
1943 wiili the blockbuster production ofMunchhausen, an all-star historical action
adventure, shot in colour, which cost the studio an unprecedented RM6.5 million.
While the war effort continued in full force, frivolous subject matter returned to
the cinema with a vengeance, as did more defeatist attitudes and melancholy styles.
Any direct references to ilie present yielded to stories witl1out a discernible time
and place. Within such an illusionist structure, the eruptions of the real, whether
in tl1e form of particular words or images, proved a constant source of concern.
For example, the inclusion of documentary material in war films such as U-Boote
westwdrts! (1941, Submarines Westward!) or Stukas(l941) corroborat~d tl1e myth
of individual heroism, but also drew attention to the difference between the war
experience and its filmic representation. Likewise, in 1940, the commercial failure
of the anti-Semitic historical drama Die Rothschilds (The Rothschilds), as well as
some audiences' uneasiness about Der ewigeJude (The EternalJew), the infamous
compilation film by Fritz Hippler, revealed the inherent dangers for film-malcers
in relying on all too simplistic assumptions about intended meanings and actual
responses. Despite such problems, the Propaganda Ministry tried to supply war
audiences with a constant stream ofentertaining films, including many re-releases.
Because ofthe massive destruction caused by allied bombing ofcities, even many
venerable state tl1eatres were turned into movie-theatres. The Barrandov studios
in Prague became ilie preferred place for war-weary film professionals. Until the
very end, some film officials remain~d convinced of a German victory - if not on
the battlefield ofwar, ilien in some imaginary cinema ofthe future.
Third Reich cinema as popular cinema
While the institutional framework established in 1933 remained the determining
factor in the production of films, their immense mass appeal must neither be
confused with the all-pervasive power ofNazi ideology nor regarded as evidence of
a cultural sphere unaffected by politics. Box-office receipts point to a popular cinema
positioned within ideology.precisely through its commitment to pleasure and
entertainment.The list ofgreatest successes was led by Diegoldene Stadt( 1942, The
Golden City) witl1 12.5 million tickets sold, followed by Der weisse Traum (1943,
The White Dream) and Immensee (1943), each witl1 10.1 million, Diegrosse Liebe
(1942, The GreatLove) and Wiener Blut, each with 9.2 million, and Wunschkonzert
(1940, R equest Concert) wiili 8.8 million tickets. A variety offactors contributed to
67
GERMAN NATIONAL C I NEMA
these phenomenal successes: their acceptance ofgenre as the most efficient form of
addressing diverse audiences; their cultivation of the star system as a convenient
structure for audience identification; their incorporation ofother popular traditions
such as folldore, operetta, literature, and broadcasting; and, most importantly, their
reliance on the conventions and styles associated with the classical Hollywood film.
Not surprisingly, Third Reich cinema was from the beginning a cinema
dominated by male and, above all, female stars. Famous stars established patterns
ofidentification, imitation, and admiration beyond individual films. The collapsing
ofactor and role in the persona ofthe star provided an outlet for powerful emotions
in a society oppressively concerned with sexual and racial difference and severely
anxious over public and private identities. In contrast to character actors such as
Gustav Griindgens, Heinrich George, and Werner Krauss, who endowed film with
cultural significance, and unlike supporting actors like Grete Weiser and Theo
Lingen, who added local wit and regional humour, the new leading stars became
closely identified with the cinema's national and international ambitions. With their
beauty, charm, and sex appeal, actresses conjured up a cosmopolitan atmosphere
necessary for films' commercial success at home and abroad. Yet the transformation
of the female body into a marker of national identity also introduced more
problematic ideas about race and gender that proved essential to the sociopsychological
function ofmass entertainment during the Third Reich (Beyer 1991,
Romani 1992).
Adored by their fans, photographed in the illustrated press, and written up in
gossip columns, actresses embodied the other, unofficial side ofpost-1933 society
associated with tolerance, sophistication, fashion, leisure, luxury, and eroticism.
The Propaganda Ministry recognised the stars' public function by accommodating
personal requests and paying sometimes exorbitant salaries. In 1937, for instance,
Albers earned as much as RM562,000. By contrast, a skilled worker earned only
RM2,500 a year. Secret lists circulated with the names of those actors to be
employed at all times and those to be avoided as 'box-office poison'. Many famous
actresses were modelled on Hollywood stars, with Zarah Leander promoted as a
'German Garbo', Harvey resembling Miriam Hopkins, and Marilca Rold< frequently
compared to Eleanor Powell and Ginger Rogers. While blond ingenue Kristina
Soderbaum may have personified the ideal Aryan woman, the majority ofactresses
displayed physical features and character traits with little resemblance to official
images of German womanhood. Through their exotic looks, refined tastes, and
fashionable styles, they provided the extravagance and glamour that had been
eliminated from official culture.
This identification with otherness was especially pronounced in actresses whose
careers began after 1933. Many were foreigners (Soderbaum, Leander, Rokk) or
made foreignness part oftheir erotic appeal. In contrast to the idea offemale beauty
prevalent in painting and sculpture, feature films promoted the slender, androgynous
type embodied by Kathe von Nagy and Brigitte Helm. With the exception of
strong mother figures, most female stereotypes were equally represented in the
respective genres. Olga Tschechowa excelled in playing the worldly older woman.
68
THIRD REI C H CINEMA 1933 - 45
Combining simplicity and inner strength, Austrian Paula Wessely brought
emotional complexity to the woman's film. After Renate Muller's premature
death in 1938, the young Ilse Werner became audience's favourite 'girl next door'.
Often cast as a dangerous femme fatale, Brigitte Horney appeared regularly in
melodramas but, like Tschechowa and Wessely, also lent her intense performances
to severalpropaganda vehicles. Sibylle Schmitz, whose suicide inspired Fassbinder's
Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982, Veronika Voss), found a perfect showcase
for her dark exotic beauty in highly stylised melodramatic settings.
With her classical features and theatrical training, Marianne Hoppe was
predestined to cover the widest range as an actress, playing in light-hearted sophisticated
comedies like Capriolen (1937, Capers) and melancholy marital dramas
like Romanze in Moll (1943, Romance in a Minor Key), as well as in home front
films such as Auf Wiedersehn, Franziska! (1941, Goodbye, Franziska!). While
possessing some ofandrogynous charm that linked ingenuessuch as Harvey, Millier,
and Nagy to their Weimar precursors, Hoppe became most closely identified
with the difficulties experienced by modern women in reconciling the demands
ofcareer, marriage, and motherhood. Her screen persona combined a strong desire
for independence, articulated in her playfulness and confidence, and a knowing
recognition ofthe limitations put upon her by society. The casting ofHoppe as Effi
Briest in the Fontane adaptation Der Schritt vom Wege (1939, The Step offthe Path)
took advantage ofthis tension and offered a subtle commentary on the emotionality
ofunfulfilled yearning and quiet subordination.
In contrast to female stars and their close identification with issues of gender,
male actors were more directly implicated in the articulation of national identity.
Romantic leads such as Willy Fritsch and Gustav Frohlich became identified with
the youthfulness of the new generation, whereas the more mature, heavy-set
character actors from the theatre conveyed the kind of authority and strength
associated with the past. Heinrich George brought his intense physicality to many
historical settings. Werner Krauss and Emil Jannings specialised in rulers, industrialists,
and inventors. All three regularly took leading roles in the propaganda
vehicles. With the exception ofthe brash Hans Albers and the suave Willy Birge!,
whose screen personas thrived on irresolvable ambiguities, most actors appeared
either in romantic or dramatic parts. The available stereotypes included urbane
charmers such as Hans Sohnker, quiet masculine types like Paul Hartmann, and,
in more heroic roles, Carl Raddatz and Paul Klinger. The appeal ofHeinz Ruhmann
hinged on his simultaneously humorous and pathetic compulsion to act out the
petty-bourgeois desire for social acceptance with all of its psychological complications.
As the personification ofthe little man - oppressed, repressed, but always
in a good mood - Ruhmann comically re-enacted the crises of masculinity in
numerous comedies about the difficulties of everyday life. Yet his most famous
films from the period, Quax der Bruchpilot (1941, Quax the Crash Pilot) and Die
Feuerzangenbowle (1944, The Red Wine Punch), also brought out the underlying
tension between male aggression and regression that sustained Riihmann's
phenomenal career as the Reich's most popular comedian.
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While there was no shortage of good actors, the lack of talented directors and
screenwriters after the introduction ofthe Aryan clause remained a serious problem
throughout the decade. Most directors were seasoned professionals who had started
making films before 1933 and would continue after 1945. The prolific Carl Boese
directed almost fifty films during the Third Reich, including many comedies set
in the petty-bourgeois milieu. The credits of screenwriter and director Robert
A. Stemmle are equally extensive. Carl Froelich worked with Henny Porten in the
early 1920s, directed and produced throughout the 1930s, and, as a member ofthe
Nazi party, was appointed president ofthe Reich Film Chamber in 1939. Froelich's
best-known films include Heimat( 1938, Homeland), a melodrama featuring George
and Leander as estranged father and daughter, and Die vier Gesellen (1938, The
Four Comrades), a romantic comedy about female friendship and the quest for selffulfilment
with the young Ingrid Bergman. Head ofproduction at UFA since 1943,
Wolfgang Liebeneiner's highly adaptable artistic sensibility allowed him to work
with some ofthe greatest actors from the German stage. Liebeneiner specialised in
light comedies before he applied his directorial skills to the infamous euthanasia
film, Ich klage an (1941, I Accuse) and two biographical films about the 'Iron
Chancellor', Bismarck (1940) and the aforementioned Die Entlassung.
Many directors established working relationships with famous actors or became
specialists in certain genres that allowed them to capitalise on their cultural or
ethnic backgrounds. Often in collaboration with the composer Robert Stolz,
Hungarian Geza von Bolvary specialised in film operettas that nostalgically evoked
Old Vienna in the mold of Wiener Geschichten (1940, Viennese Stories). Viktor
Tourjansky made a name for himselfwith marital melodramas in the style of Der
Blaufuchs (1938, The Blue Fox) and more dubious political parables such as
Der Gouverneur (1939, The Governor). Beginning with Liebespremiere (1943, Love
Premiere), Arthur Maria Rabenalt directed several films set in the world of show
business, whereas Herbert Selpin preferred adventure dramas in the style ofSergeant
Berry (1938) and Titanic (1943). Directors with pronounced political commitments
were often strongly identified with the biographical or historical film. Hans
Steinhoff, who emerged as a leading director with Hitlerjunge Quex, became a
master at portraying great individuals, whether in the field of medicine (Robert
Koch, 1939) or art (Rembrandt, 1942). From Fluchtlinge (1933, Refugees) to
Heimkehr, Austrian Gustav Ucicky infused historical events with nationalistic
sentiment, not least by extolling the virtues ofmale friendship and personal sacrifice.
Popular formulas' precedence over political messages, especially when ideological
positions were at stake, repeatedly threatened the career of Karl Ritter, an ardent
National Socialist and anti-communist whose propagandistic zeal in Verrdter
(1936, Traitors), Patrioten (1937, Patriots), and Pour le merite (1938) was not
always appreciated by the Propaganda Ministry. Even with distinctions such as
'politically valuable', his high-profile films found outspoken critics among cultural
polemicists such as Alfred Rosenberg, who regarded their nationalist, rather than
National Socialist, rhetoric as an obstacle to a quality-based definition ofpolitical
film-making.
70
--
THIRD REICH C I NEMA 1933 - 45
In a national cinema defined primarily through popular genres and famous stars,
was there any room for individual sensibilities and critical perspectives? Experiments
were certainly not encouraged, but it would be reductive to explain the lack of
innovative directors solely by the oppressive political conditions. Ofcourse, it would
be equally problematic to read all signs of creative film-making as a manifestation
of aesthetic opposition or subversive meanings. To begin with, the early sound
film brought back many dramatic conventions and staging techniques from the
theatre and contributed to the growing preference for seamless narratives without
authorial interventions. However, film-malcers' emphatic rejection of modernist
techniques such as montage and stream-of-consciousness was also driven by their
aesthetic and ideological opposition to the two filmic styles that had distinguished
German art cinema until that point: social realism and expressionism. Other
traditions survived in modified forms. Using musical comedies as a conduit to the
irreverent atmosphere of the late Weimar years, Reinhold Schiinzel cultivated
his visual and verbal witticisms in Amphyitryon (1935 ), a political parody set among
the gods ofAntiquity. Similarly, Willi Forst conjured up an atmosphere ofcosmopolitan
sophistication in the amusing comedy-of-errors Allotria (1935, Capers).
During the same period, the rediscovery ofmelodramatic forms allowed newcomers
such as DetlefSierck to explore stylisation as a means ofdistanciation in Schlussakkord
(1936, Final Chord), before perfecting this compelling mixture of formal and
emotional excess in his famous films witl1 Zarah Leander. While tl1ese exceptional
contributions were sustained by larger developments within 1930s cinema internationally,
later examples offilm authorship must be explained through the gradual
erosion ofinstitutional controls and formal conventions during tl1e last years ofthe
war. In tl1is light, Helmut Kautner's melancholy study ofHamburg harbour milieu
in Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7 (1944, Great Freedom Street No. 7) and his poetic realist
study ofBerlin's canals and bridges in Unter den Brucken (1946, Under the Bridges)
can alternatively be read as moral defeatism, individual resignation, or passive
resistance - all qualities that made Kautner well suited for postwar cinema.
Only one other director besides Riefenstahl was able to develop a unique filmic
vision in full accordance with Nazi ideology: Veit Harlan. The elements that distinguished
Harlan's most infamous films,]ud Suss and Kolberg, also predominated
in his melodramas, but rarely in that extreme mixture ofideology, melodrama, and
stylistic excess. Harlan preferred to work witl1 the same actors, most notably his wife
Kristina Soderbaum, and often relied on realist and naturalist authors in presenting
his simple views about biology as destiny. Used for such deterministic scenarios,
Hermann Sudermann inspired Die Reise nach Tilsit (1939, TheJourney to Tilsit),
Theodor Storm Immensee (1943), and RudolfBinding Opfergang (1944, Sacrifice).
Stylistically, Harlan aimed at a level ofintensification and exaggeration that, from
the use of etl1ereal music to the heavy colour symbolism, endowed even idyllic
rural settings with an aura ofartificiality, decadence and, ironically, degeneracy. His
insistence on the sublimation of sexual desires and his morbid fascination with
death revealed the true libidinal source behind the compulsive scenarios of fate,
desire, and renunciation that made him the most recognisable auteur ofthe Third
71
GERMAN NATIONAL CINEMA
Reich. Not surprisingly, the director ofJud Siiss was singled out after the war to
stand trial for crimes against humanity. The first trial in 1949/SO resulted in a notguilty
verdict; even subsequent law suits failed to stop Harlan from continuing his
career throughout the 1950s.
A few exceptions notwithstanding, the denigration of film authorship and the
validation ofgenre in the most affirmative sense meant the suppression ofall artistic
ambitions and critical intentions. With their familiar stock characters and dramatic
complications, genres after 1933 tended to operate within clearly defined rules and
structures. The introduction of variations into such a system of repetition and
sameness produced aesthetic pleasure, while at the same time confirming the status
quo. One of the main psychological functions of genre in general is to produce
specific emotions (joy, fear, sadness) and process them through predetermined
forms that offer imaginary solutions to social problems. During the Third Reich,
the prohibition on addressing more serious problems put severe restrictions on
this process. Film-makers were told to avoid detective films, courtroom dramas,
and suspense thrillers that might draw attention to taboo subjects such as crime
and violence. Literary sources allowed some directors to infuse familiar stories with
new meanings. The popularity of musical forms confirmed the primacy of music
in definitions of German national identity. At the same time, comedies provided
a framework for expressing dissatisfaction with the available designs for living. All
of these genres contributed to the normative discourse on identity shared by
popular culture, official culture, and high culture. The narrativising ofidentity gave
coherence to an eclectic system ofbeliefs, ideas, and attitudes about gender, family,
community, and society. Yet the disruptions ofidentity also provided an imaginary
space for engaging with a feared and vilified other defined in racial, national, and
political terms.
With these conflicting investments, genres provided the most effective framework
for accommodating various social groups and for catering precisely to the specialised
interests and sensibilities that allegedly had been dissolved into the unifying
concepts ofnation and race. While the openly political films constituted the viewing
subject in collective terms and addressed the audience as a unified body, the
genre films participated in the illusory validation ofdifferences: between social and
individual norms, public and private behaviour, gender roles and class differences.
This division between the collective experiences provided, for instance, by the statecommissioned
films and the individual dreams and desires satisfied by the
entertainment films aclmowledged class and gender simultaneously as continuing
sources of social conflict and individual crisis. Films addressed audiences through
a model of identification - often associated with the ideology of populism or, to
use the Nazi term, Volkstiimlichkeit- that allowed them to participate, though
only symbolically, in the creation of a unified, imaginary subject with specific
ambitions and desires. That this subject position can be described as pettybourgeois
has a lot to do with the petty-bourgeois origins ofthe Nazi movement
and its exploitation both of economic fears in the impoverished middle class and
offantasies ofsocial ascent among members ofthe working class and lower middle
72
-- THIRD R E I CH C I NEMA 1933 - 45
class. Spectatorship completed the shift from a political ideology that recognised
social differences, though only in order to eradicate them, to the filmic fictions
that used national and racial difference as the foundation oftheir all-encompassing
dreams of Volk. The concept of Germanness allowed audiences to participate in
visions of national greatness while at the same time confronting their own
disappointments and inadequacies. In validating the perspective ofthe 'little man',
which itself is distinguished by ambivalence and ambiguity, films were able
to incorporate often contradictory impulses under the overarching principle of
common sense and to celebrate the virtues of compliance tl1rough the pleasures
precisely ofbeing average. These stabilising effects informed the filmic articulation
of petit-bourgeois consciousness and sustained the attraction of genre cinema
throughout the 1930s, but as a cinema in which popular, populist, and pettybourgeois
positions had finally been reunited tl1rough tl1e integrative category of
Volk..
Almost half of the feature length-films produced after 1933 were comedies:
romantic comedies, sophisticated comedies, family comedies, rustic comedies, and,
above all, musical comedies. Many carried on in the tradition oftl1e drawing-room
comedy, with infidelity, boredom, temptation, and the need for revenge as the
driving force behind heated exchanges, compromising situations, and inevitable
happy endings. Comedies inspired by regional peculiarities and urban milieus
offered formulaic stories of personal rivalries, family feuds, neighbourhood
intrigues, and so fortl1. Only tl1e white-collar comedies, which continued in the
tradition of the early 1930s, retained some awareness of social and economic
problems through their focus on competent young women and, increasingly,
insecure and resentful petty-bourgeois men.
The relationship to Hollywood found paradigmatic expression in the irreverent
spirit and quick pacing ofsophisticated comedies such as Gliickskinder (1936, Lucky
Kids), the successful Fritsch-Harvey vehicle modelled on Frank Capra's 1934 It
Happened One Night. However, these comedies did not just imitate the American
originals or translate American situations and characters into German contexts.
Film-makers developed tl1eir version of a Germanised Americanism by incorporating
local and regional traditions and validating social and cultural differences.
Likewise they modified the Prussian model ofAmericanism by relying heavily on
the Central European tastes and sensibilities that had influenced many comic
registers during the 1920s and early 1930s. Whereas the spirited banter between
the sexes in the New Deal comedies was based on the recognition of social and
economic inequities, the men and women in the comparable German versions
expressed their psychological resentments outside all social and political categories.
Highly normative assumptions about love, romance, and sexuality informed the
characters' short-lived revolts against bigotry and hypocrisy. Without tl1e kind of
visual commentaries developed to perfection by Lubitsch, the humour in these
comedies remained language-based and exhausted itself in the confirmation of
social prejudices and traditional gender roles. The anxieties over questions ofgender
and class found an emotional outlet only in brief moments of transgression.
73
GERMAN NATIONAL CINEMA
Especially the many instances of social mimicry, false identity, and cross-dressing
provided a temporary release from typical 'German' qualities such as discipline,
modesty, and reliability. But by aclmowledging the constructed nature ofidentity,
the comedies also demonstrated the importance of compliance and conformity;
therein lay their less obvious socio-psychological function.
The equally popular musical genres confirmed the importance of music in
defining national identity while also promising an escape from the pressures of
everyday life through a greater emphasis on pleasure, illusion, and fantasy. Film
operettas, opera films, musical comedies, revue films, and films about great
composers and musicians all took advantage of the studios' close ties to public
broadcasting and the recording industry. Popular musical styles ranged from the
operetta scores of Eduard Kiinneke and Robert Stolz to the more contemporary
sound of Michael Jary and the hit songs by Peter Kreuder. Many films featured
international recording stars such as Jan Kiepura; others were adaptations offamous
operettas, such as Johann Strauss's G,schichten aus dem Wienerwald (1934, Stories
from the Viennese Woods) and Ralph Benatzky's Im Weissen Rossi (1935, At the
White Horse Inn). The strong Austro-Hungarian influence produced countless
films barely held together by the sentimental melodies and nostalgic feelings
associated with Old Vienna. Wir machen Musik (1942, We Make Music) and a few
other musical comedies from the 1940s cultivated more contemporary styles,
including the kind of modified jazz tunes officially denounced as 'degenerate
music'.
A generic hybrid, tl1e popular revue film offered an alternative to tl1e Hollywood
musical through its different approach to elaborate song-and-dance sequences
that emphasised the achievements of the individual (Belach 1979). Confirming
the prohibition on erotic imagery, even La Jana's semi-nude dances in Es leuchten
die Sterne (1938, The Stars Are Shining) and Stern von Rio (1940, Star ofRio)
inspired above all thoughts of classical sculpture and racial health. Hollywood
influences were most pronounced in revue films that, like Wir tanzen um die Welt
(1939, We Dance around the World), used a professional dancing troupe to create
ornamental choreographies inspired by Busby Berkeley but also eerily reminiscent
of what has been described as the fascist mass ornament, given their marked
preference for military costumes and formations. The revue film's peculiar mixture
of optimism and aggression was developed to perfection by the inexhaustible
Marika Rolek, who was known for her Hungarian 'Puszta charm'. Frequently
working under the direction of her husband, Georg Jacoby, Rokk appeared in
Hallo Janine (1939), Kora Terry (1941), and Die Frau meiner Traume (1944,
The Woman ofMy Dreams). The Rokk character frequently had to chose between
tl1e freedom of artistic expression and the security oflove and marriage - a typical
female dilemma tl1at only underscored the symptomatic function of tl1e modern
career woman as tl1e object ofpunitive and transgressive fantasies.
With renunciation firmly established as a central motifin tl1e romantic comedy
and tl1e revue film, the melodrama was able to explore more ambiguous views on
gender and sexuality. During the early 1930s, melodramatic modes found
74
THIRD R E I C H C IN E MA 1933 - 45
expression in the elusive mixture ofsentimentality, melancholy, and irony cultivated
by Forst in classic Viennese films such as Maskerade (1934, Masquerade). The
genre's more typical combination ofheightened emotionality and formal stylisation
reached an ideal embodiment in Zarah Leander, the statuesque Swedish-born
singer and actress. An acute awareness of femininity as a performance informed
her signature roles in DetlefSierck's Zu neuen Ufern (1937, To New Shores) and
La Habanera (1937), as well as her later films with Rolf Hansen, Diegrosse
Liebe (1942) and Damals (1943, Then). The basic narrative elements are always
the same: guilt and redemption, love and renunciation, transgression and punishment.
The visual representation of female desire and its constant companion,
female suffering, relied extensively on extreme close-ups, dramatic lighting,
claustrophobic settings, and exaggerated costumes. Unquestionably, the increased
production of melodramas during the last years of the war must be explained
tl1rough their intended socio-psychological functions, namely, to translate suffering
into aesthetic terms and to make pleasurable the delay of gratification. Nonetl1eless,
these emotional and stylistic excesses sometimes had a destabilising effect
on wartime audiences. For even as they contributed to the preservation of the
status quo by presenting women as victims, melodramas at least recognised those
strengths borne of victimisation and turned them into instruments of critical
introspection.
As the 'guardians of morality' and the 'protectors of life', women played a
key role in the battle over images and identities in the genre films. However, tl1e
representation ofwomen in tl1e feature film rarely reflected tl1e normative definition
offemininity in Nazi ideology; instead they functioned as complementary designs.
Maternal melodramas such as Mutterliebe (l939, Mother Love), with Kathe Dorsch
as tl1e woman who sacrifices everything for her children, remained the exception
in a popular cinema that, despite the official cult of motherhood, treated female
characters above all as objects of male desire. Before tl1e war, working women of
the kind depicted in the misogynistic Frau am Steuer (1939, Woman at the Wheel)
regularly inspired mockery and ridicule. Labour shortages in tl1e war economy and
the difficulties of the home front contributed to the need for more sympathetic
portrayals of working women like the competent female math teacher in Unser
Fraulein Doktor (1940, Our Miss PhD). Concerns about low birth rates stood
behind the idealisation of family life in romantic comedies like Hurra, ich bin
Papa! (1939, Hurrah, I Am a Dad!), that offered more positive portrayals of
unwed mothers. For the most part, genre cinema confirmed traditional definitions
ofgender and portrayed independent women as a disruptive and destructive force.
Femininity remained identified with a threatening sexuality tl1at had to be contained.
At the same time, the expectations about appropriate female characteristics,
attitudes, and forms of behaviour were constantly adjusted to the changing
demands of the times, especially during the war years. Under these conditions,
genre films developed their cautionary tales of modern femininity through
contradictory positions tlut could never be resolved, not tl1rough the melodrama's
imbalance between strong women and weak men and not through the rustic
75
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GERMAN NATIONAL C I EMA
comedy's tacit Lmderstanding ofmale indolence and female competence (Bechdolf
1992, Traudisch 1993, Fox 2000).
In sharp contrast to the psychological interiors presented by the femaledominated
comedies and melodramas, the male-dominated adventure film thrived
on action, movement, adventure, discovery, and individual initiative. These action
adventures often included elaborate stories about technological innovations
and corporate power struggles. Remarkable athletic stunts and action scenes
verging on slapstick distinguished the countless Harry Piel films in the style of Der
unmiigliche Herr Pitt (1938, The Impossible Mr Pitt). More dramatic films often
featured Hans Albers who, witl1 his blond hair, blue eyes, sharp profile, and tall
muscular frame, came to personify ilie Aryan ideal of masculinity. Albers played
modern adventurers in ilie futuristic thriller Gold (1934) and the seafaring drama
Unter heissem Himmel (1936, Under Hot Skies) and conquered new territories
in the Canadian Western Wasser fur Canitoga (1939, Water for Canitoga). The
genre's foreign locations and exotic settings did not only provide an imaginary
landscape for ilie articulation ofnationalist and racist principles; it also opened up
anoilier space, unmarked by social conventions and political pressures, tl1at allowed
for imaginary escapes from tl1e ordinary and ilie familiar.
Closely connected to Nazi fantasies about Volk and Heimat, the Heimatfilm
(homeland film ) emerged as the most convenient narrative form for offering
a romanticised, but completely depoliticised, view of country and nation.
Quintessential German landscapes like the Bavarian Alps, the Rhine valley, and ilie
Baltic Coast provided idyllic images of rural life where simple peasants lived in
harmony wiili nature. The genre's regionalist orientation, especially in ilie folk
dramas and rustic comedies produced in Bavaria, sometimes prevented co-optation
by the more abstract concepts of racial theory and the ideology of 'blood and
soil'. Featuring well-known folk actors, iliese comedies promoted their own brand
of provincialism and xenophobia. The validation of traditional Bavarian culture,
including as a counter-design to Prussianism, found expression in numerous
Ganghofer adaptations, rustic farces wiili Karl Valentin and Lies! Karstadt and
humorous vignettes of traditional village life by the prolific actor/directo~ Joe
Stockel. More dramatic treatments gave rise to rare instances ofregional resistance
and anti-capitalist struggle in tl1e style ofDer eivige Quell(1939, The Eternal Spring)
and Der ewige Klang (1943, The Eternal Sound), whereas ilie association ofHeimat
with female strengili and independence inspired yet another screen adaptation
ofDie Geierwally(l940, The Vulture Wally), tl1is time wiili Heidemarie Hailieyer.
Throughout tl1e period, the genre's emphasis on regional culture offered audience
an alternative to the highly politicised idea of nation iliat, in the historical films,
culminated in the equation of Prussia with the Reich and that, in the statecommissioned
films, reduced ilie abstract idea of Volk to iliat of race railier tl1an
ofethnicity. Because ofthese elusive investments, ilie genre most fre~uently associated
wiili Third Reich cinema also emerged as ilie one wiili ilie most problematic
relationship to ilie more politicised fantasies of national community.
76
THIRD REICH CINEMA 1933 - 45
Third Reich cinema as political cinema
In the same way iliat Nazi ideology was based on an eclectic and largely derivative
mixture ofpolitical ilieories and philosophical ideas, ilie cinema ofthe Third Reich
was held togeilier less ilirough a monoliiliic aesilietic or ideological structure ilian
through ilie Ministry's institutional power over pockets ofdifference. Propaganda
films made up only 10 per cent of ilie entire production and remained limited to
historical dramas, war films, ge11ius films, and a few home front films. Most popular
genre films carefully avoided references to ilie regime - only to serve it by promoting
ilie sexist, nationalist, and racist ideologies essential to its existence and by sustaining
ilie illusory division between an official culture of political spectacle and ilie
seemingly apolitical sphere of private pleasures, individual choices, and modern
diversions. Ministerial directives about the length of films and the adequate
portrayal of nationalities and professions confirm to what degree ilie apparatus
tried to control all aspects of film-making. However, ilie inordinate attention to
detail only underscores ilie ultimate failure of iliese efforts and explains the need
for constant readjustment. Conflicting interpretations ofministerial guidelines and
suggestions, tensions between various branches in ilie state bureaucracy and film
industry, and personal rivalries among studio managers and cultural officials
simultaneously strengiliened and undermined ilie integrative power ofilie political
system.
The changing definitions offilm propaganda can be traced back to ilie different
positions taken by Hitler and Goebbels in ilie early 1930s. Hitler expressed very
decisive ideas about propaganda and its relevance to ilie movement. Film and oilier
modern media, he argued, could be instrumental in winning followers and
propagating National Socialist ideas; hence ilie need ofdirect emotional appeal. For
Hitler, propaganda meant tl1e condensation ofcomplicated issues into a few simple
ideas and their furilier intensification ilirough repetition, exaggeration, and visual
symbolism. Goebbels favoured a more indirect approach to propaganda that
concealed its intentions and placed greater emphasis on ilie style of presentation
ilian on ilie actual subject matter. For him, ilie politics ofrepresentation was more
important ilian ilie representation ofpolitics. These differences found expression
in ilie intense controversies over iliree early feature films about ilie National Socialist
movement. On ilie one hand, the movement films shared a number of characteristics:
ilie celebration of youthful idealism and martyrdom; the validation of
community, discipline, and solidarity; and the close attention to public ritual
and ilie symbolic power of flags and uniforms. National Socialism was presented
in terms of essences, as the result of a process of self-discovery rather than an
expression ofpolitical beliefs. By aligning politics wiili emotional experiences, ilie
iliree films offered a model ofidentification for all later propaganda films. On ilie
oilier hand, tl1e relationsl1ip between fascism and modernism introduced significant
differences. HitlerJunge Quex (1933, Hitler Youth Quex) showed the conversion
of a communist working-class youth to the ideals and the spirit of National
Socialism in a style ren1i11iscent of Weimar social realism. By contrast, SA-Mann
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GERMAN NATJONAL CINEMA
Brand (1933, SA-Man Brand) presented the early years of the movement
so crudely andsimplistically that it wasshunned by critics and audiences alike. And
Ham Westmar (1933), inspired by the srory of H orst Wessel, was initially
withdrawn from distribution because the Nazis feared the commercialisation of
their symbols and rituals. After 1933, the representation ofcomparable situations
iJ1 other times and places proved much more effective than any direct references tO
the Third Reich and henceforth determined the political function offilmic stories
and images within the la1·ger framework ofNational Socialist ideology.
To what degree the aestheticisation ofpolitics gave rise to whatsome critics have
called fascist aesthetics has been the central question behind the ongoing scholarly
debates about the most famous film of the period, Lcni Riefenstahl's Triumph
des Willens (1935, Triumph ofthe Wit{). Shot during the 1934 Party Congress
in Nuremberg, the film stages the encounter between the Fiihrer and the Volk in
tightly choreographed forms tl1at mytl,ologisesocial processes(Barsam 1975). This
merging ofmyth and modernity takes place tl1rough symbols such as flags, clouds,
and fire and formal clements such as repetition, symmetry, and counterpoint. The
process is predicated on the transformation both of tl1e historical city into a stage
set and of the party event into a visual spectacle. Riefenstahl's apotl1eosis of tl1e
national community culminates in the human ornaments offrozen perfection that
become partofthe monumental architecture. But her vision aJso gives rise to a cult
of tl1e beautiful tl1at finds expression in tl1e many close-ups of ecstatic faces and
steely bodies. Thisaestl1etics ofracial perfection, including thecultofmale strengtl1
and power, found an even more stylised expression in Riefenstahl's documentary
about the 1936 Olympic Games, Olympia(l938), witl1 its cwo parts Festder Volker
(Festival of Nations) and Fest der Schonheit (Festival of Beauty). Since then,
Ricfenstahl's films have found defenders who praise their formal qualities and
detractors for whom the obsession with beauty remains an essential part of
'fascinating fascism' (Hinton 1991, Downing 1992, Ricfcnstahl 1993).
Despite all fantasies of harmony and unity, professional groups and cultural
institutions continued to fight over their adequate representation in tl1e grand
narratives of German nation; the same problems haunted the representation of
political enemies. To give only one example: when generals complained about
the treatment of the army in Triimiph des Willens, Ricfenstahl made a short
documentary, Tag der Freiheit (1935, Day ofFreedom), to appease them. During
the war years, propagandistic intentions could not always keep up witl1 changing
military situations and political alliances. While Bolshevism had always invited
negative stereotyping, especially in the conflation of Bolshevik with Jew, the
Non-Aggression Pact in 1939 inspired a briefwave ofsentimentalfilms about Old
Russia, including the Pushkin adaptation Der Postmeister(l 940, The Postmaster).
Even the anti-Russian film Friesennot(l935, Frisian Plight) was banned in 1939
but, after the German attack on the Soviet Union, reissued in 1941 as Dorfim
roten Sttmn ( Village in the Red Storm).
Trimnp/J des Willens illustrates the workings of fascist aesthetics, but its
exceptional statusalso underscores the fact tl1atThird Reich cinema nevergave rise
78
THIRD REI C H CIN E MA 1933- 45
to a homogeneous body ofwork or consistent set ofpractices, even where official
pronouncements suggest such coherence. The fundamental problem ofcontrolling
imagesand, moregenerally, meanings, can be seen in the Ministry'sclose attention
to non-narrative forms with a greater investment in, or closeness to, questions of
tl1e real. Whether as party convention films, weekly newsreels or cultural films,
these non-narrative forms played as significant a role in the redefinition ofreality
as those narrative forms more typically associated with fantasy and illusion.
Considered the most effective tool ofpolitical propaganda, newsreels after 1933
became increasingly sophisticated in their rhetoric and style (for instance, through
rapid editing and trick photography). Newsreels changed even more under tl1e
demands of total media warfare and the militarisation ofpublic life. Already the
invasion ofthe Rhineland in 1936 included cameramen and journalists. After 1939,
all independent newsreels were consolidated in the UFA-Tonwoche which, in
1940, was renamed Deutsche Wochenschait (German Newsreel) to stress its patriotic
orientation. Film footage from the front was provided byspecial military units, the
Propagandakompanien(Propaganda Companies). Lasting up to one hour, the war
newsreels relied heavily on incendiary commentary and dramatic music in order to
create an aestheticiscd view ofwarfare free ofdeatl1 and suffering. Documentary
footage and staged scenes were joined together to create a filmic reality ruled less
by the ethical standards of news reporting than by the need to enlist the powers
ofthe imagination in the pursuit ofa final victory. In Feldzi,,g in Polen (1940, The
Polish Campaign) and Sieg im Westen (1941, Victory in the West), Svend Noldan
relied heavily on maps, graphics, and animation to show the strength of the
German army.
National Socialistideology found privileged expression in the cultural films that
were part ofthe supporting programme but differed from the newsreel because of
their pronounced educational goals and artistic ambitions. Since the 1920s,
screenings had typically included prc-fiJms on topics ranging from geography and
biology to ethnography and art history. After 1933, these themes, while always
closely linked to the question ofGermanness, were presented in more nationalistic
tones. Compilation films such as Blttttmd Boden (1933, Blood and Soil) and Der
ewige Wald (1936, The Eternal Forest) enlisted the familiar iconography of
landscape, nature; and Heimati.n anti-modern diatribes. Countlessshorrs presented
tl1e Reich's technological, architectural, and organisational accomplishments, from
the building of the Reichsatttobahn (federal expressway system), Albert Speer's
grandiose building plans for Germania to the projects ofthe Rcichsarbcitsdienst
(Reich Labour Service) and the cultural programmes of the Kraft durch Freude
(Strength Through Joy) organisation. Sometimes these non-narrative forms
provided an opportunity for formal experimentation. Resisting tbe mixture
of romance and heroism found in films such as Wimde,· des Fliegens (1935, The
Wonders ofPlying), with famous aviator Ernst Udct, a few documentaryfilm-makers
continued to present modern technologies in the cool New Objectiviststyle. Willy
Zielke's DasStahltier (The SteelAnimal), commissioned for tl1e centennial ofthe
first German railroad line in 1934,as well as Ruttmann's Detmcbe Waffensc/Jmieden
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GERMAN NATIONAL CINEMA
(1939, GermanArmamentsFactories) and DeutschePanzer(1941, German Tanks),
relied extensively on modernist techniques such as associative montage, rapid
editing, unusual perspectives, and extreme close-ups to celebrate the convergence
of modernism and modernity in the iconography of the beautiful machine.
The influence ofthe Weimar cross-section film can be traced to Leo de Laforgue's
Symphonie einer Weltstadt (Symphony ofa World City), completed in 1942 and
shown for the first time in 1950 as the last filmic record of Berlin before the
bombings.
The division of labour between different mass media such as film, radio, and
television played a crucial.role in creating a seamless ideological continuum on the
levelofinstitutionalstructures and representational practices. Public broadcasting,
which operated under totalstate control, offered themosteffectiveform ofpolitical
propaganda by bringing thevoice ofthe Fiihrerinto almostevety household. Aware
ofradio's untappedpossibilities, the Nazis produced an inexpensive model,known
as the Volksempfanger (people's receiver), that allowed them to forge an instant
community ofeight million listeners. The sense ofaccessibility, simultaneity, and
omnipresence conveyed by the medium contributed to the era's prevailingfictions
ofcommunion and empowerment (for exampleinthe famous Christmas broadcasts
from the front). Yetat the same time, the conditions ofreception created through
broadcasting fragmented the public sphere and limited participation in political
events to the auditory realm. Programming practices offered various surrogate
forms ofparticipation, from live broadcasts ofclassical concerts and variety shows
to the popular request concert series depicted in Wimschkonzert.
Even in its early experimental stage, television promised to expand further the
possibilities of mass manipulation (Reiss 1979, Zeutschner 1995). Telefunken
presented the new technology at the Fifth German Radio Exhibition in 1928, and
public television was experimentally introduced as early as 1935, though only on
a limited basis and largely in public settings such as urban television lounges. The
cost of a television set remained too high for most private citizens. T he brief
daily television broadcasts included newsreels, narrative shorts, cultural films, variety
shows, popular music, and comic sketches; many older films were shown in
abbreviated form. Even after 1939, when viewers in the Berljn area could receive
regular programmes, television remained a technologically and aestheticallyflawed
experience.
Tlie main conuibution offeature films tothere-emergence ofGerman nationalism
lay in the displacement ofpresent concerns into past events and the rewriting of
collective history as individual melodrama. Most propaganda films were also
historical films, wit11 the meaning ofhistory significantly changed in the process of
ideologisation. To begin with, the many films about tl1e trauma oftheFirstWorld
War and the despised Weimar Republic relied on u·aditional notions ofcause and
effecttl1at found expression inthe polemical rhetoric ofhumiliation and retribution.
With tl1e Third Reich firmly installed as the telos ofhistory, the emotional effect
ofthese narratives was not one ofhistoricity but of urgent contemporaneity. To
the degree that modes ofaddress in tl1e propaganda film made protagonists and
80
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spectators identical, tl1e latter were invariably .implicated in the historical narrative
as executors ofits m1fulfi.lled promises. The revenge for pastsufferingwas a narrative
construction that did not only help to legitimisenew racial policies and ongoing
milita1y actions. Through the notion of Volk, tl1e films also provided an identity
beyond t11e problems ofthe present and provided the necessary sense ofllliity that
justified all possible transgressions in tl1e future.
Many films about the First World War used simple identification patterns to
establish such historical parallels, and they depicted instancesofGerman oppression
with a clear view towards then-contemporary political conflicts. Accordingly,
Fliichtlinge (1933, Refugees) recounts the fate ofVolga Germans persecuted by
the Bolsheviks during the postwar period. Menschen ohne Vaterland (1937, People
without Fatherland) has German civilians fighting in the Baltics, whereas Patrioten
(1937, Patriots) articulates the drama ofnational identity through the figure ofa
German pilot captured by the French. Pour le merite (1938) reaches narrative
denouement in the rearmament of Germany after a long period of self-denial,
whereas Rabenalt's famous . . . reitetfur Deutschland(1941, Ridingfor Germany)
bas an injured war veteran regain his strength after embracing the idea of
,;ationalism. A few films responded indirectly to political events and military
developments. Menschen im Sturm (1941, People in the Storm) used the suffering
ofGermans under theSerbs to justify the attack onYugoslavia. And oneofthemore
infamous contributions to the genre, Heimkehr(l941, Homecoming), dramatised
the discrimination ofethnic GermansinVolhynia in a way that retroactively 'made
sense' ofthe invasion ofPoland in 1939.
The effectiveness of these propaganda films relied on the combination of
repression and aggression that seduced private desires into the politicalarena; theiJ
appeal alwaysextended beyond psychology and included therealmoftl1e aesthetic.
From tl1e castingofstars to tl1e conceptionofcharacters, the narratives were driven
by very specific ideas about race, nation, and identity tl1at assumed an essential
bond between the individual and the nation. With identity dramatised alongthese
lines, tl1e propaganda films of the late 1930s and early 1940s often intervened
directly in the organisation of public and private experiences. The resultant
fictionalisation ofpolitics eased anxietiesaboutsocial and politicalchange by reducing
them to emotional constellations, while at the same time making the cinema
the founding site ofnew definitions ofpolitics based in the imaginary. The narratives
ofidentityformation provided a transgressive spacewhere emotions werevalidated
tl1rough theirinscription into newpolitical scenarios, including the meta-narratives
ofrace. Narrativedenouement, the deliverance from alienation, could be achieved,
if not on tl1e screen, then in the reality ofwar and genocide. All filmic elements
contributed to tl1e dissolutionofpsychological and social conflicts into thetmifying
idea of national community and the mapping of identity across the body of the
racialised other. Thereintroduction ofthesefiction effects into tl1e rituals ofevetyday
life completed a cycle ofsymbolic representations sustained by the discourses
ofmelodrama, history, biography, mythology, and folklore. Witl1out such mediations,
t11e propaganda film revealed its politicalintentions all too clearly and, despite
81
GERMAN NAT 'I ONAL CJNEMA
its effective use ofracial and national stereotypes, often failed to translate political
ideology into fictional terms.
The historical film provided sufficient distance from the present to emerge as the
preferred propagandistic vehicle in the articulation of racist and nationalist ideas
(Happel 1984,Schulte-Sasse 1996).The conflationofhistory and narrative blurred
all distinctions between public and private, individual and collective, past and
present. Everybody could become part of the nation's struggle for survival
and, through identification with the historical leader, find a place in the interstices
ofthe imaginary and the real. Perhaps most importantly, tl1e new historical films
provided a vehicle for dissolving history into the ostensibly eternal categories
of nation and race. In so doing, history allowed for an imaginary return to the
pre-industrial worldofpeasantry and agriculture; a validation ofthe communityof
Volk and the rootedness ofHeimat; and an idealised view ofGerman nation based
on its beautiful landscapes, simple peoples, and great traditions.
Historical accounts ofwar and revolution and the mapping of expansionist
fantasies on to the mise-en-scene ofan imaginary Europe gave form to the founding
myths of a new Germanness. Most often, history was enlisted in the selfrepresentations
of the regime through established patterns of causality and
contimlity. In such a teleological construction, the Thisd Reich appeared as the
culmination of German history. Advocating the leadership principle, Bismarck
(1940) retold the founding of the Wilhelmine empire from the perspective
of the strong leader, whereas Die Entlassung (1942, The Dismissal) linked the
political crisis after Bismarck's dismissal to the rise of liberal parliamentarianism.
Carl Peters (1941) explained the struggle for German colonies in Africa through
the continuous threat ofBritish imperialism, while Ohm Kruger (1941) used the
Boer Wars to justify the Reich's military actions against Great Britajn, Parallels
between past and present also surfaced in the representation of other national
histories. Thus Der Fuchs von Glenarvon (1940, The Fox ofGlenarvon) and Mein
Lebenfur Irland (1941 , My Lifefor Ireland), two anti-British films about the Irish
uprising of 1921, treated these liberation movements as historical models for
the struggle ofthe National Socialist movement during the 1920s.
As a sub-genre of the historical film, the Prussian film stood out through its
unabashed glorification ofthe absolutist state and its autocratic ruler. Associated
with authoritarianism, the myth ofPrussia mostsatisfiedNational Socialist fantasies
about a militarisation of public life. In the figure of the Aryan, Prussian virtues
like discipline, order, duty, and obedience found their most radical expression.
Prussian histmyshowed tl1e conditions under which war, to paraphrase Clausewitz,
could become a continuation ofpolitics through other means. The Prussian films
focused on two historical periods: the period of Frederick II the Great, which
brought theSevenYearsWar (1756-63) and the rise ofPrussia as a major European
power, and the War ofLiberation (1813-15), through which Prussia freed itself
from Napoleonic rule and created the conditions for the emergence of German
nationalism. The Fridericus films, whose popularity during the 1920s and 1930s
took advantage ofthe uncanny resemblance ofOtto Gebuhr to the Prussian king,
82
THIRD REICH CINEMA 1933 - 45
became closely identified with a number ofideological positions central to the new
regime: the need for a political system based on absolute power; the importance
of internal unity as a defence against foreign influences; and the acceptance of
pau-iarchy as a model for the family and the state. The comradeship among
the soldiers in the Prussian films was predicated both on the equation oflove and
death and on the repression of heterosexual desire in the building of a fully
militarised society. The underlying tension bet\veen discipline and punishment,
on the one hand, and suppressed desire and deferredsatisfaction, on the other, was
resolved in the almost godlike representations ofFrederick the Great. Showing his
transformation from the rebellious son into the lonelysoldier king, Der Choral von
Leuthen, Deralte imd derJunge Konig (1935, The Old and the Young King), and
Dergrosse Konig sketched an ideal-typical trajectory for the formation of the
national comrade. Harlan's Kolberg (1944), which was shot with more extras
tl1an soldiers in the actual siege in 1807, almost reversed the relationship between
history and narrative by paying more attention to the technical demands ofimage
production than to the material needs of contemporary audiences. The film
premiered in the beleaguered Atlantic fortress ofLa Rochelle and a bomb-weary
Berlin: a telling indication of the ways in which fantasy and reality had finally
become indistinguishable.
The representation of the leader figure as rebel and tyrant was of particular
relevance to the propagand.istic uses of history. Whether focusing on political
leaders, great scientists, and famous artists, tl1e so-called genius film confirmed
male subjectivity as the fotmdation ofGermanidentity. In accordance with National
Socialist myths about its revolutiona1y origins, the 'great men' expressed their
innovative and revolutionary impulses through patriotic feelings and nationalist
ideas. Likewise, the genre showed a marked preference for individuals - the
physician Robert Koch (1939), the inventor (Rudolf] Diesel (1942), and
the fifteenth-century Swiss scientist Paracelsus (1943) - whose quest for truth
put them in conflict witl1 tl1e prejudices of their times. The creative individual's
triumph over adversity was also thematised through the idealism oftl1e young
playwright Friedrich Schiller (1940), whose call for a national theatre caused the
Nazis to claim him as a precursor of National Socialism; the stubbornness of
'Prussian Michelangelo' AndreasSchtiiter(1942), whose programme for a national
architecture prefigured tl1e contribution ofSpeer; and the personal struggles of
Friedemann Bach(1941), whose artistic and political rebellionagainsta dominant
father resonated deeply with the oedipal self-representation of the Nazis as a
movement oftl1e sons.
The need for articulating nation and race within fully developed narratives found
its clearest expression in tl1e anti-Semitic films made between 1939 and 1940. Their
main function was to prepare the populace for the 'final solution of tl1e Jewish
question'. The surprisinglysmall number ofanti-Semitic films produced dming the
Third Reich suggest that ideological positions were as much articulated through
structuring absences than through filmic representations. The mixed reception
of these films increased the need for mediated approaches that could sustain
83
GERMAN NATfO r AL CINEMA
anti-Semitism as a unifying public discourse and, later, discriminatory and
exclusionary practice. Ministerial directives to film reviewers prohibited any
references to anti-Semitic representations. For the most part, stereotypes were
presented as part ofa largersystem ofdefining others in etlrnic and national terms.
Because of the potentially disruptive effects of negative stereotyping, questions
of racial difference were often displaced on to rhc problem ofsexual difference,
with the (sexuaJised) body of tl1e woman standing in for ilie disturbance ofrace
tl1at needed to be contained. As a result, anti-Semitic sentiments surfaced in tl1e
unflattering portrayal of intellectuals and small businessmen and influenced tl1e
general approach to character development in screenwriting and casting decisions.
The same mechanisms inAuenced the ways inwhich moderniststyles were mocked
and cosmopolitan attitudes denounced. Eilinicityand nationalityprovided a system
ofdifferences iliat, in the less successful films, reduced all characters to iliese external
determinants. The defamatory conflation of Jew/Russian/Bolshevik i.n GPU
(1942) resulted in such exaggerated stereotypes that it destabilised the entiresystem
ofrepresentations. In ilie infamous Jud Suss (1940), Harlan proved much more
effective by embeddinganti-Semitic representations witlun thestructme ofclassical
bourgeois u-agedy. Based on the story of Joseph Suss-Oppenheimer at ilie
eighteenth-centw·y court oftl1e Duke ofWilrttemberg, ilie film offered historical
justification for ilie persecution ofJews by, among otl1er iliings, combining a
critique ofthe political and aesthetic excesses oftl1e Baroque feudal system with
a race-based definition oftl1e nation state built on 'typical' German u-aits such as
modesty, honour, and duty. By adding the rape and subsequentsuicide ofa young
German woman, ilie director exploited widespread myths about Jewish sexuality
to articulate thequestion ofrace along gendered lines and to conjure up rhe threat
of racial impurity and miscegenation. Thus Harlan's film combined two central
aspects ofanti-Semitism, namely tl1e projection on to the Jews ofthose individual
qualities iliat must be regarded as threatening to society and the identification of
the Jews with exceptional abilities that are bound to incite social envy and
resentment (Hollsteio 1983).
An exception in many ways, Der ewigeJude (1940, The Eternal]ew) relied on
ilie format ofme compilation film to combine documentary images ofceremonial
prayer and ritual slaughtering with excerpts from Weimar feature films betraying
'Semitic tendencies'. Made under the supervision ofReich Film Administrator
Hippler, this vicious Hetzftlm (hate film ) about the 'world Jewish conspiracy'
attempted to demonsu-ate the 'self-explanatory' nature of these images and ro
uncover me more elusive aspects ofthe 'Jewish character' through an incendiary
mixture of allusions, insinuations, and comparisons, including through the
metaphor ofswarming rats. The centralityoffilmic images both to ilie consu-uction
ofJewishness a.nd to me self-representation ofrhe regime became painfullyevident
in a later pseudo-documentary about Theresienstadt made expressly to deceive
a concerned international community. Directed by one ofrhe inmates, the Jewish
actor Kurt Gerron, Der Fuhrer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt (1945, The Fuhrer
GrantstheJews a City) presented the concentration camp as a model community,
84
THIRD R E I CH CINEMA 1933 - 45
a place ofhealthy work and wholesome entertainment- a troubling comment also
on the powerful role ofmodern mass media in nationaland international relations.
Until the end ofrhe regime, the cinema remained a work ofcompromise, serving
the contradictory functions ofentertainment and propaganda, satisfying diftcrent
interests and tastes, and conveying both the populist arguments and politicised
attitudes considered essential to its appeal. No matter whether genres continued
in tl1e u-adition ofWeimar cinema and imitated American models orwhether styles
specifically marked as German fed into the National Socialistpropaganda machine,
ideology remained an integral part of representational practices, from the way
subjects were constructed in social and political reality to the way they partook in
the remaking of national identity through filmic images and narratives. While
the Propaganda Ministry determined the terms of productions and the forms
ofreception, the enduring popularity ofthe films since the postwar yearshas made
them an integral part ofGerman cinema. Especially the so-called Uberlauferfilme
(literally, deserter films), films started before 1945 bur only completed or released
after 1945, bring into reliefthe continuities and rupnires iliac defined the cinema
ofthe Third Reich from the beginning to the end and still make it the perfect test
case for more general reflections on cinema, nation, and ideology.
85