Germ 3160

Class Minutes for Wednesday 9/22

             I.      Intro

Ø      Professor Reimer proceeded to explain to the class that we will be starting our discussion on films from the Third Reich. We will be covering films of this period for the next three class meetings before our first exam.

Ø      As a student in 1968 Germany, he recalled that films from the Third Reich still were not being released for viewing. Universities would only be allowed to show them as part of a program or class, and had to provide commentary during their viewing.

Ø      Professor Reimer also shared that he taught a course in Germany 7 years ago, and was surprised at how readily students would point out propagandistic elements in the films of this period but also how reluctant they were to see some of the films within the context of the period.  Rather they preferred to see the comedies as ahistoric and influenced by Nazi ideology.

          II.      Presentation on German Films 1933-1945

Ø       A power point presentation on films of this period was given. We discussed how in ’33, around the time the Nazi Party is coming to power in Germany, many films are in their advance stages of production and are released. Soon after the Nazis secure complete control of Germany, many of those films are withdrawn from circulation. Ex: Viktor und Viktoria (Reinhold Schuenzel 1933)

Ø       Ca. 1100 feature length films are made during this period. For the most part they are absent from overt propaganda and were mainly meant as entertainment and diversion.

Ø       We discussed the different genres of films that were made and notable films within each one including…..

§         Comedies       

§         Melodramas

§         Romances

§         Documentaries

§         Historical Dramas

§         Musicals

       III.      Historical Context

Ø       The Nazi regime saw that they were losing money due to the overwhelming competition of foreign films from the US, France and Britain. Films are no different than most goods, so the bulk of money generated from them is transferred to the country where the films are produced.

·         Citing this “lost revenue” of sorts, Germans started creating their own versions of successful foreign films and even foreign film star personalities.  For example, Glückskinder was made as competion or answer to It Happened One Night.

Ø       Literary classics from the 19^th century were also being made into films.

                  Ex: Kleider machen Leute (Helmut Käutner 1940)

Ø       It can be argued that this was an attempt by the new regime to legitimize itself to         the populace by linking to the historical period that existed prior to the Weimar Republic.

Ø       Many of the Melodramas that were released at the time conveyed a strong central theme of women sacrificing for the greater good. Paralleled with this was the theme of a return to Germany after some sort of arduous journey overseas revealed that the outside world wasn’t what it was made up to be.

                   Ex: La Habanera (Detlev Sierck 1937)

Ø       During this time period some actors actually demanded (and were obliged) that they get paid in non-Nazi currency because they felt that the current regime/system would not last. These highly influential actors wanted to make sure that their money would be worth something after the Nazis collapse.

Ø       It is interesting to note that Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich’s Minister of Propaganda (who was given total control of the communications media, including film), hated overtly propagandistic films. He thought that central Nazi issues such as dealings with communists should be tackled off-stage. The major exception to this was Hitlerjunge Quex (Hans Steinhoff 1933) which he thought played well to the national psyche and could offer something to the Nazi party.

Ø       One notable Historical Drama is Ohm Krüger (Hans Steinhoff 1941), this film depicted Germans being put into concentration camps and being shot at by their South African oppressors.

Ø       After the war, the Allies drew up a “blacklist” of films that could not be shown in public settings throughout occupied Germany. Soon afterwards, these films were studied by a commission and most were taken off the list. This “certificate of cleanliness” allowed many directors that made films during this time to thrive in their post-war careers.