Nazism and cinema
Nazism created an elaborate system of propaganda, which made use of the new technologies of the 20th century, including cinema. Nazism courted the masses by the means of slogans that were aimed directly at the instincts and emotions of the people. The Nazis valued film as a propaganda instrument of enormous power. The interest that Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels took in film was not only the result of a personal fascination. The use of film for propaganda had been planned by the National Socialist German Workers Party as early as 1930, when the party first established a film department.
Background
The Nazis were early aware of the propagandistic effect of movies and already in 1920 the issues of the Racial Observer included film criticism. The SS-philosopher Walter Julius Bloem published the book "The Soul of the Cinema – A Commitment to the Movies" in 1922.In September 1923 Philipp Nickel produced a documentary of the “German Day in Nuremberg” where the “Battle-League” was founded, shortly before the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler wrote about the psychological effect of images in Mein Kampf:
A comprehensive critique of the film industry was published by the Nazi economist Hans Buchner in 1927 with the title "Spellbound by Movies. The Global Dominance of the Cinema". Further short Nazi films about party rallies were made in 1927–1929. The first NSDAP film office was established in 1931, and started producing "documentaries" in a larger scale, e.g., in 1932 "Hitlers Kampf um Deutschland", "Blutendes Deutschland", "Das junge Deutschland marschiert". Herbert Gerdes directed five Nazi propaganda films: Erbkrank, Alles Leben ist Kampf, Was du Ererbt, Schuld oder Schein, and Das Große Geheimnis.
Nazi propagandist Hans Traub, who had earned his Phd in 1925 with a dissertation on the press and the German revolutions of 1848–49, wrote in the essay "The film as a political instrument" in 1932:
Without any doubt the film is a formidable means of propaganda. Achieving propagandistic influence has always demanded a ‘language’ which forms a memorable and passionate plot with a simple narrative. … In the vast area of such ’language’ that the recipients are directly confronted by in the course of technical and economical processes, the most effective is the moving picture. It demands permanent alertness; it’s full of surprises concerning the change of time, space, and action; it has an unimaginable richness of rhythm for intensifying or dispelling emotions.
Goals of the Nazi film policy
Goebbels, who appointed himself "Patron of the German film", assumed, accurately, that a national cinema which was entertaining and put glamour on the government would be a more effective propaganda instrument than a national cinema in which the NSDAP and their policy would have been ubiquitous. Goebbels emphasized the will to end the "shamelessness and tastelessness" that he thought could be found in the former movie industry. The main goal of the Nazi film policy was to promote escapism, which was designed to distract the population and to keep everybody in good spirits; Goebbels indeed blamed defeat in World War I on the failure to sustain the morale of the people.The open propaganda was reserved for films like Der Sieg des Glaubens and Triumph des Willens, records of the Nuremberg rallies, and newsreels. There are some examples of German feature films from the Third Reich that deal with the NSDAP or with party organizations such as the Sturmabteilung, Hitler Youth or the National Labour Service, one notable example being Hitlerjunge Quex about the Hitler Youth. Another example is the anti-semitic feature film Jew Suss. The propaganda films that refer directly to Nazi politics amounted to less than a sixth of the whole national film production, which mainly consisted of light entertainment films.
For conceiving a Nazi film theory, Goebbels suggested as formative material the Hamburg Dramaturgy and Laokoon, or the Limitations of Poetry by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and also demanded "realistic characters" pointing to Shakespeare. Goebbels emphasized Lessing's idea that "not only imagining per se, but purposeful imagining, would prove the creative mind".
Emil Jannings wrote in 1942 in the National Socialist Monthly about the goal of showing men and women who can master their own fate as models for identification.
The authorities and NSDAP departments in charge of film policy were the film department of the Ministry of Propaganda, the Chamber of Culture, the Chamber of Film, and the film department of the Party Propaganda Department.
A system of "award" was used to encourage self-censorship; awarded for such things as "cultural value" or "value to the people", they remitted part of the heavy taxes on films. Up to a third of the films in the Third Reich received such awards.
Measures of the Nazi film policy
To subdue film to the goals of propaganda, the Nazi Party subordinated the entire film industry and administration under Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda, and gradually nationalized film production and distribution. A state-run professional school for politically reliable film-makers was founded, and membership of an official professional organization was made mandatory for all actors, film-makers, distributors, etc. The censorship that had already been established during World War I and the Weimar Republic was increased, with a National Film Dramaturgist pre-censoring all manuscripts and screenplays at the very first stages of production. Film criticism was prohibited and a national film award established.A film bank was established to provide low-interest loans for the production of politically welcome films, and such films also received tax benefits.
Film production
In the mid-1930s, the German film industry suffered the most severe crisis it had ever faced. There were multiple reasons for this crisis. Firstly, many of the most capable actors and film-makers had left the country after the rise to power of the Nazi government; others had been banned by the new Reichsfilmkammer.These people left a gap that the film industry could not easily fill. Secondly, the remaining actors and film-makers seized the opportunity to demand higher salaries, which considerably increased production budgets. Consequently, it became more and more difficult to recover production costs. Thirdly, the export of German films dramatically dropped due to international boycotts. In 1933, exports had covered 44% of film production costs; by 1937, this figure had dropped to 7%.
More and more production companies went bankrupt. The number of companies dropped from 114 to 79 to 38. This did not necessarily lead to a decrease in the number of new films, as surviving production companies became more prolific, producing many more films. Nazi companies went on to produce co-productions with companies of other countries: eight co-productions with the Kingdom of Italy, six co-productions with the French Third Republic, five co-productions with the Kingdom of Hungary, 5 co-productions with Czechoslovakia, 3 co-productions with Switzerland, two co-productions with the Second Polish Republic and the Empire of Japan, and one each with Francoist Spain, the United States,the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Sweden.
The consolidation of the film industry benefited the Nazi government. On the one hand, an ailing and unprofitable film industry would not have been of much use for the propaganda requirements. And on the other hand, a small number of big film production companies were easier to control than a multitude of small ones. Goebbels went even further and directed a holding company – Cautio Treuhand GmbH – to buy up the stock majorities of the remaining film production companies.
State subsidies to the film industry resulted in improved production values: average film production costs quintupled from 250,000 ℛℳ in 1933 to 1,380,000 ℛℳ in 1942. Ticket sales within the Reich quadrupled from 250 million in 1933 to more than a billion in 1942. Box office sales more than doubled from 441 million ℛℳ in 1938 to over 1 billion ℛℳ in 1942.
In 1937, the Cautio acquired the largest German production company, Universum Film AG, and in 1942 merged this company with the remaining companies – Terra Film, Tobis, Bavaria Film, Wien-Film and Berlin-Film – into the so-called Ufi-Group. With one stroke, the entire German film industry had been practically nationalized but remained nominally a private industry. Goebbels founded the Filmkreditbank GmbH in order to fund the industry but the funds came from private investors. The industry was forced to remain profitable to produce films that met the expectations of the audience.
Ufi was a successful, vertically integrated monopoly, covering the entire European film market under German hegemony, with foreign imports cut off. The company's profits surged, reaching 155 million ℛℳ in 1942 and 175 million ℛℳ in 1943.
Award-winning films
Officially honored films considered by the Third Reich to be "artistically valuable" by the state :| Year | Title |
| 1933 | S.A.-Mann Brand Hitlerjunge Quex i.e., Hitler Youth Quex Reifende Jugend i.e., Maturing Youth Flüchtlinge i.e., Refugees |
| 1934 | Ich für dich, du für mich i.e., I for you, you for me Der Schimmelreiter i.e., The Rider on the White Horse, based on the novella by Theodor Storm Der verlorene Sohn i.e., The Prodigal Son Der Herr der Welt i.e., Master of the World *Stoßtrupp 1917 i.e., Shock Troop 1917 Krach um Jolanthe i.e., Trouble with Jolanthe, based on a book by August Hinrichs |
| 1935 | *Hermine und die sieben Aufrechten i.e., Hermine and the Seven Upright Men Liebesleute – Hermann und Dorothea von Heute i.e., A Pair of Lovers – Hermann and Dorothea of today Mazurka Artisten Liebe geht – wohin sie will i.., Love goes – wherever it wants to *Der alte und der junge König i.e., The old and the young King *Das Mädchen Johanna i.e., Lass Joan, a film about the French heroine Joan of Arc Friesennot i.e., Frisians in Hardship Henker, Frauen und Soldaten i.e., Hangmen, Women and Soldiers, a film about two cousins, one fighting on the German side in the Freikorps, the other fighting on the bolshevist side *Liselotte von der Pfalz i.e., The Private Life of Louis XIV, about Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate Papageno *Der höhere Befehl i.e., The Higher Command |
| 1936 | Das Schönheitsfleckchen i.e., The Beauty Spot *Traumulus i.e., The Dreamer Drei Mäderl um Schubert i.e., Three Girls around Schubert, based on a novel by Rudolf Hans Bartsch Stadt Anatol i.e., City of Anatol Stärker als Paragraphen i.e., Stronger than Paragraphs Wenn der Hahn kräht i.e., When the cock crows Schlußakkord i.e., Final Chord Savoy Hotel 217, a crime story in the Russian Empire Fährmann Maria i.e., Ferryman Maria Glückskinder i.e., Lucky Kids 90 Minuten Aufenthalt i.e., 90-Minute-Stopver, a real time film about two friends, a German and a British criminal investigator who solve a case in Lisbon Der Dschungel ruft i.e., The Jungle Calls Der Bettelstudent i.e., The Beggar Student, based on the play by Carl Millöcker Allotria i.e., Tomfoolery *Der Kaiser von Kalifornien i.e., The Kaiser of California *Verräter i.e., The Traitor *Wenn wir alle Engel wären i.e., If We All Were Angels |
| 1937 | *Der Herrscher i.e., The Sovereign *Patrioten i.e., Patriots Mein Sohn, der Herr Minister i.e., My Son, the Government Minister, a comedy making fun of the parliamentary system Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war i.e., The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes Gewitterflug zu Claudia i.e., Stormy flight to Claudia *Der zerbrochene Krug i.e., The Broken Jug, based on the play by Heinrich von Kleist *Condottieri, about Cesare Borgia and Caterina Sforza *Die Tochter des Samurai i.e., The Daughter of the Samurai *Urlaub auf Ehrenwort |
| 1938 | Revolutionshochzeit i.e., Revolution-Marriage *Heimat Der Berg ruft i.e., The Mountain Calls, about the first ascent of the Matterhorn; based on a novel by Carl Haensel Das Verlegenheitskind Der Fall Deruga i.e., The Deruga Case, based on a novel by Ricarda Huch Mit versiegelter Order Liebelei und Liebe i.e., Flirtation and Love Napoleon ist an allem schuld i.e., Napoleon Is to Blame for Everything, about a man who studies Napoleon's biography and therefore neglects his wife Geheimzeichen LB 17 i.e., Secret Code LB 17 Verwehte Spuren i.e., Covered Tracks, Verklungene Melodie i.e., Faded Melody, ' i.e., Dance on the Volcano, about Jean-Gaspard Deburau *Der Katzensteg *Kautschuk i.e., Caoutchouc Die Umwege des schönen Karl i.e., The Roundabouts of Handsome Karl *Pour le Mérite |
| 1939 | Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht i.e., It was an Amazing Night at the Ball, a film about the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Der Schritt vom Wege i.e., The False Step, based on the novel Effi Briest by Theodor Storm Flucht ins Dunkel i.e., Escape in the Dark *Aufruhr in Damaskus i.e., Uproar in Damascus Ein ganzer Kerl i.e., A Real Man Johannisfeuer i.e., Midsummer Night's Fire, based on the book by Hermann Sudermann Der Florentiner Hut i.e., The Leghorn Hat, based on the play Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie by Eugène Marin Labiche Befreite Hände i.e., Liberated Hands Männer müssen so sein i.e., Men Have To Be That Way Hotel Sacher Opernball i.e., Opera Ball *+Robert Koch, der Bekämpfer des Todes i.e., Robert Koch, fighting death *Mutterliebe i.e., A Mother's Love |
| 1940 | Der Postmeister i.e., The Postmaster *Wunschkonzert i.e., Request Concert Wiener G'schichten i.e., Vienna Tales Die Geierwally i.e., The Vulture Wally, based on a novel by Wilhelmine von Hillern Das Herz der Königin i.e., The Heart of the Queen, about Mary, Queen of Scots *Friedrich Schiller – Der Triumph eines Genies i.e., Friedrich Schiller – The Triumph of a Genius *Feinde i.e., Enemies *Jud Süß *Bismarck |
| 1941 | Friedemann Bach, a film about Johann Sebastian Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Ich klage an i.e., I accuse *Mein Leben für Irland i.e., My Life for Ireland *Kampfgeschwader Lützow *Annelie Auf Wiedersehn, Franziska i.e., Goodbye, Franziska Quax, der Bruchpilot *Kopf hoch, Johannes! i.e., Cheer up, Johannes! Operette i.e., Operetta, about Franz Jauner and the establishment of the Viennese Operetta Immer nur Du i.e., You, always Die schwedische Nachtigall i.e., The Swedish Nightingale, about Jenny Lind and Hans Christian Andersen *Komödianten i.e., The Comedians **Ohm Krüger **Heimkehr i.e., Coming Home |
| 1942 | Wiener Blut i.e., Vienna Blood, a romantic comedy film about the Congress of Vienna *Zwei in einer großen Stadt i.e., Two in a Big City Die goldene Stadt i.e., The Golden City Rembrandt, about the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn Der große Schatten i.e., The Great Shadow Kleine Residenz i.e., Little residence *Hände hoch! i.e., Hands Up! *Diesel, about Rudolf Diesel +Anuschka Meine Frau Teresa i.e., My Wife Theresa *Andreas Schlüter, about sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter *Wen die Götter lieben i.e., Whom the Gods Love, about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart *Der Strom i.e., The River Die Nacht in Venedig i.e., The Night in Venice *+Die große Liebe i.e., The Great Love **Der große König i.e., The Great King **Die Entlassung i.e., The Dismissal Wir machen Musik i.e., We Make Music, about a composer whose idols are Johann Sebastian Bach and the like, but who himself fails as a composer of Art usic and then succeeds making popular music |
| 1943 | ' Romanze in Moll i.e., Romance in a Minor Key Der ewige Klang i.e., The Eternal Sound, about two brothers, a violinist and a violin maker, guest star: Georges Boulanger, singing: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Frauen sind keine Engel i.e., Women are not Angels +Immensee, based on the novella by Theodor Storm *Germanin – Die Geschichte einer kolonialen Tat i.e., Germanin – the history of a colonial deed, about the development of Suramin "to save Africa" from trypanosomiasis Altes Herz wird wieder jung i.e., Old heart rejuvenated Armer Hansi i.e., Poor Hansi, animated film by the Deutsche Zeichentrickfilme G.m.b.H Zirkus Renz, about the Circus Renz Damals i.e., Back Then *Wien 1910 i.e., Vienna 1910, about the mayor of Vienna Karl Lueger *Paracelsus, about the Swiss German philosopher Paracelsus Ein glücklicher Mensch i.e., A joyful person, about a famous chemistry professor, based on the play "Swedenhielms" by Hjalmar Bergman Der weiße Traum i.e., The White Dream Großstadtmelodie i.e., Melody of a Great City *Der unendliche Weg i.e., The Endless Road |
| 1944 | Der gebieterische Ruf i.e., The Masterful Calling Die Feuerzangenbowle i.e., The Punch Bowl *Philharmoniker i.e., Philharmonic Träumerei i.e., Dreaming, about Robert Schumann Das Herz muss schweigen Familie Buchholz i.e., The Buchholz Family, based on a novel by Julius Stinde Orientexpreß i.e., Orient Express +Neigungsehe i.e., Marriage of Affection Opfergang i.e., Way of Sacrifice |
| 1945 | **Kolberg'' |
Film distribution
A concentration also took place in the distribution field. In 1942, the Ufa-owned Deutsche Filmvertriebs GmbH took the place of all companies so far remaining. For the export of films to foreign countries special companies had been established such as the Cinéma Film AG.Since the days of the Weimar Republic, there had also existed an extensive system of educational film hire services which was extended under the Nazi administration. In 1943, there were 37 regional services and 12,042 city services. In parallel, the Party Propaganda Department ran its own network of educational film hire services which included 32 Gaue, 171 district, and 22,357 local services. All film hire services had extensive film collections as well as rental 16 mm film projectors available that made it possible to show films in any class or lecture room and at any group meeting of the Hitler Youth.
Cinemas
Apart from the Ufa-owned cinema chain, the cinemas were not nationalized. The majority of the 5,506 cinemas that existed in 1939 within the so-called Altreich were small companies run by private owners. However, a large number of rules and regulations issued by the Reichsfilmkammer limited the entrepreneurial freedom of the cinemas considerably. For instance, it was mandatory to include a documentary and a newsreel in every film programme. By a law of 1933 the government was also entitled to prohibit the presentation of foreign films. An import quota for foreign films had been set during the Weimar Republic, and during World War II, the import of films from certain foreign countries was completely prohibited. For example, from 1941 onwards, the presentation of American films became illegal.A quantitative comparison of the percentage of German movies screened vs. foreign movies screened shows the following numbers: in the last year of the Weimar Republic the percentage of German movies was 62%, and in 1939 in the Third Reich it was 77% while the number of cinema visits increased by the factor 2.5 from 1933 to 1939; on the contrary the percentage of for example American movies screened was reduced from 26% in 1932 to 14% in 1939; from 1933 to 1937 eleven US movies were considered "artistically valuable" by the Nazi authorities.
In order to boost the propaganda effect, the Nazis supported film shows in large cinemas with large audiences where the feeling of being part of the crowd was so overwhelming for the individual spectator that critical film perception had little chance. Film shows also took place in military barracks and factories. The Hitler Youth arranged special film programmes where newsreels and propaganda films were shown. In order to supply even rural and remote areas with film shows, the Party Propaganda Department operated 300 film trucks and two film trains that carried all the necessary equipment for showing films in, for example, village inns. The Nazis intended to use television as a medium for their propaganda once the number of television sets was increased, but television was able initially to reach only a small number of viewers, in contrast to radio. Only a small number of the Einheitsempfänger TV also called People's TV, were produced.
Film propaganda had the highest priority in Germany even under the severe conditions of the last years of World War II. While schools and playhouses stopped working in 1944, cinemas continued to operate until the very end of the war. In Berlin for instance, anti-aircraft units were posted specially to protect the local cinemas in 1944.
Star system
There always had been film stars in Germany, but a star system comparable to the star system in Hollywood did not yet exist. Various Nazi leaders denounced the star system as a Jewish invention. However, in order to improve the image of Nazi Germany, Goebbels made great efforts to form a star system. After Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo had gone to Hollywood and could not be persuaded to serve the National Socialist film industry as figureheads, new film stars were promoted.The best-known example is the Swedish actress Zarah Leander who was hired in 1937 by Ufa and became the most prominent and highest-paid German film star in only a few years. The publicity campaign for Leander was run by the press office of the Ufa, which concealed her past as a film actress already well known in Sweden and put their money right away on her charisma as a singer with an exceptionally deep voice. The Ufa press office provided the newspapers with detailed instructions on how the new star would have to be presented, and even the actress herself had to follow detailed instructions whenever she appeared in public. This kind of star publicity had not existed in Germany before.
Prominent politicians such as Hitler, Goebbels, and Hermann Göring appeared in public flanked by popular German film actors. The female stars in particular were expected to lend some glamour to the dry and male-dominated NSDAP events. Hitler's preferred dinner partners were the actresses Olga Tschechowa and Lil Dagover, and from 1935, Hermann Göring was married to the popular actress Emmy Sonnemann. The relationships of Goebbels to several female film stars are also notorious. Magda Goebbels left a screening of the film Die Reise nach Tilsit, because it seemed to her too close a telling of her husband's relationship with Lida Baarova, which had resulted in the actress being sent back to her native Czechoslovakia.
Personal proximity to the political leaders became a determining factor for the career success of film actors. An informal system of listings decided how frequently an actor would be cast. The five categories extended from "to cast at all costs even without a vacancy" to "casting under no circumstances welcome".
How crucial the film stars were for the image of the National Socialist government is also evident from the tax benefits that Hitler decreed in 1938 for prominent film actors and directors. From that time on, they could deduct 40% of their income as professional expenses.
The Nazi film theorist Fritz Hippler wrote in his 1942 book Contemplations on Film-Making: "Enough has been written as to whether "celebritism" is beneficial or harmful—but one way or the other, it cannot be denied that throughout the world a main motive of people going to the movies is to see the faces they know and love" and Hippler suggested that the stars to be chosen for Nazi cinema should have "European standard" and at the same time appeal to the "Germans' ideal of beauty", so that Germans could identify with them. Non-German actors in the Nazi cinema were, e.g., Zarah Leander, Marika Rökk, Lída Baarová, Pola Negri, Adina Mandlová, Johannes Heesters, Iván Petrovich, Laura Solari, Angelo Ferrari, Rossano Brazzi, Nikolay Fyodorovich Kolin, Boris Alekin, Igo Sym, Rosita Serrano. The Russian Victor Tourjansky and the Hungarian Géza von Bolváry were popular non-German directors.
In 1944, Joseph Goebbels issued a now infamous list with "irreplaceable artists" called the Gottbegnadeten list, which included people such as Arno Breker, Richard Strauss, and Johannes Heesters.
During World War II, German film stars supported the war effort by performing for the troops or by collecting money for the German Winter Relief Organization. Although most of the male stars were exempted from military service, some – such as the popular Heinz Rühmann – participated in the war as soldiers, often accompanied by newsreel film crews.