III.

Nazi Germany

German cinema was already producing strongly nationalistic films when the Nazis took power in 1933, but it took on a more strident tone under the direction of the Minister for Propaganda, Josef Goebbels. Fictionalized biographies of Nazi heroes such as SA-Mann Brand (1933, directed by Franz Zeitz), Horst Wessel (1933, directed by Frank Wenzler), and Hitlerjunge Quex (1935, directed by Robert Stemmle) were unsuccessful and, although there is no absolute consistency, Geobbels subsequently limited direct propaganda to the newsreels. “Blut und Boden” (blood and earth) was his favoured style for the feature film, and while fewer than 20 per cent were direct propaganda, all German films of the period were compatible with Nazi ideology. In 1934, Leni Riefenstahl, at Hitler’s request, directed the feature-length documentary Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), a brilliantly staged production of a Nazi rally in Nuremberg. It alternates powerful emotional and quiet romantic images, to build up an intense rhythm that offers a seductive combination of intimacy and spectacle. This was followed by OIympiad (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938), a documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, remarkable for its use of camera movement and editing techniques previously associated with feature films. Anti-Semitism was promoted within feature films: Jüd Süss (1940, directed by Veit Harlan) and Die Rothschilds (1940, directed by Erich Waschneck) were made immediately after the outbreak of World War II and appear to be setting the stage for the monstrosities to come. With Der Ewige Jude (1940; The Eternal Jew), directed by Franz Hippler, documentary took on a new dimension. The film’s lies and fictitious statistics show Jews as the cause of all the evils in society, and it compares them to vermin. To the educated eye, it is transparently manipulative, but it is, nevertheless, fiercely powerful, intended less to persuade than to raise the fury of existing anti-Semites towards Jews; its primary function seems to have been to be shown to workers in concentration camps. Sowjet Paradies (1941; Soviet Paradise), directed by Friedrich Albat, shows life in Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, using similar techniques. These, although among the most notorious of Nazi racist films, are only examples. Many others were chillingly terrifying: Feuertaufel (1940; Baptism of Fire) displaces responsibility for the war from Germany to Britain, who by promising to protect Poland, encouraged the latter to defend itself against the overwhelming power of the Third Reich. Retribution is pledged in the film’s final promise of “bombs, bombs on England!”.