Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements This book would not have been possible without archives. Several visits to the German Federal Archives in Berlin- Lichterfelde, Freiburg and Koblenz were necessary to be able to trace evidence of Hitler’s film viewing and interventions. Denazification files held at the State Archives in Freiburg shed light on Leni Riefenstahl. Material relating to post-war trials of the director of Jew Süss, Veit Harlan, held at the State Archives in Hamburg shed light on that film and Harlan’s involvement. The Regional Archive of North Rhine- Westphalia proved a useful source of information on Fritz Hippler, responsible for making several Nazi films, including The Eternal Jew. Berlin’s Regional Archive contains denazification material on a number of Third Reich directors and actors. Invaluable information relating to Hitler’s film viewing was also found at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich. Foreign Office files in Berlin were also consulted, as were the Gerdy Troost papers held at the Library of Congress in Washington, which provided insights into Hitler’s involvement with the film company Bavaria. Every one of these archives provided me with all the support I could have wished for, and for this I am truly grateful. Above all I am grateful to Dr Elizabeth Ward, who acted as my research assistant x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS while I was researching the book. She spent as much time in archives as I did, and identified important material. Her interest in the project meant a lot. Thanks are due also to Heather McCallum of Yale University Press for suggesting the project, and for her patience throughout: I very much appreciate her support of my work over the years. I benefited hugely both from Heather’s and Marika Lysandrou’s comments on earlier drafts of this book, as well as from those of Yale’s external readers. I would also like to thank Nottingham Trent University both for granting me research leave when it was most needed and for providing financial support. Financial support was also generously provided by the Humboldt Foundation in Germany; this enabled me to undertake an important two- week research trip to Berlin. My wife, Helena, has had to endure my various research topics over the years and, to help me with this book, she sat through several Nazi films that were, to put it mildly, not very entertaining. As often was the case in the past, her observations helped to shape my thoughts. For this, I am more grateful than I can say. Thanks, too, go to Dr Paul Moore of Leicester University for inviting me to speak on the topic of the book, and for the comments made by students and other members of the audience after- wards. They inspired me to think some matters through more thoroughly. Nottingham, May 2017 xi 1 Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen (1924) was possibly Hitler’s favourite film. The story of Siegfried, speared in the back by Hagen, resonated with Hitler because it seemed to anticipate the supposed ‘betrayal’ of the German army by democratic politicians in November 1918. 2 Hitler greatly admired Greta Garbo, and he personally intervened in September 1937 to ensure that Camille, an American film starring Garbo, would be shown in German cinemas despite the fact that its director, George Cukor, was Jewish. 3 Goebbels gave Hitler a present of twelve Mickey Mouse films for Christmas in 1937. Hitler was delighted by the gift. He also ordered up Mickey Mouse films through his personal adjutant, Wilhelm Brückner. 4 A still from John G. Blystone’s Swiss Miss (1938), starring Laurel and Hardy, whose films Hitler greatly enjoyed. The humour of Laurel and Hardy owes much to the pre-talkies era, and Hitler, who was sceptical of film dialogue, appreciated the visuality of their films. 5 Hitler welcoming the return of the Legion Condor in Berlin, 1939. Hitler provided military support to Franco in the Spanish Civil War, but kept this secret. He commissioned a film on the Legion Condor which was shown to German audiences when the Legion returned, in 1939, in an attempt to justify its involvement. 6 Hitler consulting with Leni Riefenstahl at Nuremberg prior to the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. He met with Riefenstahl several times to discuss her film of this rally, Triumph of the Will, which he commissioned from her. Following the purge of the SA, Hitler needed a new rally film which would emphasise the SA’s loyalty to him. 7 Scene from Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1935). Riefenstahl’s second rally film, even more than her first (Victory of Faith), provided spectacular views of Hitler standing at the centre of massed Nazi organisations, suggesting a deep bond between Führer and followers. 8 The premiere of Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia, her film of the 1936 Olympic Games, at the Ufa Palace in Berlin, 20 April 1938. Nazi flags and Olympic flags hang side by side. Olympia created the illusion that Nazi Germany was a movement tolerant of the outside world. 9 Hitler congratulates Riefenstahl at the premiere of Olympia in Berlin, 20 April 1938. Riefenstahl ensured that Olympia was first shown on Hitler’s birthday. This was a good marketing ploy on her part, but it also meant that the film was immediately associated with Hitler and his political interests. 10 Hitler and Goebbels on the set of Gerhard Lamprecht’s film Barcarole in early 1935. It was probably during this visit to Ufa’s film studios that Hitler met Lída Baarová, a Czech actress. She may have reminded him of his half-niece Angela Raubal, who committed suicide in 1931. 11 When Goebbels’ relationship with Lída Baarová threatened to ruin his exemplary Nazi marriage, Hitler insisted he break off the affair, which Goebbels reluctantly did. After Baarová left Germany for Prague, she struggled to find work in German films, and Hitler intervened in an attempt to help her out. 12 A still from Victory in the West (1941), a Nazi propaganda film about the conquest of France. It was made by the army, not the Propaganda Ministry. Goebbels and Hitler took exception to its unideological celebration of the soldier’s life, and Hitler reacted by increasing Nazi propaganda within the Armed Forces. 13 Otto Gebühr as Frederick the Great in Veit Harlan’s The Great King (1942). This was one of a number of Nazi ‘genius’ films, which suggested parallels between great historical figures and Hitler. Hitler used The Great King, which depicts vacillating generals, to give his own generals a dressing down. 14 Ferdinand Marian as the title character in the notorious anti-Semitic feature film Jew Süss (1940), directed by Veit Harlan. Jew Süss brings to the screen many of the anti-Semitic cliches in Hitler’s My Struggle. Harlan’s film was used to support the Nazi ghettoisation, deportation and genocide of Jews. 15 Advertising for the Nazi ‘documentary’ The Eternal Jew (1940). Images from it and Jew Süss ‘were endlessly replicated in Nazi anti-Semitic posters or publications, all over the Reich and occupied Europe’ (Saul Friedländer). The Eternal Jew includes an excerpt from Hitler’s 30 January 1939 speech threatening the annihilation of the Jews. 16 Hitler in the last Nazi newsreel, March 1945. Over the course of the war, Hitler became more and more reluctant to show himself in Nazi newsreels: he was afraid audiences would notice signs of ill health. Here, he is seen receiving members of the Hitler Youth. The newsreel implies that the Reich’s defence now depends on youngsters. 17 Henny Porten, one of Hitler’s favourite actresses. She had made a deep impression on Hitler when he saw her for the first time on screen while on leave in Lille during the First World War. During the Third Reich, she refused to divorce her ‘half-Jewish’ husband Wilhelm von Kaufmann-Asser, and appealed to Hitler for help. xii.

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