NAZI IDEOLOGY AND THE FEATURE FILMS OF THE THIRD REICH by Timothy W. Stephens A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL STUDIES WINNIPEG, MANITOBA ocroBER, 1992 N,{onarLibrav Bibliothèque nationale Eg'E du Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliographic Services Branch des services bibliograPhiques 395 Wellington St¡'eet 395, rue Wellington Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (Ontario) K1A ON4 K1A ON4 Yout l¡le volrc télé(ence Our lìle Not.e rélérence The author has granted an L'auteur a accordé une licence irrevocable non-exclus¡ve licence irrévocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant à la Bibliothèque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell cop¡es of reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa thèse in any form or format, making de quelque manière et sous this thesis available to interested quelque forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette thèse à la disposition des person nes i ntéressées. The author retains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propriété du the copyright in his/her thesis. droit d'auteur qu¡ protège sa Neither the thesis nor substantial thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent être imprimés ou his/her permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. TEEå¡ ø-'JTN-77747-E Canadä NAZI IDEOLOGY AND THE FEATURE FÏLMS OF THE THIRD REICH BY TIMOTHY I^T. STEPIIENS A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of G¡aduate Studies of the University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirocnents for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS @ 7992 Ps:¡tission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF TI{E tINTIaERSITY OF IvÍANTTOBA to lend or sell copies of this Lhesis, to the NATIONAL LIBRÄRY OF CAMDA to mic¡ofilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and IINTITERSITY MICROFILMS to pubtish an abstact of this thesis. The auttror tesen¡es other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the autho/s perrrission For my parents, whose encouragement and support were invaluable to me. Also, for my dear friend Benny craman. you are remembered and loved_ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Professor Davis Daycock of the Department of Political Studies for his invaluable suggestions and criticisms throughout the preparation of this thesis. I would also like to thank Professor George Knysh for his suggestions and criticism. ln addition, I am extremely grateful to my parents for their endless patience, advice and understanding. lnfluence is not only a sure sign that something is art, but the degree of influence is also the only measure of the value of art. -Tolstoy We are convinced that films constitute one of the most modern and scientific means of inf luencing the masses. Therefore a government must not neglect them. loseph Goebbels Public opinion as we understand it cannot exist in a police state; its place is taken by an official image of the world expressed through the medía of mass communications. -David Welch AB STRACT This thesis attempts to answer several questions regarding the use of feature films in the Third Reich to convey Nazi ideology. Primarily, the feature film of Nazi Germany is analyzed as a reflection of the National Socialist Weltanschauung. The economic, political and ideological history of the pre- 1933 German cinema is considered, along with the relationship between the powerful sectors of the German film industry and Joseph Goebbels. The traditional viewpoint that Nazi film policy represented a break with the film industry's pre-1933 era is examined. Further, the operation and interrelationship of ideological apparatuses such as the Reicilsministerium für völksaufklärung und Propaganda, the Reichsfilmkammer and the Reichskulturkammer are analyzed to determine their impact on the Nazi feature film. Specifically, Goebbels' relationship with the film industry is analyzed to determine whether it was hostile and forceful or mutually cooperative. Goebbels'views on art and film propaganda are also examined to determine if Goebbels wanted the cinema to produce apolitical entertainment films, basic propaganda films, feature films with National Socialist characteristics, or some combination thereof. Finally, an analysis of various feature films is performed to determine their National Socialist ideological content, and a particular attempt is made to analyze the selected feature films within their original socio-political, historical and ideological conjuncture. It is this author's conclusion that at least some, probably most, and possibly all Nazi feature films demonstrate aspects of the Nazi Weltanschauung in varying degrees of intensity. Goebbels did not wish to replace feature films with crude propaganda films, but sought to use the feature film as a major method of ideological indoctrination: to this end he created powerful and extensive ideological apparatuses and established close ties with the major political and financial interests within film industry. Far from representing a major break with the film industry's past, the operation of the industry during the Third Reich represented an intensification of existing monopolistic trends for the purpose of establishing the German film industry as an equally profitable and ideologically powerful enterprise. It is the author's belief that a chronological survey of events, followed by an analysis of statistics and government statements and a review of selected feature films is the best approach to fulfilling the thesis' objectives. Wherever possible, the author has tried to rely upon well-documented, factually accurate and unbiased sources. ilt TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ¡ 't CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: THE GERMAN FILM INDUSTRY TO 1933 14 CHAPTER 3: GOEBBELS AND THE GERMAN FILM INDUSTRY 25 3.1: Goebbels, Hitler and the use of film propaganda 25 3.2: The Early Years: 1933-36 34 3.3: The Crisis Returns 48 3.4: The Nationalized Film lndustry: 1937-42 52 CHAPTER 4: PROPAGANDA AND THE VIEWING CONJUNCTURE 66 CHAPTER 5: ENEMIES OF THE REICH 72 5.10: Racism and the lnternational Conspiracy of Enemies 72 5.1 1 : Anti-Semitic Films 74 5.12: The British: Friend or Foe? 85 5.13: The Soviets 92 5.1 4. Anti-Reich Elements 96 5.141: The Anti-Polish Campaign 97 5.142: The "Euthanasia" Films 101 CHAPTER 6: DER FUHRER 107 CHAPTER 7: BLOOD AND SOIL 119 CHAPTER B: PARTY FILMS 129 CHAPTER 9: KOLBERG: THE LAST FILM DER NATION 146 CHAPTER 10: CONCLUSION 156 BIBLIOGRAPHY 163 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION An integral part of political studies must concern the analysis of visual images created by political organizations. As political activity has become increasingly visually-oriented with the advent of mass media technology, the images created by governments and other groups contain growing amounts of valuable information about world outlook, political programs and ideologies. Perhaps nowhere is this better demonstrated than by the National Socialist use of the cinema to indoctrinate the German people and those under Nazi rule with the official Nazi world outlook or Weltanschauung. Despíte its enormously evil nature, the National Socialist movement recognized the value of powerful images and made a pioneering effort in the political use of film. Other elements of the mass media were not neglected in the mad quest to shape the spirit of the German volk,but like Lenin, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, believed that film was the most powerful instrument of ideological indoctrination. Since National Socialism was an enormously visual and iconographic movement, and especially since the cinema was Goebbels' preferred method of ideological persuasion, the study of Nazi cinema should warrant considerable attention. However only recently have political researchers turned to film as a means to enrich their understanding of the Nazi Weltanschauung. Compared to the masses of general literature on National Socialism, little has been written about the use of cinema as an ideological instrument. The comprehension of the Nazi movement suffers from this lack of research, since the feature films of the Third Reich offer an informative visual account of the extremely eclectic and pragmatic Nazi political programme and Weltanschauung that were ultimately 2 subordinated to Hitler's leadership. Although some authors recognize the importance of films in deciphering the Nazi Weltanschauung, much research contains biases and subjective analyses that hinder the study of this important part of National Socialism. David Hull's Film In the Third Reich is the clearest example of the subjective, biased approach that claims to demonstrate how Goebbels' forcefully subverted an industry that "seems to have ignored politics as much as possible...".1 According to Hull, "...the industry was in a state of shock within a few months of the establishment of the Nazi government."2, while "cautious revolt was in the air in various artistic fields.".3 Hull also states that prior to 30 January, 1933, "...the industry organizations were difficult to infiltrate and control.".4 ln his analysis of Nazi Spielfilme, or feature films, Hull injects extremely subjective remarks such as "corny", "pure trash", "bizarce", and so on, and does not consider the ideological significance of Nazi features