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Zarah Leander (1907-1981) The actress Zarah Leander was emblematic of the commercial strategy pursued by the Nazis in the 1930s. They wanted actresses able to compete with Hollywood stars, such as Marlene Dietrich or Swedish actress Greta Garbo. Zarah Leander was born in 1907 in Sweden. She started her artistic career at the end ofContinue reading “Panneau_AN_5”

Goebbels wanted to compete with Hollywood and make the German cinema the most important of Europe. He wanted a Nazi Hollywood. Then German studios copied American ways of working like the production and promotion of stars, the creation of popular film in the aim to attire a big audience. However, the German industry struggled toContinue reading “Panneau_AN_4_bis”

Cinema: a cultural industry under control Even if the cinema wasn’t an industry like the others, this business sector wanted, like the others, to make money. And making a film requires a lot of money, even under Nazism. Maybe even more under a regime who saw this art like a way to enlighten and educateContinue reading “Panneau_AN_4”

Jud Süß (Veit Harlan – 1940) Masterpiece of the antisemitic imagination, Jud Süß, directed by Veit Harlan, was ordered by the Reich minister of propaganda in 1939. It deals with the rise and fall of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, a Jewish merchant born in Heidelberg in 1692, who became minister of finance to Charles-Alexander, duke ofContinue reading “Panneau_AN_3_bis”

A cinema in service of the nazi’s ideology The cinema, because he can touch the population directly in the heart, become the Nazi regime’s preferred instrument. It’s the perfect tool to instil the ideology and contribute to the Gleichschaltung of the German society (Nazification of the society). Thanks to the control of Goebbel on theContinue reading “Panneau_AN_3”

This new law created also the Filmprüfstelle, the film assessment committee. It worked after the film was completed and it was charged to verify that the film was conform to the pre-approved script by the Reichsfilmdramaturg. The committee decided to forbid the film or could ask to modify it. The Filmprüfstelle also decided the ratingContinue reading “Panneau_AN_2_bis”

Previously unseen control and censor in the cinema’s history As soon as the Nazis coming to power in 1933, they quickly took the control of the cinema. Joseph Goebbels, who was – like Hitler – a lover of cinema, was named Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in March 1933. He took under hisContinue reading “Panneau_AN_2”

Weimar’s cinema, named after the German Republic between 1919 and 1933, wasn’t just expressionist films. At the instigation of U.F.A, it developed an innovative cinema, increasingly popular that it attired productors from Hollywood who searched to recruit German actors and actress. This was the case, for example, with the director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, who directedContinue reading “Panneau_AN_1_bis”

German cinema under Nazism: a propaganda and entertainment tool From Weimar to Hitler: Spotlight on German cinema In its early years (≈1895-1900), cinema in Germany is mainly a fairground thing, as in other countries where it is emerging. It developed slowly at the beginning of the 20th century but remained less organised from an industrialContinue reading “Panneau_AN_1”

In the shadow of the annexed Cinemas. Cinema and Propaganda in Alsace and Moselle -1940-1945) After the lost Battle of France in June 1940, Alsace and Moselle are annexed by force by the Nazi regime. Alsace is attached to the neighbouring administrative district of Baden to form the Gau Baden-Elsass, and Moselle to the Saar-PalatinateContinue reading “Panneau_AN_introduction”