The reopening of movie theaters
On July 2nd, 1940, the Metzer Zeitung, the German newspaper that replaced Le Républicain Lorrain, announced the resumption of the cinematographic activities in Metz. Only one movie theater is concerned: the Palace germanised as Palast, located on Serpenoise street. Der Postmeister (140, Gustav Ucicky) is being screened. It was a recent film that premiered two months ago in the movie theater Capitol in Berlin. After a few days, it was the movie theater Vox that opened and screened the film Stern von Rio by Karl Anton, 1940.
In Strasbourg, German troops entered on June 18th, 1940. Movie theaters of the city reopened one month later, so that’s fifteen days after Metz: the RheinGold (previously Broglie-Palace) was the first movie theater to reignite projectors on July 19th, 1940. In the following weeks, two movie theaters in the city center and one near the suburb resumed their activities: the Capitol (previously Capitole), l’Union-Theater (U.-T) and the Löwen (previously Lion d’Or in Bischheim).
Unlike in Metz, where first screened films weren’t propaganda films, the people of Strasbourg discovered Leinen aus Irland (1939, Heinz Helbig), an explicit antisemitic film recommended by the Reich minister of Propaganda for “its political and artistic merit”. That said, the rest of the program will not be as ideologically charged. Indeed, seven of the ten movie theaters in the city center were screening a Musikfilm when they opened – a film genre much loved by the people of Strasbourg, and this was the case well before the annexation.
Photo 38 : AVES (50 MW 536) – A letter from the head of the ‘Cinema’ division of the Nazi civil administration in Alsace, addressed to the mayor of Strasbourg in January 1941, listing the cinemas that had been authorised to resume operations.
Photo 39 : BNUS – Newspaper Strassburger neueste Nachrichten on July 19th, 1940. Announcement of the reopening of movie theater Broglie and the screening of antisemitic film Leinen aus Irland. There is no doubt about the film’s antisemitic tone, as expressed by the journalist in his article the day after the screening: ‘The struggle between [the Jews’] unscrupulous thirst for power and greed, on the one hand, and righteousness and integrity, on the other.’
Photo 40 : DR – Movie theater Vox germanised as Gloria in Metz (Avenue Robert Schuman, actual Eden Residence).
Photo 41 : Archives cinématographiques de l’Est – Poster of Der Postmeister on the cover of Illustrierter Film-kurier n° 3098. Two months later, this film was also chosen to kick off the Paris film season.