Anti-Jewish propaganda film: rich Jews; "degenerate" art; prominent Weimar Jews

Identifier
irn1002477
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2001.359.1
  • RG-60.3290
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1940
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

A propaganda film declared as a "documentary film contribution about the problem of world Judaism," in which antisemitic stereotypes are disseminated by the Nazis, including scenes showing: Poland as a nesting place for Judaism; the comparison of Jews with rats; the difference between Jews and Aryans; "international crime"; "financial Judaism"; "assimilated Jews"; the Jewish influence on economics, culture, and politics; and Jewish religious practice with a portrayal of haggling and misused sacred Jewish texts. REEL 5 An animated diagram illustrating the population of Germany, with the narration: "For every thousand struggling Germans there were ten Jews, who were always united in one common aim in genuine or feigned rivalry - collective exploitation of the Germans." The German populace is represented by many white figures covering the map of Germany, while the Jews are depicted as black figures that appear and then disperse among the Germans. The animation diagrams illustrate the number of professional occupations -- judges, lawyers, prosecutors, doctors - that were dominated by Jews in 1933. 00:36:11 The commentary notes comparative average wages. "While millions of native Germans were unemployed and in distress, immigrant Jews had in a few years gained fantastic fortunes." Film of Germans living in make-shift homes and women scavenging for coal. The title "Inflation" is followed by footage of bank notes and then by stills of Jewish businessmen Willy and Leo Sklarek, Iwan Kutisker, Julius Barmat, Franz von Mendelssohn and Ludwig Katzenellenbogen. Film of classical sculptures, and famous paintings, including Botticelli's "Venus", Michelangelo's "Creation" and Cranach's "Madonna Under the Apple Tree", with an organ playing Bach in the background. Narration: "Jews are at their most dangerous when they meddle in a people's culture, religion and art." 00:38:10 Film of modern "degenerate" art including paintings by Nolde ("The Lost Paradise"), F. F. Kaiser, George Grosz, Paul Kleinschmidt and Otto Dix, woodcuts and sculptures. Film of primitive art sculptures cuts to brief images of black entertainers, while the music shifts to African music. Narration: "These fevered fantasies of incurably sick intellects were once presented to public opinion by Jewish art theorists as the highest manifestation of art." The narrator continues with a litany of the German cultural enterprises (music, architecture, sculpture) that have been brought low by the Jews. This is accompanied by stills of examples of degenerate art. 00:39:10 Black performers (a male banjo player and female singer) are separately juxtaposed next to African-style sculptures and the interior of a German theater, respectively. Still photographs of prominent Jews from the Weimar period: Alfred Kerr, Kurt Tucholsky and Magnus Hirschfeld. After the still of Hirschfeld appear several sexually provocative publications, one stacked on top of the other. 00:40:06 Immediately following is a still of Albert Einstein, whom the narrator dubs "The relativity-Jew Einstein, who hid his hatred of Germany behind obscure pseudoscience." A still of Leo Kestenberg is followed by representations from Weimar-era theater: advertisements for burlesque-type stage shows ("A Thousand Naked Women!!"). Stills of: Hermann Haller, Rudolf Nelson, Alfred and Fritz Rotter, James Klein, Max Reinhardt and "Jewish comics" such as Max Ehrlich, Paul Morgan, Max Hansens. "And it is no different with film": stills or footage of: Richard Oswald, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti, Curt Bois, who, the narrator notes, "enjoying himself in a particularly perverse portrayal" appears in drag, makes himself up to go out on stage, and does so on the arm of a woman dressed as a man.

Note(s)

  • Censor date: November 1, 1940. Other credits: Script: based on an idea by Eberhard Taubert; Music: Franz R. Friedl; Editing: Hans Dieter Schiller, Albert Baumeister; Narration: Harry Giese; Tricks and maps: Svend Noldan. Note: The film contains newsreel scenes from Ufa-Tonwoche 471/1939 (Poles fleeing German troops), Ufa-Tonwoche 472/1939 and Ufa-Tonwoche 474/1939 (ghetto scenes, forced labor by Jews), and Ufa-Tonwoche 439/1939 (Reichstag speech of Hitler). It also contains scenes from "The House of Rothchild" (USA, 1934) by Alfred L. Werker, the Zionist movie "Land der Verheissung" (Germany, 1934) by Juda Leman (Jews in Palestine), and of "Triumph des Willens. Das Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934" (Germany 1935) by Leni Riefenstahl (Germanic Aryan faces, Nazi flags, Germans marching). See Film and Video departmental files for extensive documentation and a summary of the film. See Stories 3286 to 3293, Film ID 2503 for entire film "Der Ewige Jude." See also Stories 898 and 899 on Film ID 31 and Story 2768 on Film ID 2459.

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.