Anti-semitic, Anti-British, and other propaganda

Identifier
irn1003694
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2005.64.1
  • RG-60.4236
Dates
1 Jan 1941 - 31 Dec 1941
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

The excerpt opens on a group of well-fed people around a table eating a sumptious dinner. They complain about rationing as they eat. A young boy dressed in a Hitler Youth uniform comes in and stands at the door listening, where he is joined by the maid. She says that if people don't give things up for the war, then it will end up as it was in 1918. The boy says, "yes, and they are waiting for that in London." The next scene, which is set in London, shows a group of German Jews meeting with a representative of the BBC. The Englishman leaves in frustration after voicing his opinion that the propganda spread so far by the Jews has been useless against Nazi Germany. One of the men says that the pact between Moscow and the fascist countries has caused their plans to come undone (see notes). Another replies that they must simply issue another piece of propaganda every day until the German people are driven crazy. The "Jews" then suggest several rumors, including that bodies are manufactured into soap, that Hitler has been shot, and that great demonstrations are taking place in Germany. The next scene shows a "Jew" reading the German language news into a BBC microphone. He reports that the catastrophic failure of German foreign policy has brought the country to a crisis; that the Westwall defenses on the banks of the Rhine had to be evacuated because of a plague of rats; that there is a strike in German factories; and that the Nazis have ordered the slaughter of cats and dogs for meat, resulting in demonstrations that were broken up with tear gas. The next scenes of the film show these assertions to be false: the Westwall, people happily at work in munitions factories, plentiful supplies of meat. The next scene shows a man in a crowded shop. He attempts to buy more food than he needs and is accused by another customer of "Hamsterei" (hoarding). The last part of the excerpt begins with two men speaking on the telephone. One tells the other that he represents an armaments manufacturer and needs workers, regardless of whether they are men or women. The other man assures him he will get his workers and sets about finding them. Shot of a pile of cards issued by the Arbeitsamt, informing the recipients that they should report to the factory for work, then various people as they receive the card, and their reactions: some indicate contempt and others that they will willingly do what is asked of them. Over a montage of several scenes from throughout the film, a voiceover says, "These are saboteurs!" Another voice answers, "Saboteurs? No. They are people who have not joined in with the community..." Shots of people who willingly participate in the community and for their country: lines of volunteers; young men and women harvesting potatoes and doing other farm work; a female ticket-taker on a tram and a female factory worker. The last scenes show armaments being maufactured and military planes taking off and flying overhead.

Note(s)

  • The entry in the Cinematography of the Holocaust record for this film indicates that there is no censor card for it and it is not mentioned in the publications on Phil Jutzi, the director. This is presumably due to the mention of Germany's alliance with the USSR and the fact that Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the same year the film was produced. It was not distributed in Germany for this reason. See deparmental files for the Cinematography of the Holocaust's record, which also included a transcription (in German) of some of the dialogue between the BBC "Jews". Other credit: Music: Rudolf Perak. From 01:14:40 to 01:14:53 there is sound but no visual. USHMM clip is 271 meters; full length of film at Bundesarchiv is 364 meters.

Subjects

Places

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.