Alfred Bauer

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Alfred Bauer (born November 18, 1911 in Würzburg , † October 19, 1986 in Berlin ) was a German lawyer and film historian . From 1951 to 1976 he was director of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) .

Life

Alfred Bauer was the son of Fritz Bauer , who later became the State Librarian of the University of Würzburg . Even before studying law and art history , Bauer began building up a collection of film literature. He received his doctorate in 1938. jur. with a thesis on film law. At unknown times he joined the NSDAP , the SA and other National Socialist organizations. After three years as a soldier, he joined Ufa (UFI) in 1942 . Before he could be hired, he needed a declaration of his political suitability for the Propaganda Ministry , which the local group Würzburg-Süd of the NS-Gau Mainfranken wrote to him: Bauer was “an eager SA man” and it was “a full commitment to the state and the movement ] expect ".

From 1942 to 1945, Bauer was employed as a consultant in the Reichsfilmkammer and assigned to the 20-strong Reichsfilmintendanz founded in 1942 . As such, he was involved in the selection of exemptions from military service for filmmakers (indispensable positions for filmmakers) .

From 1945 onwards, Bauer worked for the British military government as a film advisor. In 1950 he published the German Feature Film Almanac 1929–1950 , which was based on his experience in the Reichsfilmintendanz. "Thanks to his work in the Reichsfilmkammer and the UFI, Bauer was able to collect the officially established staff details for the feature films produced during the Nazi era, from which he compiled the Almanach [ German Feature Film Almanac 1929–1950 ]". Immediately afterwards he began planning its sequel, but for professional reasons he was only able to publish it in 1981 as the German Feature Film Almanac Volume 2: 1946–1955 .

In the summer of 1951 the first film festival opened in Berlin and Alfred Bauer was appointed as its director. The Berlinale was founded on the initiative of the Jewish US film officer Oscar Martay . From the beginning there were protests against Bauer's appointment - with a view to his work in the Reichsfilmkammer - but these were nipped in the bud by the American occupation forces.

As early as 1973 - that is, while Bauer was still in office - the film historian Wolfgang Becker (1943–2012) pointed out that Alfred Bauer had worked in the Reichsfilmintendanz and was one of its two speakers there. Hans C. Blumenberg (1993), Felix Moeller (1998) and Tereza Dvořáková and Ivan Klimeš (2008) also drew attention to this close involvement with the Reichsfilmintendanz and thus with the Nazi propaganda apparatus , without any reactions from the German or international press would.

Bauer's work was due to the growth of the Berlinale Festival and its early international recognition. In 1976 Bauer retired and handed over the office to Wolf Donner . In the same year he received the gold film tape for many years of outstanding work in German film.

Alfred Bauer Prize

After Bauer's death in 1986, the film festival donated the “Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize ”. It was awarded from 1987 during the Berlinale for a feature film that opened up new perspectives in film art. At the end of January 2020, shortly before the start of the new Berlinale, the Berlinale leadership decided to suspend the award. The role of Bauer in National Socialism had been unknown to the current Berlinale management until then. The weekly newspaper Die Zeit referred to research by the amateur film scholar Ulrich Hähnel and found that Bauer had an influential position in the Nazi propaganda bureaucracy.

In an interview with the newspaper Die Welt , the film historian Armin Jäger largely contradicted this representation. For him, the essential facts were known earlier. He described Bauer as an opportunistic bureaucrat, but he was not a decisive figure and certainly not the master of life and death. "My impression was that he was more of a coordinator and recorder of production processes, but not someone who made independent decisions." However, he considered the renaming of the price named after Bauer to be justified.

In February 2020, the Berlinale leadership commissioned the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich to research Alfred Bauer's position in the Nazi power apparatus. The results of the investigation are expected in summer 2020.

Fonts

  • The dictatorial tutelage of German filmmaking by the Nazi regime - How was a film made in Nazi Germany. Typewritten manuscript, p. 6; Federal Archives: R 109 I / 1726 (probably printed in F: Filmjournal, No. 17, 1979, pp. 17–22, 48.)
  • German Feature Film Almanac 1929–1950. The standard work of German film. Edition on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the German sound film. Film Blätter-Verlag, Berlin-Zehlendorf 1950. New edition: Filmladen Winterberg, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-921612-00-4 .
  • German Feature Film Almanac, Vol. 2: 1946–1955. A guide through the German-language film production of the first 10 post-war years in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Austria and Switzerland . Filmbuchverlag Winterberg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-921612-01-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Alfred Bauer case: The Berlinale legend and its dark Nazi past . Focus from January 31, 2020
  2. ↑ The letter from the local group states, among other things: The family situation of the person asked is in order. He is a modest, undemanding man, his moral and moral behavior was impeccable. Dr. Before he was called up, Bauer was an avid SA man. Attendance at the meetings has always been a good one. His political stance is impeccable and he is expected to continue to show his full commitment to the state and the movement. Hail Hitler!
  3. ^ Berlinale director Alfred Bauer: "An eager SA man". Katja Nicodemus in conversation with Doris Schäfer-Noske in the program Kultur heute on January 29, 2020 on Deutschlandfunk .
  4. ↑ Hans-Michael Bock, Wolfgang Jacobsen (Ed.): Research film: Sources and methods of film research. Edition Text + Critique, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-88377550-9 , p. 137.
  5. ↑ Berlinale website
  6. ↑ Doris Furstenberg: Restructured: 50 years of war in Steglitz. Kunstamt Steglitz, 1995, ISBN 3-89468176-4 , p. 149.
  7. ^ Wolfgang Becker: Film und Herrschaft: organizational principles and organizational structures of the National Socialist film propaganda. Spiess, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-92088905-3 , p. 199.
  8. ↑ Hans C. Blumenberg: Life goes on: the last film of the Third Reich. Rowohlt, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-87134062-6 , p. 193.
  9. ^ Felix Moeller: The film minister: Goebbels and the film in the Third Reich. Henschel Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3894872985 , p. 109.
  10. ^ Tereza Dvořáková, Ivan Klimeš: Prag-Film AG 1941–1945 in the field of tension between Protectorate and Reich cinematography. edition text + kritik, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88377950-8 , p. 103.
  11. ↑ Film Festival price suspended… In: zeit.de , January 29, 2020 (accessed January 30, 2020).
  12. ↑ Katja Nicodemus in conversation with Doris Schäfer-Noske: Berlinale director Alfred Bauer “An eager SA man” . Deutschlandfunk website of January 29, 2020, accessed on February 5, 2020
  13. ↑ Katja Nicodemus: “A zealous SA man” - Alfred Bauer was the first director of the Berlinale… In: zeit.de, January 29, 2020, accessed on January 30, 2020, - issue 6/2020, p. 49 f.
  14. ↑ Hanns-Georg Rodek With the founding of the Federal Republic, actually all Nazis come back . In: Die Welt from February 1, 2020
  15. ↑ Berlinale commissions reports on Alfred Bauer. Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 18, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Bauer, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film historian
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurzburg
DATE OF DEATH October 19, 1986
Place of death Berlin