Until five past twelve - Adolf Hitler and the 3rd Reich
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Until five past twelve - Adolf Hitler and the 3rd Reich |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1953 |
| length | 70 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12, originally 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard von Schenk |
| script | Gerhard Grindel |
| production | Rapid Film ( Wolf C. Hartwig ) |
| cut | Bert Rudolf |
| occupation | |
Until five past twelve - Adolf Hitler and the 3rd Reich is a German documentary film that shows the rise of the National Socialists from the First World War to 1933 and the rule of the National Socialists from 1933 to 1945 with the total destruction of Germany as a result.
content
The film begins with the First World War and ends in 1945. Without exception, recordings from this period were used that came from newsreels in various countries. Previously unpublished scenes about the private lives of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were also shown for the first time. Originally the film was built into a framework story.
The off- comment begins with the words: “This film [...] is a document of the delusion that tore an entire people and a whole world into disaster on its way to power. This film depicts the ordeal of a generation that only ended five past twelve. "
Controversy over the release
The film produced in the Chronos-Studio in Munich, although it followed the pattern of interpretation widespread in the young Federal Republic of portraying the Germans as victims of a criminal Nazi clique, was only issued after three reviews by the voluntary self-regulation of the film industry in October and November 1953 released to delete the frame story and make certain cuts. High-ranking ministerial officials were present at these meetings and for various reasons advised against the release. Franz Rowas , film advisor at the German Foreign Office , saw the film as a threat to European unification. Carl-Heinz Lüders from the Ministry of the Interior declared that the masses of the German people were not yet ready for democracy. A film like this could look like Pandora's box .
However, the FSK working committee considered the film to be portable if overly captivating parts were cut. On November 6, 1953, the examiners released the abridged version.
At the meeting of the Federal Cabinet on November 17, 1953, Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer complained that until five past twelve was hidden propaganda for National Socialism and against the European Defense Community . A performance in Germany or even abroad would seriously endanger the laborious work of four years of foreign policy. Adenauer wanted to have the film banned because it consistently saw and heard generals of the Wehrmacht together with Hitler, right up to the "bitter end" for them, the liberation of Germany by the Allies. This disrupted Adenauer's plans for rearmament , for which he courted these very people.
The film premiered on November 20, 1953 in Cologne, but immediately afterwards was banned by Federal Interior Minister Gerhard Schröder in agreement with the interior ministers of the federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany. The state interior ministers, who were the only ones who could order a performance ban under police law, found the film to be suitable “to revive Nazi endeavors in politically insufficiently experienced circles and thereby destroy the internal peace in our people.” That made it the first until five past twelve film banned throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. On November 27, however, the outgoing SPD Senate of the Hanseatic city of Hamburg lifted the ban as the last official act, followed shortly afterwards by Bremen .
The ban was discussed controversially in the press. The opponents referred to the previous review by the FSK and the cuts that had already been made. However, the basic legitimation of a film ban was mostly not questioned.
On December 9, 1953, the state interior ministers agreed to lift the ban. The censored version of the film was released on the same day because the distributor, West Berlin Tempo-Filmvertriebs GmbH, had won in court. The film was shown in the general program of the movie theaters. Asco-Film (Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin-West) acted as the distributor from 1955.
Until five past twelve - Adolf Hitler and the 3rd Reich is the debut of the film producer Wolf C. Hartwig , who later caused a sensation mainly with his report films . The uncensored version was originally titled Until five minutes past twelve .
literature
- Walter Euchner : Suppressed coming to terms with the past . Motives of film politics in the Adenauer era. therein: The fall of night and fog ; the "Interministerial Guarantee Committee ... and ... Examination Committee for East-West Film Issues"; the case “Until five minutes past twelve” (sic) pp. 353–357. Numerous notes from archives. In: Rainer Eisfeld , Ingo Müller (ed.): Against barbarism. Essays Robert W. Kempner in honor of Athenaeum, Frankfurt 1989, ISBN 3-610-08537-1 , p. 346ff.
- Jürgen Kniep: “No youth release!” Film censorship in West Germany 1949–1990 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0638-7
Web links
- Until twelve five - Adolf Hitler and the 3rd Reich in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Voluntary coercion . In: Die Zeit , No. 49/1953, on the prohibition
- The forbidden film , article from December 10, 1953 by Marion Countess Dönhoff for Zeit Online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: No youth approval! , P. 104
- ^ Prevention of the performance of the film "Until five past twelve" , cabinet minutes on Bundesarchiv .de
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: No youth approval! , P. 105
- ^ Alfred Bauer : German Feature Film Almanach, Volume 2: 1946–1955 , p. 313