DEFA

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DEFA logo

The German Film AG , briefly DEFA , was a state owned , vertically integrated film company in East Germany with headquarters in Potsdam-Babelsberg . With the development of television in the GDR , another important field of work opened up for DEFA. DEFA made around 700 feature films , 750 animated films and 2250 documentaries and short films . About 8000 films were dubbed. At least part of the DEFA was VEB Gerätewerk Friedrichshagen , the DEFA central office for film technology, the VEB Kinotechnik , the DEFA studio for animated films and from 1953 the VEB DEFA-Kopierwerke in Berlin-Johannisthal . For documentary productions there were DEFA studios for newsreels and documentaries in Berlin from 1952 to 1968 and for popular science films in Babelsberg. In 1969 the studios merged to form the DEFA studio for short films; In 1975 it was renamed DEFA-Studio for Documentary Films .

The film heritage of the DEFA since 1998 by the Federal Government established DEFA Foundation preserved and maintained.

DEFA's film heritage has been accessible and licensable on the PROGRESS archive platform since 2019 .

tasks

According to the concerns of its founders, DEFA should "help to restore democracy in Germany, to free German heads from fascism and also to educate them to become socialist citizens". In the wake of the denazification in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) and the GDR, the film industry and cultural life were also to be “freed from reactionary elements and from undemocratic anti-humanist Nazi ideology and their protagonists”.

The main theme and model of the SED and the DEFA films at the beginning were anti-fascism and socialist realism . Thoughts and representations of nihilism , decadence , formalism , philistineism and “bourgeois behavior” should be criticized or avoided in filmmaking and replaced by socialist ideals. Above all, films in the tradition of the working class and anti-war films, which were supposed to expose the National Socialist ideology, were made. In contrast, the films should reflect the socialist, humanist and communist values ​​as well as the love for the GDR.

history

founding

After the end of the Second World War , the Soviet occupying power began to quickly make the film industry in eastern Germany operational again. Last but not least, the medium of film should be used as a means of propaganda . On May 28, 1945, three weeks after the surrender was signed by the German Wehrmacht , the Soviet city commander of Berlin , Colonel General Nikolai Bersarin , granted permission to open theaters and cinemas in Berlin. On June 6, 1945, the Soviet film distributor Sojusintorgkino (Russian Союзинторгкино) commissioned the dubbing of Sergei Eisenstein's film Ivan Grozny (Russian Иван Грозный, German Ivan the Terrible ) ; the German text version and direction was taken over by Wolfgang Staudte . The Aktiengesellschaft für Filmfabrikation (Afifa) in Berlin-Köpenick produced 1000 color copies of the original negative of the Soviet fairy tale film Die Steinerne Blume under Soviet management on June 14, 1945 . On July 4, 1945, Soyuzintorgkino took over all of the cinemas belonging to the former UFA ownership and enabled them to be reopened. Subsequently, the SMAD reorganized the entire film production in the SBZ .

On August 25, 1945, the Central Administration for Popular Education under its President Paul Wandel began work as an advisory body to SMAD. Herbert Volkmann became the department head for art and literature (and film) . The cameraman Werner Krien , the film set designers Carl Haacker and Willy Schiller , the chemist and film technician Kurt Maetzig , the actor and production manager Adolf Fischer , the businessman, electrical engineer and lighting technician Alfred Lindemann and the actor Hans Klering contacted him to help build a work with new film production, and formed a film active .

In order to have full influence on the production of films, the head of the SMAD confiscated on October 30, 1945 with order No. 124 all the assets of the film production belonging to the German Reich in the area of ​​the Soviet Zone. The film companies UFA, Tobis , Tesch and Afifa were declared as falling under this order. These companies were combined to form Soyuzintorgkino in Germany, administered by trustees appointed by SMAD and were only allowed to accept orders from institutions that had a license from SMAD.

On November 22, 1945, the first consultation of cultural officials, filmmakers and writers about setting up a new film production in the Soviet Zone took place in the Hotel Adlon in Berlin . The members of the film active met under the direction of Paul Wandel, as well as Boleslaw Barlog , Hans Deppe , Hans Fallada , Werner Hochbaum , Gerhard Lamprecht , Herbert Maisch , Peter Pewas , Wolfgang Staudte , Günther Weisenborn , Friedrich Wolf and Marion Keller . The former patent attorney and public prosecutor Albert Wilkening took over the provisional management of Tobis Filmkunst AG on November 28, 1945 on the orders of the Soviet district commander of Berlin-Treptow . In January 1946, Filmaktiv was officially registered under civil law as a company incorporated into the Central Administration for National Education and took its seat in Berlin on Dönhoffplatz in the former administrative offices of the UFA, Krausenstrasse 38/39. Alfred Lindemann became the manager and head of production, first deputy and responsible for economy and administration was Karl Hans Bergmann , Kurt Maetzig was responsible for the newsreel, Willy Schiller for technical questions and Hans Klering was the liaison to the Soviet occupation services. The department head for art and literature (and film) in the central administration for public education Herbert Volkmann was responsible for the political and artistic work. The task of the film active was to " bring a German film industry into being in the area of ​​the Soviet occupation zone". On February 19, 1946, the new weekly newsreel Der Augenzeuge was released for the first time in cinemas.

Opening ceremony of DEFA on May 17, 1946

On May 17, 1946 in Potsdam-Babelsberg the on-site Althoff studios the German Film AG (DEFA) i. Size founded. The suggestion for the short form DEFA came from Adolf Fischer, the logo was designed by Hans Klering . The head of the Information Office of the Soviet Zone, Colonel Sergei Tjulpanow , handed over the license for the "production of films of all categories" (not for their distribution). License holders were Hans Klering, Carl Haacker, Alfred Lindemann, Kurt Maetzig, Willy Schiller and Adolf Fischer. The Soviet cultural officer Alexander Dymschitz was also present .

Beginnings

On August 13, 1946, Deutsche Film GmbH, based in Berlin SW 68, Krausenstrasse 38/39, was entered in the commercial register in Berlin-Mitte . The shareholders were Alfred Lindemann, Karl Hans Bergmann and Herbert Volkmann. The share capital was 20,000 Reichsmarks (RM). Lindemann and Bergmann were appointed managing directors, Klering the authorized signatory. The company's legal seat was relocated from Berlin to Potsdam on June 14, 1947. However, the four film studios of Tobis Filmkunst GmbH / Tobis Syndikat GmbH in Berlin-Johannisthal continued to form DEFA's production base.

In 1947, the Soviet authorities continued to expand their influence. The order no. 174 of the SMAD of 23 October obliged the Brandenburg state government to hand over the former UFA site in Potsdam-Babelsberg to the Soviet Union "in order to satisfy the USSR's claims for reparations from German property". The site was no longer available to DEFA. The control of the film area was exercised by the Soviet Technical Bureau for Cinematography , an institution within the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. The Soviet joint-stock company Linsa , whose area of ​​expertise included all film companies, including distributors, copiers and theaters, in the areas occupied by the Soviet Union, also took its seat in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Linsa was under the management of the Soviet stock corporations (SAG) in Berlin-Weißensee .

Deutsche Film GmbH was converted into a Soviet-German stock corporation on November 11, 1947 , with the DEFA logo retained. The share capital of the GmbH was taken over by the SED party company VOB Zentrag , increased from 20,000 to 10,000,000 RM and belonged to 45% of the German and 55% of the Soviet side. The board of the joint company was formed from the former shareholders of Deutsche Film GmbH, Herbert Volkmann, Alfred Lindemann and Karl Hans Bergmann, and on the Soviet side from Alexander Wolkenstein , the general director of Soyuzintorgkino and Sovexport and the film director Ilja Trauberg . The Supervisory Board, consisting of nine members, was made up according to the proportion of the shares. On the same day, the SED secured extensive influence on East German film production: a film commission ( DEFA commission ) was formed at the central secretariat of the SED . Its members included Anton Ackermann , Otto Meier , Erich Gniffke , Paul Wandel and Gustav von Wangenheim . DEFA's production planning as well as the rough cut and final version of all films had to be submitted to the DEFA commission for approval. In the special agreement on the founding contract, it was stipulated that "DEFA's personnel policy [...] will be carried out in accordance with the responsible department at the SED's central board". The DEFA shareholders had to undertake to “irrevocably” only exercise their shareholder function as trustee of the SED and “to adhere to their instructions without contradiction within the framework of the shareholder agreement”. All questions of fundamental importance were co-decided by the SED as trustor. Albert Wilkening became the technical director of DEFA as permanent representative of Alexander Wolkenstein.

Bergmann's successor on the DEFA board was Günter Matern . Bergmann initially worked as head of the press and information department; From December 1, 1948, he headed the German Film Publishing House , founded on July 9, 1947 , in which the magazines Neue Filmwelt and Bild und Ton were published. The German film publisher went into 1952 in the Henschel publishing house .

On March 24, 1948, the Central Secretariat of the SED instructed the DEFA Executive Board to dismiss DEFA General Director Lindemann with immediate effect for alleged financial manipulation. He then resigned from his position as managing director. Albert Wilkening took over his position as head of production. Lindemann's successor on the DEFA board was Rudolf Engel , who was previously President of the Central Administration for Resettlers . On June 1, Engel became Vice President of the Central Administration for Popular Education and resigned from his position as a board member of DEFA. At the same time, Walter Janka , who had previously worked in the central secretariat of the SED, became a member of the DEFA board. On October 6, the central secretariat of the SED decided to recall the DEFA shareholders Volkmann, Lindemann and Maetzig and to appoint the SED functionaries Grete Keilson , Alexander Lösche and Wilhelm Meißner as new shareholders.

After Sovexport returned the distribution rights for its own films to DEFA, DEFA Filmverleih was founded on November 1, 1948 .

On December 3, 1948, DEFA, which already had more than 2,000 permanent employees, was entered in the commercial register as a joint German-Soviet stock corporation.

On February 1, 1949, the Soviet director Alexander N. Andrijewski took over the post of Ilya Trauberg, who died on December 18, 1948, as head of the DEFA board. On April 19, Falk Harnack , director at the Deutsches Theater , succeeded Maetzig as artistic director of the DEFA studios for feature films after the latter had asked for his dismissal. On June 15, Lösche succeeded Günter Matern as director and authorized signatory of DEFA film sales. On July 1st, Sepp Schwab became deputy head of the DEFA board, Alexander N. Andrijewski. The company newspaper DEFA-Blende appeared from October 1st.

Structural change after the founding of the GDR

After the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) on October 7, 1949, DEFA gradually passed into German hands. In July 1950 the Soviet government transferred all film studios, workshops and recording studios to the government of the GDR. As a trading company still under private law, DEFA was initially subject to the Ministry of Light Industry. Progress Film-Verleih was founded on August 1, 1950 and was entrusted with the evaluation of DEFA films. It exploits the world rights of DEFA's cultural film heritage . A delegation from the GDR, led by Schwab and Harnack, took part for the first time at the 5th International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary (July 15-30, 1952).

In October 1952 DEFA was fundamentally reorganized. The "DEFA, German film company with limited liability" was dissolved with effect from December 31, 1952. With effect from January 1, 1953, the DEFA-Studio for feature films , the DEFA-Studio for children's films and the DEFA-Studio for popular science films , based in Berlin, the DEFA-Studio for newsreels and documentaries , were incorporated in Potsdam-Babelsberg Based in Berlin-Johannisthal, the DEFA-Studio for dubbing , the DEFA-Kopierwerk in Berlin-Köpenick and the DEFA-Film takeover and foreign trade company in Berlin are established. As state- owned companies, they were directly subordinate to the State Committee for Film. The final balance of DEFA GmbH had to be confirmed by the auditing body of the State Committee for Film, the liquidation of the GmbH did not take place. "The assets of DEFA will be handed over to the state-owned enterprises to be formed as the property of the people in legal ownership."

The DEFA studio for feature films in Potsdam-Babelsberg received not only the historic buildings with their traditional studios from the 1910s-40s, in which Ufa classics such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Woman in the Moon and The Blue Angel with Emil Jannings and Marlene Dietrich or The Feuerzangenbowle were created with Heinz Rühmann , as well as new studios that were state-of-the-art at the time. The former Ufa studios in Berlin-Johannisthal , where films like Dr. Mabuse, the player or Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror were also produced. From January 7, 1954, the DEFA studio for feature films was assigned to the newly created Ministry of Culture. Its head office film controlled the fixtures, production planning and approval. In 1955 the DEFA studio for animated films was added in Dresden-Gorbitz. Its production is in the German Institute for Animated Film e. V. archived. An independent DEFA studio for children's films was not established, instead a production group for children's films was created within the DEFA studio for feature films .

There were several "artistic working groups" within DEFA, namely "Red Circle" (from 1959, head: Kurt Maetzig ), "Heinrich Greif" (head: Konrad Wolf ), "Solidarity" (head: Adolf Fischer ), "Berlin" (Head: Slatan Dudow ), "Gruppe 60" (Head: Alexander Löscher ), "Konkret" (from 1961, Head: Anni von Ziethen ), " Stacheltier " (Head: Rudi Hannemann ), "Gass" (from 1961, later renamed to “Effekt”, directed by Karl Gass), “Babelsberg” (directed by Dieter Wolf ), “Johannisthal” and “ defa futurum ” (1971–1981, directed by Joachim Hellwig ).

Sale of DEFA after the end of the GDR

On July 1, 1990, the VEB DEFA-Studio for feature films was converted into DEFA-Studio Babelsberg GmbH (i. Gr.) And the entry in the commercial register on August 13, 1990, HRB 400. as well as the conversion of VEB DEFA-Studio for documentary films in DEFA-Studio für Dokumentarfilme GmbH (i. Gr.) with entry in the commercial register on September 4, 1990. Progress Film-Verleih has been exploiting DEFA productions as a GmbH since 1990 . After the decline in film production and several fruitless concepts by the Treuhandanstalt for the redevelopment and sale of DEFA, the film studio was finally sold in 1992 to the French conglomerate CGE Compagnie Générale des Eaux ( Vivendi Universal and Veolia Environnement ) and its subsidiary CPI (Compagnie Immobiliére Phénix) for 130 million DM sold. The new owner deleted the abbreviation "DEFA" from the company name and the studio was renamed Studio Babelsberg GmbH . With the auteur filmmaker and Oscar winner Volker Schlöndorff , an internationally renowned filmmaker was presented as managing director, who remained one of the leading personalities in Babelsberg until 1996. Since 2004, the film studio has been active nationally and internationally as Studio Babelsberg AG , both as a production service provider and as a producer or co-producer. Nowadays, international blockbusters such as Inglourious Basterds , The Pianist and Grand Budapest Hotel or German films such as Sonnenallee , Jim Knopf and Lukas the locomotive driver and dream factory are being made in Babelsberg, continuing the great film tradition at the location.

At the end of 1998, the newly established, non-profit DEFA Foundation was given the rights to the DEFA film stock. The aim of the foundation is to preserve it and make it usable for the public as well as to promote German film culture. The worldwide and exclusive exploitation rights (distribution) remain with Progress Film-Verleih. In 1998, Progress commissioned Icestorm Entertainment to exploit the DEFA film stock on DVD and video. The Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv stores the original film material and is committed to the permanent preservation of the DEFA film stock.

In 2019 PROGRESS was taken over by LOOKSfilm . Since April 1, 2019, the entire film heritage of the GDR has been made internationally accessible and licensable on the PROGRESS.film archive platform .

reception

DEFA General Directors

Important directors

Important dramaturges / screenwriters / film scenarists

Important production designers

Selection of DEFA films

Major DEFA films

The films listed are recorded in the project The Most Important German Films .

The most successful DEFA films

The films listed are among the 50 most popular films at DEFA.

Literature adaptations (selection)

Prohibited and Censored DEFA Films

Fairy tale films (selection)

Children's films (selection)

Biographical films (selection)

Indian films

Science fiction movies

Documentaries (selection)

literature

  • Claus-Dieter Felsmann: Staged Reality. DEFA feature films as a source of contemporary historical interpretation . DEFA Foundation 2020, ISBN 978-3-86505-417-3 .
  • Michael Grisko , Günter Helmes (ed.): Biographical films of DEFA. Between reconstruction, dramaturgy and worldview . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2020, ISBN 978-3-96023-353-4 .
  • Marc Silberman, Henning Wrage (Eds.): DEFA at the Crossroads of East German and International Film Culture. A companion . de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-027344-1 .
  • Horst Pehnert : Cinema, Artists and Conflicts. Film production and film policy in the GDR . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-360-01959-2 .
  • Frank-B. Habel: What I should know about DEFA: 163 key words about the DEFA film . DEFA Foundation, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024166-6 .
  • Sandra Bergemann: Faces of DEFA. Edition Braus, Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89904-331-0 .
  • Anne Barnert: The DEFA's anti-fascism issue. A cultural and film historical analysis. (= Marburg writings on media research. ). Schüren, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89472-636-2 . (also dissertation at the University of Frankfurt am Main , 2007).
  • Klaus Finke: Politics and Film in the GDR. (= Oldenburg contributions to GDR and DEFA research. Volume 8). BIS-Verlag of the Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8142-2093-2 . (also dissertation at the University of Oldenburg , Philosophical Faculty, 2007).
  • Ingrid Poss, Peter Warnecke (Ed.): Trace of Films. Contemporary witnesses about DEFA. Christoph Links, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-86153-401-0 .
  • Wolfgang Gersch: Scenes from a country. The GDR and its films . Structure, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-351-02627-7 .
  • Ralf Schenk, Sabine Scholze (ed.): The trick factory. DEFA animation films 1955–1990. German Institute for Animated Film, Dresden 2003, ISBN 3-929470-27-6 .
  • Raimund Fritz, Helmut Pflügl (ed.): The divided sky. Highlights of DEFA cinema 1946–1992. Vol. 1: The films of the retrospective. Vol. 2: Essays and filmographies. Filmarchiv Austria , Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-901932-09-7 .
  • Erika Richter , Ralf Schenk (ed.): Apropos film. The DEFA Foundation yearbook. 6 volumes. Bertz + Fischer , Berlin 2000-2005, ISBN 3-360-00955-X .
  • Günter Jordan, Ralf Schenk (ed.): Black and white and color. DEFA documentaries 1946–1992. Bertz + Fischer, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-931321-51-7 .
  • Ralf Schenk (ed.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg - DEFA feature films 1946–1992. With contributions by Christiane Mückenberger, Ralf Schenk, Erika Richter, Klaus Wischnewski, Elke Schieber, Bärbel Dalichow, Susanne Brömsel, Renate Biehl. Edited by the Filmmuseum Potsdam. Henschel, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-89487-175-X .
  • Manfred Behn, Hans-Michael Bock (ed.): Film and society in the GDR. Material collection . 2 volumes. CineGraph / Initiative Kommunales Kino Hamburg eV, Hamburg 1988/89. (Reviews of 156 DEFA films).
  • Rolf Richter (ed.): DEFA feature film directors and their critics . 2 volumes. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1981/1983
  • Käthe Rülicke-Weiler (ed.): Film and television art of the GDR. Traditions - examples - tendencies . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1979.
  • Peter W. Jansen, Wolfram Schütte (Ed.): Film in the GDR . (= Series film. 13). Hanser, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-446-12453-5 .
  • Heinz Kersten: The film system in the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany. In: Bonn reports from Central and Eastern Germany. Published by the Federal Ministry for All-German Issues, Berlin 1963 (documents from the 1950s)
  • Heinz Baumert, Hermann Heringshaus (ed.): Yearbook of the film 1958–1960 . 3 volumes. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1959–1961.
  • Horst Knietzsch: Film history in pictures . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1971.
  • Institute for Film Studies (Hrsg.): DEFA feature films in the judgment of the critics. Selected Reviews - With a Bibliography . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1970.
  • Detlef Kannapin: In the engine room of film art - memories of DEFA chief dramaturge Rudolf Jürschik, series of DEFA Foundation, Bertz + Fischer publishing house, Berlin 2021, ISBN 9783865054180

Web links

Commons : DEFA  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Technical management of the film and cinema system. DEFA Foundation , accessed on March 15, 2021 .
  2. copying. List of the individual copy units. DEFA Foundation, accessed on March 15, 2021 .
  3. Bärbel Dalichow & Ralf Schenk: Foreword . In: Filmmuseum Potsdam (Ed.): Black and white and color. DEFA documentaries 1946-92 . Jovis-Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 3-931321-51-7 , pp. 7 .
  4. ^ Recordings of the DEFA founding ceremony on May 17, 1946  in the German Digital Library
  5. ^ Ordinance on the formation of state-owned film production companies, April 16, 1953. In: Law Gazette of the German Democratic Republic, No. 52/1953. P. 574.
  6. Also: Statute of the state-owned DEFA studios and DEF operations. June 25, 1953. In: Zentralblatt der DDR . No. 26/1953
  7. ^ DIAF - German Institute for Animated Film
  8. ^ The era of DEFA - Babelsberg between politics and art. filmportal.de, accessed on August 30, 2020.
  9. ^ Dieter Wolf: Dramaturgy in the DEFA. The institutionalization of a profession. defa-stiftung.de, accessed on August 30, 2020 (from: filmdienst 20/1991)
  10. The beginning of a new era - from DEFA to privatization filmportal.de
  11. Jana Haase: Film shoot in Babelsberg: The legend of Emil and Emilia. In: Potsdam Latest News . May 25, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  12. progress.film: PROGRESS. Retrieved January 11, 2021 .
  13. The most important German films - Chronological overview. In: Filmportal.de . Retrieved June 20, 2019 .
  14. List of the most successful films on insidekino.de.
  15. Cf. Detlef Kannapin: Review of: Anne Barnert: The DEFA's Antifaschismus-Thematik . A cultural and film historical analysis. Marburg 2008 . In: H-Soz-u-Kult . January 25, 2010.

Coordinates: 52 ° 23 ′ 13.1 ″  N , 13 ° 7 ′ 10.3 ″  E