The unforgettable war

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Television series
German title The unforgotten war
Original title The Unknown War
Country of production United States
original language English
year 1978
Production
company		 Air Time International
length 48 minutes
Episodes 20th
genre documentary
production Fred Weiner
First broadcast June 22, 1978
German-language
first broadcast		 September 14, 1981 on WDF

The Unforgotten War (in the GDR: "The decisive front", in the English original: "The Unknown War" (The Unknown War), Russian: "Великая Отечественная" (The Great Patriotic War) or "Неизвестная война" (The Unknown War )) is a 20-part US television documentary series depicting the conflict between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II .

overview

For contributor Burt Lancaster , the production was "the most incredible film of all time" and Soviet publicists called it "a milestone in the history of cinema". Many critics were also impressed by what American and Soviet documentarists had done with great effort: to put together a 20-part documentary about the Second World War from a Soviet perspective from the films by Russian war reporters that had never been evaluated before.

Well-known experts were involved: Harrison E. Salisbury , an American expert on Russia , who was a correspondent in Moscow during World War II, worked on the script, the US producer Isaac Kleinerman took over the artistic direction, and the Soviet documentary filmmaker Roman Karmen scoured hundreds of them Helpers the film archives for suitable material, and Pavel Alexejewitsch Kurotschkin , in the war commander of several armies, advised.

The source material comprised over a million meters of film that Soviet cinematographers had shot with Operation Barbarossa until the end of the Battle of Berlin . Each episode lasts approximately 48 minutes.

Broadcast in the GDR

All 20 episodes were broadcast in the GDR: first the Russian version and shortly afterwards the German. There were positive articles and letters to the editor in the newspapers for each episode. The propaganda achieved a certain deterrent through the pictures.

Broadcast in the Federal Republic of Germany

After some hesitation, some 3rd programs under the leadership of WDR decided to show the series. A revision that was initially considered was abandoned because of the many errors in content; instead, the episodes were subsequently commented on by experts in a 15-minute supplement (historical keyword). Not all episodes were considered - also because of content criticism. In the Federal Republic of Germany only 15 episodes were broadcast.

Conservative circles and the Association of German Soldiers , for example , vehemently opposed the broadcast. The newspaper Die Zeit summarized the criticism in a review of 1982: “The WDR was acting on behalf of foreign powers, it was claimed, paid subjects in this station were trying to betray Germany, to pull the honor of the German soldier in the mud to dumb down the youth and make the Germans forever dependent ”. In an interview, the historian Wolfram Wette reports : “There was an incredible campaign against the broadcast. In angry letters, former officers recommended the then WDR director Heinz Werner Huebner , who had bought the series, to kill himself. "

Finally, all 3rd programs showed the documentation, with the exception of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation .

Episodes

episode Original title German translation content First broadcast
1 June 22, 1941 June 22, 1941 The beginning of the war -
2 The Battle for Moscow The battle for Moscow - -
3 The Siege of Leningrad The Siege of Leningrad - -
4th To the East Eastward The German advance -
5 The Defense of Stalingrad The defense of Stalingrad - -
6th Survival at Stalingrad Survival in Stalingrad - -
7th The World's Greatest Tank Battle The largest tank battle in the world The tank battle of Kursk -
8th Was in the Arctic War in the Arctic - -
9 Was in the air War in the air - -
10 The partisans The partisans - -
11 The Battle of the Seas The battle of the seas - -
12 The Battle of Caucasus The battle in the Caucasus - -
13 Liberation of the Ukraine Liberation of Ukraine - -
14th The Liberation of Belorussia The Liberation of Belarus - -
15th The Balkans to Vienna Balkans to Vienna - -
16 The Liberation of Poland The liberation of Poland - -
17th The Allies The Allies - -
18th The Battle of Berlin The battle for Berlin - -
19th The Last Battle of the Unknown War The final battle of the unknown war - -
20th A Soldier of the Unknown War A soldier of the unknown war - -

literature

  • Michael Eickhoff, Wilhelm Pagels, Willy Reschl: "The unforgotten war", Schulfernsehen publishing company, Cologne; 192 pages; The accompanying book was created in close cooperation with the WDR.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Too much celluloid, too little information . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1981 ( online - 14 September 1981 ).
  2. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/1979/38/pflichtstueck
  3. ↑ http://web.ard.de/ard-chronik/index/2434?lra [] = 49
  4. ↑ http://web.ard.de/ard-chronik/index/7568?rubric%5B%5D=5
  5. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/1982/03/aus-deutscher-sicht
  6. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/2011/23/Zweiter-Weltkrieg-Sowjetunion/seite-2