Yesterday and today

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Movie
Original title Yesterday and today
(election film No. 2)
Country of production German Empire
original language German
Publishing year 1938
length 11 minutes
Age rating FSK youth free (f)
Rod
Director Hans Steinhoff
production Fritz Hippler
Gustav Ucicky
music Peter Kreuder
occupation

Yesterday and Today (Wahlfilm Nr. 2) is a propagandistic German documentary short film from 1938 directed by Hans Steinhoff without a play, produced by the NSDAP Reich Propagandaleitung , Hauptabteilung IV (Film), Berlin.

content

With the help of a suggestive voice, the film underpins its documentary character and claims to truth. In several sequences, the economic, social, political and military conditions in Germany at the time of the Weimar Republic are compared with those from 1933 onwards. The alleged misery of yesterday is contrasted with the positive development that Germany has taken since a leader like Adolf Hitler took over the helm.

It shows how it looked in Germany yesterday: factories devoid of people, workshops without work, dead ports. Germany had become a cemetery at the time, the National Socialists had cleaned up that, the chimneys would smoke again. Then came Hitler's appearance in November 1933 in front of employees of the Siemens-Schuckert-Werke in Berlin Siemensstadt: He said that he grew out of them himself. It was not the intellectual strata that gave him the courage to begin this gigantic work; he only got courage because he knew two strata: the German peasant and the German worker. Suggestive pictures to illustrate the upswing follow.

The voice-over speaks of indebted farmers, cattle that are being auctioned and seized crops. On the other hand, there are pictures of surging cornfields and the security of daily bread, which are the best guarantees for the independence of a free people.

A system alien to the people had let the youth go to waste. They are juxtaposed with marching youths and the voice-over explains that the German boy of the future will have to be slim and slim, nimble as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel.

Yesterday there was a strike, stamping and time killing, seven million were without work and bread, inflation the result. Today there is full employment instead of unemployment, the economy is flourishing and people are in work and wages. Yesterday the parties had promised heaven on earth, but the people continued to starve. Hitler's promised nothing - he made it. The occupation of the Rhineland led to Germany's deepest humiliation. Today the Rhineland is free again and Hitler proclaims: "What prideful satisfaction there can be in this world for a man than having led the people of his own homeland into the larger national community."

The film closes with the slogan: “One people - one empire - one leader. Germany Sieg Heil! "

Production notes and background

The film is 309 m long, which corresponds to 11 minutes. On April 7, 1938 (B.48136) it was subjected to censorship and found to be suitable for minors with the addition of "public holidays / educational film".

At that time two compilation strips were shot:

  • Word and deed. (Elective film No. 1) by Gustav Ucicky and
  • Yesterday and today (election film No. 2) by Hans Steinhoff.

In the film archive, chapter Strategic Mobilization, it is stated that these two films were "attributed" to the directors, but "possibly were mainly compiled by the film department of the RPL under the artistic direction of its department head Hans Weidemann ".

Both films came to the cinemas with a total circulation of 5560 copies at an interval of one week as a supplementary program (election film No. 1 from March 28, election film No. 2 from April 2, 1938). They were also shown at numerous election events organized by the party in Austria and Germany. A festive setting was also always provided.

The election film Yesterday and Today was shown in the cinema in front of Hans Steinhoff's historical film Tanz auf dem Vulkan and was made on the occasion of the vote on the necessity of connecting Austria to the German Empire. Hans Steinhoff, born in 1882 and died in a plane shot down in 1945, is considered to be "one of the most prominent, professional and undoubtedly most talented film directors of the Third Reich". The fact that Steinhoff adored Hitler is undisputed, that he was a long-time member of the NSDAP and even a holder of the golden party badge, is not true.

criticism

The Zeughauskino (hc) judged: A dangerously successful, effective propaganda montage.

The Austrian Film Archive wrote about the film: “'Wahlfilm Nr. 2' is a self-contained, well-structured, cinematic propaganda film with clear objectives, which has the signature of experts. Like his predecessor, 'Wort und Tat', he assumes a comparison of political, economic and social developments in Germany before and after 1933. Unlike him, he does not fall back on the statements of various party bosses, but concentrates exclusively on Hitler and pithy, memorable film clips from his speeches. The interpretation of the image material shown in between is controlled by a commentary, predominantly with an instructive, suggestive voice from the off. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Horst Claus: Film advertising for the ›Anschluss‹: Filmarchiv Austria, Chapter Strategic Mobilization, III. Mass and power yesterday and today  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. filmarchiv.at, p. 4 ff.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / filmarchiv.at  
  2. a b hc: The "so-called Carriere" of Hans Steinhoff A work show dhm.de. Retrieved September 16, 2015.