Reservation film
The Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung describes propaganda films from the National Socialist era as reserved films , the content of which glorifies war , is racist or inciting the people , and which are therefore not released for distribution by resolution of the Foundation's Board of Trustees . Reserved films can only be shown with the consent and under the conditions of the foundation. In any case, this requires a historical introduction and a discussion with an expert leader. The films can be viewed on the Foundation's premises for scientific purposes.
In the case of propaganda films such as Heimkehr , Der Ewige Jude , Hans Westmar , which do not belong to the rights portfolio of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation , the rights and material owners have the right to ensure that the films are handled responsibly within the legal framework.
The films were particularly aimed at young people. It must be borne in mind that going to the cinema was much more important in leisure time. A number of the films were produced directly on behalf of the state. A French dubbed version was also created for the film Jud Süss , which was used in occupied France.
Historical background
After the fall of the Third Reich two thirds of German film production between 1933 and 1945 were as spotted by the allied military governments and divided into three categories: release without conditions , release with cuts or not to release . Of the approximately 1,150 full-length feature films produced (the exact number depends on how the boundaries are drawn based on factors such as production dates or co-productions with other countries), over 300 have been banned completely. However, since it was founded in 1949 , potential distributors have been able to submit applications to the FSK to have the films removed from the prohibited list, and so it melted considerably in the first few years. Until the Paris Treaties came into force on May 5, 1955, the Allies also had to agree to a deletion from the list, which only lost its legal character as a result of German sovereignty.
The Catalog of Forbidden German Feature and Short Film Productions , compiled by John F. Kelson in 1951 and reprinted by the Imperial War Museum in 1996, provides an easily accessible record of the Allies . It contains both an (incomplete) grouping of the films according to various propaganda topics with brief assessments as well as a version of the prohibited list from 1952 in the appendix.
When it was founded in 1966, the Murnau Foundation received the rights to a total of around 6,000 films produced between 1920 and 1960, including around 60% of the full-length feature films between 1933 and 1945. Since the rights hold primarily the films of the large companies nationalized in 1937/38 Ufa , Terra , Tobis and Bavaria and the largest number of propaganda films were made between 1940 and 1942, a very large part of the Nazi propaganda films is in the rights portfolio of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation .
Between 1979 and 1985, numerous propaganda films from the former list were submitted to the FSK, most of them were released (possibly with editing conditions) and some were sold commercially as VHS , only a little more than a dozen received such as B. Stukas no approval.
The current version of the list
Today's list of reserved films is made up as follows: firstly, there are 12–15 films that were rejected by the FSK; B. Jud Süß were never presented to the FSK, and recently there are some films that were withdrawn from distribution despite the approval of the FSK. This includes B. the film drama The Ruler with an FSK 12. Since the Murnau Foundation held the rights, the films have allegedly been checked occasionally and it is decided at irregular intervals whether they should remain banned. The last review is said to have taken place in 1995/96 (as of 2012).
criticism
The Murnau Foundation's treatment of the reserved films is often viewed critically. Critics accuse the foundation of using the copyrights in the sense of film censorship without having a legal mandate to do so. In contrast to the FSK, there are no legal evaluations for its decisions that bind the Board of Trustees. Their decisions are also withdrawn from legal recourse.
In addition, the exact compilation of the list is nowhere disclosed to the public and there is no information whatsoever about the reasons why individual films are counted as reserved films (and why others are not). The selected films are also particularly striking examples of Nazi propaganda, while numerous more subtly agitating films have been approved, such as B. the monumental film The Great King or the film biography Bismarck .
Affected Films
About 40 film titles are affected:
Documentary film
On March 6, 2014, Felix Moeller's Forbidden Films , a documentary about the banned films , was released in the cinema. In it, Moeller first presents the most important reserved films. Then he has the current handling of the films kept by the Murnau Foundation discussed. Participating in the discussion include Oskar Roehler , Moshe Zimmermann , Rainer Rother, Margarethe von Trotta , Jörg Jannings, Sonja M. Schultz, Thomas Koebner , Götz Aly .
See also
- Film censorship
- List of German films banned under Allied military censorship
- List of the highest rated Nazi feature films
- National Socialist Film Policy
literature
- Hans Krah, Marianne Wünsch: The film of National Socialism as a reserve film or 'Ufa classic': dealing with the past. An introduction. In: history (s). NS film - traces of NS today. Edited by Hans Krah. Kiel: Verlag Ludwig 1999. ISBN 3-933598-00-1 .
Web links
- Herbert Heinzelmann: A special case of German cultural history: How to deal with Nazi propaganda films , September 21, 2006
- Hans Schmid: Series of articles about reserved films and the work of the Foundation in Telepolis . Part 1: I indict! , March 27, 2010. Part 2: Masters of Elasticity , March 28, 2010.
- Hanns-Georg Rodek: Nazi Propaganda - How much poison is there in the "reserved films"? In: The world. January 31, 2012
Individual evidence
- ^ Murnau Foundation: History 1933–1945: Third Reich.
- ↑ Nazi propaganda - How much poison is there in the "reserve films"? In: The world. January 31, 2012.
- ^ Anke Westphal, Berliner Zeitung March 5, 2014: Hitler's Propaganda Films - When the Invasion turns into a homecoming. Accessed December 6, 2017.
- ^ Forbidden films - Documentation by Felix Moeller at www.blueprintfilm.de / Eine Blueprint Film Produktion (Munich) in coproduction with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg and Hessischer Rundfunk in cooperation with Arte . Germany, 2013, 53 minutes.