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Postwar Germany

~ 1945-1949

Postwar Germany

Tag Archives: film

Propaganda films

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by Anika in Media, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

american, british, film, germany, postwar, propaganda

We’d like to think propaganda is the brainwashing a non-democratic country does to its people, or false information it tries to shove on the world. We don’t do that kind of thing.

But propaganda is just media that delivers a political message. Everybody does it. After World War 2, the Americans and British used films to inform the public about the conditions in defeated Germany. They show fascinating period footage. The commentary may be even more interesting.

Check out an episode of “This is America” on Germany 1947. US soldiers teach Germans baseball and English, they play golf to pass the time. “Occupation Girls” live in mansions with German servants. But be warned, the commentator says: The Germans are waiting for a new Führer. They nurse old hates. Two years after the war, the United States urges its people back home to stay vigilant.

And here’s a film from the British Pathé Pictorial Looks at Berlin 1947. There’s a subtle glee in the descriptions of German destruction that probably went down well in post-Blitz England. The commentator can’t resist an ominous warning here too: Will a new war-monger rise from the rubble?

Both films take jabs at the Soviets in Germany. The American film is more obvious about it. The Allies are laying the groundwork in their films for a new, Cold War enemy, while reminding viewers that the old Reich may still be a threat.

Postwar film archive

11 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Anika in Media

≈ Comments Off on Postwar film archive

Tags

archive, film, news, postwar, tag, welt

weltimfilmI’m about to go on vacation, but wanted to post a quick link I’ve horded in my bookmarks and haven’t shared yet. The German Bundesarchiv has a wonderful digital media site.  Part of this archive shows news footage and other films from the 1940s (and other eras, of course). I’ve spent a lot of time watching Welt in Film, for instance, news feature clips on all sorts of topics in Germany and the world in the postwar era. Everything is in German, but even if you don’t know the language, the footage is wonderful for immersing yourself in the era.

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