I came across a review of a new DVD featuring excerpts from German TV broadcasts during the war:
“From 1935 through 1944, Nazi Germany took the unexpected lead in the development of television broadcasting. While the reach of the Nazi television was relatively limited – mostly to the political elite in Berlin and to Army hospitals – the new medium nonetheless found a diverse amount of programming ranging from cabaret-style entertainment to cooking shows to the tried-and-true propaganda posturing.”
The review concludes: “Despite the frequent awfulness of the programming, this documentary provides a fascinating look at how the Nazis quickly recognized television’s power and tried to manipulate it for their devious purposes. For anyone interested in 20th-century German history and in the development of television as the most powerful mass media of the modern world, ‘Television Under the Swastika’ provides an invaluable journey into the very unusual early days of television’s rise.”
The DVD makes use of 285 reels of film discovered in the catacombs of the Berlin Federal Film Archive. I have ordered a copy from the producer, First Run Features, at $18.71 plus shipping. I will publish my own review of the DVD in due course, but here are the links:
on Aug 16th, 2009 at 14:18
The DVD was first released back in 1999. So technically it’s not new ‘new’.
Before you buy note that it’s very short - less than an hour. Did they really have access to 285 reels? Or perhaps Spiegel TV had too many limitations under German anti-Nazi laws…
The complete English version can be watched online at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1992130789606468647
on Aug 16th, 2009 at 23:06
Without watching the English version: Does it mention, too, that these reels had in fact been preserved in the GDR’s state film archive? Not that this would be a surprise to me, since DFF / GDR TV used to broadcast old UFA movies, every Monday at 8 PM, between the Aktuelle Kamera TV news (if, frankly, it could until autumn 1989 be called a news programme at all) and the Der Schwarze Kanal commentary programme with Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler. Quite a mixture.
This Spiegel TV piece mostly features reports and interviews, produced on film for TV. Quite interesting, but probably not so fascinating in a translated version that lacks the authenticity of the original. Interspersed are some excerpts from intermediate film broadcasts (it is explained what this was, although the system had been used primarily because the first TV cameras had a very poor sensitivity and failed already on overcast days), and at about 38 minutes you can indeed see some kinescope excerpts from live video (note the flicker on switches between cameras for the teleplay).
And I note that the suggested dealer also offers DEFA movies:
http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/defa1.html
Consult Youtube for some clips from Solo Sunny, although I think not including some remarkable scenes from the decrepit buildings where the character lives. Probably also not “just consider me too conceited or not robust enough to live a life that needs not more than 500 words”.
on Aug 17th, 2009 at 16:57
Kai, they do mention ‘E.Germany.’ But in their interpretation it sounds as if the east Germans didn’t know what they had and almost ruined the precious reels.
The English version is still worth watching. Personally, I was surprised how advanced German TV was and how much of their techniques are still used today. Like that slow motion during a box match. Or that report from Nuremberg Anti-Bolshevism Exhibition that used to steer up the anti-Semitic fever. (Today most E.European capitals have permanent anti-Bolshevist museums to wipe up the Russophobic sentiment in their populations.) Or that statement that there are only 40 millions Russians and the rest are Mongolians. One can hear very similar pronouncements in today’s broadcasts of R.Liberty’s Belarusian Service.
The party congress reports were somewhat similar to what we could ‘enjoy’ on the Soviet TV. And entertainment dance shows reminded me the ones produced by GDR. Note that already in 1940s the German TV reported on recycling!!!
The way the marching soldiers are filmed at 46:30 is very impressive, from the technical perspective.
Of DEFA movies from that catalog Chingachgook:The Great Snake was really HUGE in the USSR. My dad took me to a movie theater to watch it. Other movies from the Indian freedom struggle series were also highly popular. The Story of Little Mook and The Golden Goose were shown on the Soviet TV many times. But other movies didn’t make it behind the real Iron Curtain, incl. Solo Sunny. Maybe they weren’t ‘progressive’ enough - I don’t know.
on Aug 17th, 2009 at 23:08
In regard to the film reels the point of the German original is that in the past they were simply out of reach. It also does not say that the feature about amputees was one of the last broadcasts, just one of the last surviving ones. And in case another important detail got lost: It was the idea of the TV staff to direct their service to wounded soldiers in order to demonstrate that they are important for the war and thus “engaged”. They did it to save themselves from getting drafted.
The represented state of production techniques of course concerns in the first place film production. Most significant difference from cinema newsreels is apparently that for TV they could use considerably more time, resulting in long interviews as clumsy single-shots etc.
The KPSS party congresses could be enjoyed on GDR TV as well. One had even the choice between a transmission with live translation (1st network) and one without (2nd network). And I still remember watching a Gorbatchev speech on the 27th congress in 1986, on the twenty years old TV set of my grandfather. Such outspoken words were unimaginable previously. For a really wide deviation: At present the Saxonian press discusses rumours about alleged attempts, made in 1987, to get rid of Erich Honecker and replace him by Hans Modrow, at this point head of SED’s Dresden district organization.
And the other way round various Soviet fairytale movies were quite popular in the GDR as well (under German titles, at a glance I can not recognize the originals). Solaris probably goes without saying, other than noting that a Lithuanian and an Estonian actor performed in this Mosfilm production. And also hugely popular from GDR TV: Nu, pogodi!
on Aug 18th, 2009 at 18:03
Yes, the Russian press reprinted that story of alleged anti-Honecker plot. Supposedly it was run by Markus Wolf. I personally believe that it might have been Wolf’s idea but he traveled to Moscow to get a blessing first.
It’s a little known fact that Wolf used to be an international broadcaster. He worked at German People’s Radio in Moscow from 1943 to 1945. And then he participated in setting up E.German broadcasting before moving on to his wildly successful career in GDR’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
These days Wolf is _the_ face of GDR for Russian TV viewers. No too many people remember Honecker but Wolf is a prominent feature of almost every Russian documentary on the Cold War history: a bright, handsome man speaking a near perfect Russian. I suspect many Russians don’t even know that he passed away back in 2006. Google Books makes available a good chunk of Wolf’s famous autobiography Man Without a Face for free.
Curiously, his brother’s movie, I was Nineteen, is among those offered by the First Run Features.
on Aug 18th, 2009 at 21:37
And the mentioned Solo Sunny was the last movie that Konrad Wolf directed.
The reports about the alleged plot I saw associated it rather with Willi Stoph. I think Markus Wolf had not even been mentioned in this newspaper piece. Well, perhaps it are indeed just that, rumours.
Is it known abroad, too, how Markus Wolf spoke on the famous rally on 4 Nov 1989 in Berlin where the audience heavily hissed at him? I don’t know if video of this appearance is online somewhere, but at least here’s a photo:
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1989-1104-040,_Berlin,_Demonstration,_Rede_Markus_Wolf.jpg&filetimestamp=20090107204433