The effect of the fall of Berlin on Germany as seen throguh German film

1. Der Untergang
Icon: Defeat
Richard McKenzie
10 May 2012 © University of Reading 2006 www.reading.ac.uk

2. Der Untergang
• 2004
• Made in St Petersburg, (Leningrad), Russia
• Set in last few weeks of war
• Director
– Oliver Hirschbiegel
– Born 1957
• Bunker set created in studio to give film claustrophobic feel
• Based on 2 books
– Der Untergang: Hitler und das Ende des Dritten Reiches Joachim
C Fest (2002)
– Bis zur letzten Stunde: Hitlers Sekretdrin erzählt ihr Leben Traudl
Junge mit Melissa Müller(2003)
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3. Der Untergang
• Traditional Elements
– Filmography of amnesia
– Clean Wehrmacht
– Nazis “Other”
– German victimhood
– Enemy demonised
• Novel Elements
– Hitler and Goebbels shown as fascinating characters
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4. Reviews
• „Grand historical narrative of violence and self
destruction“ Karin Bauer (3, Bauer, 2011) (Bauer, Karin, (2011)Introduction,
In:Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies Volume 47, Number 1, February pp 1-9)
• „Hitler für die Kinder von CNN, Big Brother und
Political Correctness.“ Georg Seeβlen Filmportal.de
(http://www.filmportal.de/df/c4/Artikel,,,,,,,,EED2B3634BF7DB6AE03053D50B377EB2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html
accessed 22/3/11)
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5. Authenticity
• 20th April medal
parade on 56th
birthday
• 22nd April outburst at
officers
• Murder of Goebbels
children
• 30th April Hitler’s
suicide
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6. Amnesia
• Traudl
– Observer and not involved
– Hitler’s personal secretary
• Dr Schenk
– Humanitarian working for
survival
– KZ Doctor at Dachau
• Himmler
– Trying to resist Hitler by
negotiating with West
– Head of SS
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7. Who were the Nazi’s ?
• “Other” Hitler,
Himmler
• Capable of
murdering own
children
• Fanatical
• Not like us
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8. German Victimhood
• Traudl
• Women
• Children
• Berlin
• Families
• Ordinary Germans
• “clean” Wehrmacht
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9. The Enemy
• Russians to be
feared by women
• Uncontrolled and
drunken
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10. Hitler and Goebbels
• Attractive
• Terrifying
• Human
• Capable of being
loved
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11. Conclusion
• “By […] playing on the viewer's sympathy for the young and
innocent, and failing to deal honestly with the broadly supported
national program which brought about this traumatic Untergang, […]
Hirschbiegel [has] delivered a riveting portrait of Hitler, but a
sanitized history of Nazi Germany.” Steve Hochstadt (243, Hochstadt, 2005)
Hochstadt, Steve, (2005) (Film Review In: German Studies Review, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Feb.,), pp. 241-243)
• „Der Faschismus hat keinen Untergang, der Faschismus ist
Untergang.“Georg Seeβlen
(http://www.filmportal.de/df/c4/Artikel,,,,,,,,EED2B3634BF7DB6AE03053D50B377EB2,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html accessed 22/3/11)
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12. Course Conclusion
• Denazification in West
– Germany occupied
– Nuremburg Trials
– Collective Guilt
– Fragenbogen – Persilschein
– Many Nazis retain their roles in judiciary and government
– Heimatvertriebene
– Growing recognition of Holocaust from 1960’s on
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13. Course Conclusion
• Anti Fascism in East
– Germany liberated
– Removal of National Socialist judges and teachers
– Socialists not responsible for war
– Capitalism = Imperialism = Fascism
– W Germany = Fascism
– Hierarchy of victimhood
– Little recognition of Holocaust
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14. Course Conclusion
• Part of ongoing public Vergangenheitsbewältigung
• Films contradict national discourses about war
• Films have laid down a number of fundamental national myths
– German suffering
– Lost paradise in the East
– Nazi’s different from us
– War = loss and catastrophe
– Allies little involved in defeat of Germans
• Films support national amnesias
– Confused discourse about Holocaust
– “Clean” Wehrmacht
– Strong resistance movement
– War a male experience
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