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Nazi anti-Soviet propaganda film

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 1996.169.1 | RG Number: RG-60.2489 | Film ID: 988

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    Nazi anti-Soviet propaganda film

    Overview

    Description
    Reel 1
    This feature film dramatizes the evils of the "bolschewistische Weltvernichtung"[Bolshevik destruction of the world] using the tools of the Soviet secret police GPU and the Comintern to spread anarchy and chaos. Peter Assmuss, a Baltic German student in Riga in the summer of 1939, is innocently drawn into the net of a high-ranking GPU agent Nikolai Bockscha and forced to participate in killing a dissident Armenian national leader in Kovno. Peter hides in Rotterdam with the ethnic German Irina, the secretary of the killed. Eventually they are caught and tortured by the GPU in the cellar of the Soviet embassy in Rotterdam. Meanwhile Olga Feodorowna, a White Russian whose parents were killed by Bockscha back in 1919 and who only joined the GPU for revenge, leaks Bockscha's secret plans to desert and return to Moscow. Bockscha is executed immediately. Finally, Peter and Irina, by now a couple, are liberated from the 'devils' of the GPU by German troops invading Rotterdam on May 10, 1940.

    Nazi anti-Soviet propaganda resumed after the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and the "Juedisch-Bolschewistische Weltverschwoerung" [Jewish-Bolshevik worldwide conspiracy] replaced the earlier dominant topic of the Slav "Untermensch" [subhuman]. In this film, the GPU is depicted as a predominantly Jewish secret service with multilingual agents and widespread contacts all over Europe. The image of the enemy is personalized in a cruel and cynical Soviet secret police agent who stirs uproar in Poland, Sweden, Finland and France through rallies and strikes, sabotage, and assassinations. By emphasizing his cooperation with local workers' parties and front organizations everywhere, the film underscores how such activities are exclusively in the interest of the Soviet Union. The Staatsauftragfilm [movie commissioned by the state] passed censorship on July 17, 1942 and premiered on August 14, 1942. According to Goebbels, the movie was too simple in script and acting and not convincing at all. As a result, "GPU" did not win any distinctions and was banned from showing to the youth. Shortly after, Goebbels decided to spread anti-Soviet propaganda only through newsreels or short documentaries. The film gained RM 1.161 million while costing RM 1.849 million.
    Duration
    00:10:26
    Date
    Production:  1942
    Locale
    Soviet Union
    France
    Sweden
    Netherlands
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Bundesarchiv Filmarchiv
    Contributor
    Director: Karl Ritter
    Music: Herbert Windt
    Producer: UFA
    Camera Operator: Igor Oberberg

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Genre/Form
    Feature. Propaganda.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Fair
    Time Code
    00:01:42:00 to 00:12:08:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 988 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Federal Republic of Germany. Bundesarchiv.
    Conditions on Use
    Researchers who wish to use this footage should contact the Bundesarchiv Filmarchiv at filmbenutzung@bundesarchiv.de to sign a release, or submit the online request form at: https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/Downloads/request-for-use-av-material.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased the films from the Library of Congress in September 1996.
    Note
    Also known in the USA as "The Red Terror" (1942)
    This film was forbidden for youth (under fourteen years)
    Length of entire film: 101 minutes
    Script: Karl Ritter, Andrews Engelmann, Felix Luetzkendorf
    Cast: Laura Solari as Olga Feodorowna, Willi Quadflieg as Peter Assmuss, Marina von Ditmar as Irina, Andrews Engelmann as Nikolai Bockscha, Karl Haubenreisser as Jakob Frunse, Maria Bard as chair of the women's league, Helene von Schmithberg as Aunt Ljuba, Lale Andersen as Singer, Wladimir Majer as head of GPU, Nico Turoff as assistant of Frunse.

    See Film and Video departmental files for documentation and a summary of the film. See Stories 2489 through 2497 on Film ID 988 and 989 for entire film.
    Copied From
    35mm; 16mm; b/w
    Film Source
    Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 2594
    Source Archive Number: FEA 7562
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:55:16
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1001982

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