''Hans Westmar'' (full title: ' "Hans Westmar. One of many. A German Fate from the Year 1929") was the last of an unofficial trilogy of films produced by the Nazis shortly after coming to power in January 1933, celebrating their ''
Kampfzeit'' – the history of their period in opposition, struggling to gain power.
The film is a partially fictionalized biography of the Nazi martyr
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Berlin ''Sturmführer'' ("Assault Leader", the lowest commissioned officer rank) of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi Party's stormtroopers. After his killing in 1 ...
.
Development
Originally, the film, based on
Hanns Heinz Ewers
Hanns Heinz Ewers (3 November 1871 – 12 June 1943) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his trilo ...
's novelistic biography, was named Horst Wessel. Goebbels temporarily banned it but eventually allowed its release with alterations and with the main character's name changed to the fictional "Hans Westmar". One reason may have been to avoid "de-mystifying" Wessel. Part of the problem was that authentic depiction of Stormtroopers, including picking fights with Communists, did not fit the more reasonable tone that the Nazis adopted in power and would undermine ''
Volksgemeinschaft
''Volksgemeinschaft'' () is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community", Richard Grunberger, ''A Social History of the Third Reich'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, p. 44. "national community", or "racial community", ...
''. The fictionalised Westmar, unlike Wessel, does not alienate his family.
The film was, however, among the first films to depict dying for Hitler as a glorious death for Germany and as resulting in his spirit inspiring his comrades. His decision to go to the streets is presented as fighting "the real battle". Along with ''
SA-Mann'' and ''
Hitlerjunge Quex'', Hans Westmar was the last of the trilogy of films released in 1933, and designed to present an idealized account of the Nazis' heroic struggle to come to power in Germany.
Plot
The film concentrates on the conflict with the
Communist Party of Germany in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
in the late 1920s. When Westmar arrives in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, the communists are popular, hold large parades through Berlin and sing "
The Internationale
"The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of t ...
". When he looks into the cultural life of Weimar Berlin, he is horrified at the "internationalism" and cultural promiscuity, which includes black jazz music and Jewish nightclub singers. That scene dissolves into images of the German fighting men of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and shots of the cemeteries of the German dead.
Westmar decides to help organize the local Nazi Party and becomes, through the course of the plot, responsible for its electoral victories, which encourages the Communists to kill him.
Depiction of communism
While communism as such is depicted as the foe, the communists fall into three categories.
[Erwin Leiser, ''Nazi Cinema'' p35 ] The party boss shamelessly transmits the party line from Moscow, and the short Jewish official incites violence and then flees, and both are directly responsible for the murder.
However, one communist is presented as an idealist fighting for the proletarian,
and the last scene, on seeing a Nazi torchlight procession on the eve of the Nazi seizure of power, he is moved to salute the new Germany since Hans Westmar's example has inspired him.
Originally banned by Goebbels
The movie was originally called ''Horst Wessel. Ein deutsches Schicksal'' and was banned immediately after it was first shown in October 1933, since Horst Wessel was shown in prostitution and in a Christian milieu. According to the Nazi Film Review Office the film "does neither do justice to Horst Wessel's personality nor to the national socialist movement as the leader of the state".
Goebbels justified the ban as follows:
:"As national socialists we do not particularly value to watch our SA marching on stage or screen. Her sphere are the streets. Should however somebody try to solve national socialist problems in the realm of art, he must understand that also in this case the art does not come from ambition but ability. Even an ostentatious display of a national socialist attitude is no substitute for an absence of true art. The national socialist government has never demanded the production of SA-movies. On the contrary: we see a danger in this excess.
€¦In no way does national socialism justify artistic failure. The greater the idea that shall find a form the greater the aesthetic demands have to be."
[Erwin Leiser: ''„Deutschland, erwache!“ Propaganda im Film des Dritten Reiches''. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1968, p. 30. Original in German: Wir Nationalsozialisten legen an sich keinen gesteigerten Wert darauf, daß unsere SA über die Bühne oder über die Leinwand marschiert. Ihr Gebiet ist die Straße. Wenn aber jemand an die Lösung nationalsozialistischer Probleme auf künstlerischem Gebiet herangeht, dann muß er sich darüber klar sein, daß auch in diesem Falle Kunst nicht von Wollen, sondern von Können herkommt. Auch eine ostentativ zur Schau getragene nationalsozialistische Gesinnung ersetzt noch lange nicht den Mangel an wahrer Kunst. Die nationalsozialistische Regierung hat niemals verlangt, daß SA-Filme gedreht werden. Im Gegenteil: sie sieht sogar in ihrem Ãœbermaß eine Gefahr. €¦Der Nationalsozialismus bedeutet unter gar keinen Umständen einen Freibrief für künstlerisches Versagen. Im Gegenteil, je größer die Idee, die zur Gestaltung kommt, desto höhere künstlerische Ansprüche müssen daran gestellt werden."]
Only after the film was revised could it pass the censors.
See also
*
List of German films 1919–1933
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of German films 1933–1945
*
Nazism and cinema
Nazism created an elaborate system of propaganda, which made use of the new technologies of the 20th century, including cinema. Nazism courted the masses by the means of slogans that were aimed directly at the instincts and emotions of the peop ...
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1933 films
Nazi propaganda films
German black-and-white films
Films based on works by Hanns Heinz Ewers
Films of Nazi Germany
German biographical films
1930s German-language films
Films set in the 1920s
Films set in 1930
Horst Wessel
1930s biographical films
Films critical of communism
1930s German films