''Rivalen der Luft – ein Segelfliegerfilm'' (Engl: ''Rivals of the Air - a film on gliding'') is a German film released in January 1934, which was banned in 1945 by the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of Wo ...
as a
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Propaganda film, although it was later removed from the list of so-called
Conditional Films.
Plot
Using the topic of gliding flight and a love story as background, the film depicts the struggle of humans with nature in a very heroic and lofty fashion. A rivalry between two glider pilots over a woman and over flying trophies is used as allegory of the struggle of man against nature, but also as the struggle of Germany against its (supposed) enemies.
The two high school students Karl and Christine feel strongly about gliding flight and thus quit school to follow their instructor Frahms to the
gliding academy in
Rossitten
Rybachy (russian: Рыба́чий, from ''Рыба́к'', "Fisherman", german: Rossitten, pl, Rosity, lt, Rasytė) is a rural settlement in Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Curonian Spit. As of 2010 it has a ...
. Both want to obtain their gliding pilot license to participate in the annual gliding competition in the
Rhön Mountains
The Rhön Mountains () are a group of low mountains (or ''Mittelgebirge'') in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end o ...
. In the course of the training, a rivalry between instructor Frahms and his student Karl grows stronger. On the one hand, they are about to compete in the gliding competition, but they also compete for Christine's affection. Christine, in turn, participates in the competition under a false name; during her flight she is caught in a thunderstorm and gets off-course. Frahms flies to her rescue and hence wins her heart, while Karl wins the competition as his main rival — Frahms — took himself out of the race with this rescue mission.
Production
The outdoor scenes were shot over the course of two months at the gliding center of the
Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) in
Rossitten
Rybachy (russian: Рыба́чий, from ''Рыба́к'', "Fisherman", german: Rossitten, pl, Rosity, lt, Rasytė) is a rural settlement in Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Curonian Spit. As of 2010 it has a ...
. While the main site of the DFS was on top of the
Wasserkuppe
The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...
mountain in the
Rhön Mountains
The Rhön Mountains () are a group of low mountains (or ''Mittelgebirge'') in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end o ...
, the dunes of the
Curonian Spit in
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
in which Rossiten was located provided for a more picturesque and romantic setting. Another reason was that this location was also politically charged, as East Prussia became separated from
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
after the latter had to cede territory to
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
after
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 ...
. The ceded provinces became known as
Polish Corridor, which was a contentious issue for the German right-wing parties in the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and then in the
Third Reich. Only the scenes showing the protagonists participating in the gliding competition were shot on the
Wasserkuppe
The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...
— during the actual competition.
Background
All motorized aviation was banned by the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
after World War I. Until 1925, this included sports flying; but military aviation remained banned even after that. As the Treaty was seen as a humiliation of Germany — especially on the far right — all flying assumed a subversive, right-wing character in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Gliding flight was thus more ″serious″ in Germany than in other countries, where it was often belittled as a hobby for adolescent boys. Even in Weimar Germany gliding flight was seen as a means to build up a "silent reserve" of pilots. As the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
waited until 1935 before they officially reinstated the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
, this film from the early Nazi years on flying was seen as tool to create an interest in aviation with youngsters. Contemporary aviation magazines for example, such as
Luftwelt, frequently contained advertisements calling
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
members to join gliding clubs.
The DFS, which would be involved in doing aeronautical research for the
V1 in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
among other things, provided the air fields, the know-how, as well as a number of its pilots (such as
Hanna Reitsch) for the flying scenes.
Because of all of this, the plot of "Rivalen der Luft" must be seen more critical. Terms like "Bravery", "Ideology" or "Virility" are used more often than usual in the dialogues; these terms were also frequently used in other Nazi propaganda outlets. Because of this embedding of the story into the Nazi ideology, the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
banned the movie after the war.
Literature
* Giesen, Rolf & Manfred Hobsch: ''Hitlerjunge Quex, Jud Süss und Kolberg. Die Propagandafilme des Dritten Reiches. Dokumente und Materialien zum NS-Film'', Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, 2005
* Liebeneiner, Wolfgang: Glückhafter Segelflug in Rossitten, in: ''Luftwelt'', Vol. 1, Nr. 2, 1934, p. 20.
* Lünen, Alexander von: Die Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, in Andreas Göller and Annegret Holtmann-Mares (Hg.), ''Ein Jahrhundert Luftfahrtgeschichte zwischen Tradition, Forschung und Landschaftspflege. Der August-Euler-Flugplatz in Darmstadt/Griesheim'', Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 209–239.
* Wendtland, Karlheinz: ''Geliebter Kintopp. Sämtliche deutsche Spielfilme von 1929-1945, mit zahlreichen Künstlerbiographien''. Vol. Jahrgang 1933 und 1934, Berlin: Self-published, 1986.
References
External links
*
{{Frank Wisbar
1934 films
Films of Nazi Germany
1930s German-language films
Films directed by Frank Wisbar
German aviation films
German black-and-white films
UFA GmbH films
1930s German films