''Robert Koch'' (German title: ''Robert Koch, der Bekämpfer des Todes'') is a 1939 Nazi propaganda film directed by

Hans Steinhoff Hans Steinhoff (10 March 1882 – 20 April 1945) was a German film director, best known for the propaganda films he made in the Nazi era. Life and career Steinhoff started his career as a stage actor in the 1900s and later worked as a stag ...

and starring

Emil Jannings Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The L ...

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...

and

Viktoria von Ballasko Viktoria von Ballasko (24 January 1909, Vienna – 10 May 1976, Berlin) was an Austrian actress. She was born Viktoria Maria Franziska Ballasko. Partial filmography * ''Der Kaiser von Kalifornien'' (1936) - Anna, seine Frau * ''Kinderarzt Dr ...

.Reimer & Reimer p.189 The film was a biopic of the German pioneering microbiologist

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...

(1843-1910). It was shot at the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Johan ...

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 ...

and premiered at the city's

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 19 ...

. The film was made by the

Tobis Film Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tobis ...

company, and was also distributed in the United States by the largest German studio

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Reimer, Robert C. & Reimer, Carol J. ''The A to Z of German Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

* 1939 films 1930s biographical drama films 1930s historical drama films German historical drama films German biographical drama films Films of Nazi Germany 1930s German-language films Films directed by Hans Steinhoff Films set in the 19th century Films about Nobel laureates Films about infectious diseases Biographical films about physicians Biographical films about scientists Robert Koch Tobis Film films German black-and-white films 1939 drama films 1930s German films Films shot at Johannisthal Studios {{1930s-Germany-film-stub