''Der Fuehrer's Face'' (originally titled ''Donald Duck in Nutziland'' or ''A Nightmare in Nutziland'') is an American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

anti-Nazi Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, created in 1942 and released on January 1, 1943 by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. The cartoon, which features

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

in a nightmare setting working at a factory in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example of

American propaganda during World War II During Military history of the United States during World War II, American involvement in World War II (1941–45), Propaganda in the United States, propaganda was used to increase support for the war and commitment to an Allied victory. Using ...

. The film was directed by

Jack Kinney John Ryan Kinney (March 29, 1909 – February 9, 1992)Lenburg (2006), pp. 180 was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts. Kinney is the older brother of fellow Disney animator Dick Kinney. Early life Jack Kinney was born ...

and written by

Joe Grant Joseph Clarence Grant (May 15, 1908 – May 6, 2005) was an American conceptual artist, storyboard artist, and screenwriter. Early life Grant was born on May 15, 1908 in New York City on the Lower East Side. He was the son of George Albert G ...

and

Dick Huemer Richard Huemer (January 2, 1898 – November 30, 1979) was an American animator in the Golden Age of American animation, Golden Age of Animation. Career While as an artist-illustrator living in the Bronx, New York City, Huemer first began his ...

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment wer ...

released a version of

Oliver Wallace Oliver George Wallace (August 6, 1887 – September 15, 1963) was a British-American composer and conductor from London.''Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans During Wartime'', Volume 3, ed. Benjamin F. Shearer (Westport, CT: ...

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

for the short before the film was released. ''Der Fuehrer's Face'' won the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for

Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

at the

15th Academy Awards The 15th Academy Awards was held in the Cocoanut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on March 4, 1943, honoring the films of 1942. The ceremony is most famous for the speech by Greer Garson. Accepting the award for Best Actress, Gar ...

. It is the only Donald Duck film to receive the honor, although eight other films have also been nominated. In 1994, it was voted Number 22 of "

the 50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck, with a foreword written by Chuck Jones. The book features the fifty greatest cartoons of all time, selected by a group ...

" of all time by members of the animation field. However, because of the propagandistic nature of the short and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi (albeit a deeply reluctant one), Disney kept the film out of general circulation after its original release. Its first home release came in 2004 with the release of the third wave of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets.

Plot

oom-pah Oom-pah, Oompah, Ooumpah or Umpapa is an onomatopoeic term describing the rhythmic sound of a deep brass instrument in combination with the response of other instruments or registers in a band, a form of background ostinato. The oom-pah soun ...

bandcomposed of Axis powers leaders

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Hideki Tojo was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalis ...

on the sousaphone,

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

on the piccolo,

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

on the trombone,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

on the bass drum and

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

on the snare drummarches while singing the virtues of the Nazi doctrine. They are in a caricature of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

town, where the trees, windmill blades, fences, telephone poles and even clouds are all shaped like

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

, while the houses resemble

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's face. Donald Duck, apparently a German citizen in this world, is awoken by his

pickelhaube The (; , ; from , and , , a general word for "headgear"), also , is a spiked leather or metal helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German soldiers of all ranks, as well as firefighters and police. Although it ...

-wearing alarm clock at 4 a.m. He smashes the clock with his fist. His cuckoo clock chimes with a Hitler-esque bird, only for Donald to throw a shoe at it. The rooster outside does the

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

and crows "

Heil Hitler The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

". Passing by Donald's house, the band members poke him out of bed with a

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

. Donald faces and salutes the portraits of Hitler,

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

, and Mussolini, then tries to go back to bed, only for someone to splash him with water while yelling angrily in

. Donald goes to make breakfast. Because of

wartime rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

, it consists of bread that's so stale and hard it resembles wood (and must be cut with a saw), coffee brewed from a single hoarded coffee bean, and a bacon-and-egg-flavored breath spray. The band shoves a copy of ''

Mein Kampf (; ) is a 1925 Autobiography, autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Political views of Adolf Hitler, Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Nazi Germany, Ge ...

'' in front of him for a moment of reading, then marches into his house and escorts him to a factory, with Donald now carrying the bass drum and Göring kicking him. Upon arriving at the factory (at bayonet-point), Donald starts his "48 hours a day" shift of screwing caps onto

artillery shells A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell c ...

on an assembly line. Mixed in with the shells are portraits of Der Fuehrer, so Donald must perform the Nazi salute for each portrait, all while screwing the caps on with his other hand, much to his disgust. Each new batch of shells is of a different size, ranging from individual bullets to massive shells larger than Donald. The pace of the assembly line intensifies (as in the

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

comedy '' Modern Times''), and Donald finds it increasingly hard to complete all the tasks. The band's song intermittently resumes, but is now more cynical, saying that Der Fuehrer "lies and rants and raves", the citizens "work like slaves" and that they'd like to see Hitler blown up. A different German-accented voice shouts propaganda messages about the superiority of the

Aryan race The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concepts, historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a Race (human categorization), racial grouping. The ter ...

and the glory of working for Der Fuehrer. When Donald momentarily grumbles in frustration, the guards overhear him and point their bayonets at him, forcing him to fearfully recant his complaints. Donald has "paid vacation" which consists of forced exercise (contorting his arms into swastika shapes and quickly Nazi-saluting) in front of a painting of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. This only lasts for a few seconds before the voice declares that Donald, "by special decree of Der Fuehrer", must work overtime. The work resumes at an even faster pace while the voice constantly screams orders. Donald has a nervous breakdown with hallucinations of artillery shells, including snake- and bird-shaped shells, army boot shells crushing Donald, and marching band shells that hiss the music. (Some of the animation in this sequence is recycled from the "

Pink Elephants on Parade "Pink Elephants on Parade" is a song and scene from the 1941 Disney animated feature film ''Dumbo'' in which Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse, having accidentally become intoxicated (through drinking water spiked with champagne), see pink elephants sin ...

" sequence from ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

''). When the hallucinations are cleared, Donald wakes up in another bed (wearing stars-and-stripes patterned pajamas), only to see the shadow of a figure holding its right hand up. Believing it to be a Nazi salute, he begins to do so himself until he sees that it's actually the shadow of a miniature

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

on his windowsill. Donald realizes that the whole thing was a dream and he lives in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He kisses and embraces the statue, saying, "Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America!" The short ends with a caricature of Hitler's angry face and a tomato is thrown at it, with the splatter forming the words ''The End''.

Voice cast

Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of W ...

Cliff Edwards Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American pop singer, musician and actor. He enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop sta ...

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

lead singer *

Charles Judels Charles Judels (August 17, 1882 – February 14, 1969) was a Dutch-born American actor. Early years Judels was born on August 17, 1882, in Amsterdam as a third generation in a family of actors. His grandfather owned several theatres throughout ...

as Off-stage Nazi

Song

Before the film's release, the popular band

and His City Slickers, noted for their parodies of popular songs of the time, released a version of

's theme song, "Der Fuehrer's Face" (also known informally as "The Nazi Song"), itself a parody of the

Horst-Wessel-Lied The "" (), also known by its incipit "" ('The Flag Raised High'), was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of the "". The "" ...

, in September 1942 on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...

#11586. Unlike the version in the cartoon, some Spike Jones versions contain the

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

of an instrument he called the "birdaphone", a rubber razzer (also known as the Bronx Cheer) with each "Heil!" to show contempt for Hitler (instead, the cartoon version features the sound of a tuba). The so-called "Bronx Cheer" was a well-known expression of disgust in that time period and was not deemed obscene or offensive. The sheet music cover bears the image of

throwing a tomato in Hitler's face. In the Jones version, the chorus line, "Ja, we is the supermen—" is answered by a soloist's "Super-duper super men!" effeminately delivered suggesting the prevalence of

epicene Epicenity is the lack of gender distinction, often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine. It includes androgyny – having both masculine and feminine characteristics. The adjective ''gender-neutral'' may describe epicenit ...

s among Nazis; in the Disney version, these lines are delivered flatly but with effeminate gestures by Hermann Göring. The recording was very popular, peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. chart.

Other versions

Johnny Bond Cyrus Whitfield "Johnny" Bond (June 1, 1915 – June 12, 1978) was an American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer and publisher, who co-founded a music publishing firm. He was active in the music industry from 1940 until the ...

recorded the song in July 1942 on the OKeh label. *

Arthur Fields Arthur Fields (né Abraham Finkelstein; August 6, 1888—March 29, 1953) was an American baritone and songwriter. Early life Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Abraham Finkelstein, Fields grew up mainly in Utica, New York. He became a ...

recorded the song in July 1942 on the

Hit Records Hit Records was a record company based in Nashville, Tennessee, which specialized in sound-alike cover versions of hit records. These types of releases are often categorized as exploito. Background It was run by entrepreneurs Bill Beasley and ...

label. *

Tommy Trinder Thomas Edward Trinder (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by Cultural history, cultural historian Matthew Sweet (writer), Matthew Sweet as "a cocky ...

recorded the song in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

soon after the cartoon's release. *

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

adapted the song in one of his ''

Colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

'' novels, in tune with the novel's theme of an

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

alien invasion during World War II. FourFavorites1101

Political themes

Although the film portrays events in Nazi Germany, its release came while the

also was on

total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

footing. Coffee, meat and food oils were being

rationed Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

, civilians were heavily employed in military production, and propaganda in support of the war effort (such as the film itself) was pervasive. The film's criticism therefore emphasizes violence and terror under the Nazi government, as compared with the dull grind that all the warring nations faced.

Censorship

In 2010, ''Der Fuehrer's Face'' was ruled by a local court in

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to be included in the national list of extremist materials, which was first created in 2002. This was due to a local who received a suspended sentence of six months for uploading it to the internet and "inciting hatred and enmity". In July 2016, another Russian court reversed the ruling of the local court, removing the short film from the list. The court highlighted that the film's portrayal of Nazism through caricature form cannot be deemed "extremist" in nature.

In popular culture

* In August 1943, the cover of the comic book ''Four Favorites'' #11 depicted The Unknown Soldier, Captain Courageous,

Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

Magno Magno may refer to: * Magno the Magnetic Man, a fictional superhero originally published by Quality Comics * Magno (character), a superhero in the post-Zero Hour future of the DC Comics universe * Rio Magno, a river in Jamaica People * Magno ...

, and Magno's sidekick Davey all singing "Right in Der Fuehrer's face!" while an anthropomorphic

war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are Security (finance)#Debt, debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an un ...

simultaneously knocks out Hirohito, Hitler, and Mussolini in one punch.

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Walt Disney on the Front Lines''.

References

External links

* * * *
''Der Fuehrer's Face'' on the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuehrer's Face, Der 1943 American animated short films Protest songs Films about Adolf Hitler Cultural depictions of Benito Mussolini Cultural depictions of Hermann Göring Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels Cultural depictions of Heinrich Himmler Cultural depictions of Hirohito Cultural depictions of Hideki Tojo Animation based on real people American World War II propaganda shorts Best Animated Short Academy Award winners 1940s Disney animated short films Donald Duck short films Films about Nazi Germany Films about nightmares Films directed by Jack Kinney Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace Bluebird Records singles Anti-fascist music