Theresienstadt (1944 film)

Theresienstadt
Directed by Kurt Gerron under supervision of Hans Günther and Karl Rahm
Produced by Karel Pečený (Aktualita Prag)
Written by Kurt Gerron using drafts by Jindřich Weil and Manfred Greiffenhagen
Starring Theresienstadt prisoners
Cinematography Ivan Frič and Čeněk Zahradníček
Distributed by Schutzstaffel
Release date
  • 1944 (1944) (unreleased)
Running time
 ca. 90 minutes (surviving footage: 20 minutes)
Country Nazi Germany
Language German
Budget 35,000 Reichsmarks

Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet ("Theresienstadt: A Documentary Film from the Jewish Settlement Area"), unofficially Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt ("The Führer Gives a City to the Jews"), was a black-and-white projected Nazi propaganda film directed by prisoner Kurt Gerron under close SS supervision in Theresienstadt concentration camp. Unlike other Nazi propaganda films, which were under the control of Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda, Theresienstadt was conceived and paid for by the Jewish Affairs department of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, at the initiative Hans Günther. The film, which displayed supposedly happy and healthy Jews, was part of a larger Nazi program to use Theresienstadt as a tool to discredit reports of the genocide of Jews reaching the Western Allies and neutral countries.

Background

Theresienstadt was a Nazi concentration camp in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia—the German-occupied Czech lands—built inside a repurposed fortified town, Terezín.[1] Between 1941 and 1945, some 140,000 Jews were transported to the camp. Before the war, it housed about 7,000 people; during the camp's existence, the average population was about 45,000. About 33,000 died at Theresienstadt, and almost 90,000 were deported to Nazi ghettos, extermination camps, and other killing centers, where they faced almost certain death.[2]

In 1942, a Nazi propaganda film was filmed at Theresienstadt. Unlike other Nazi propaganda films, the initiative came from Hans Günther, director of the SS Central Office for the Settlement of the Jewish Question in Bohemia and Moravia, a section of the Reich Main Security Office, rather than the Reich Ministry of Propaganda of Joseph Goebbels.[3] This was the result of a power struggle between Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich and Goebbels; Heydrich won the concession that all propaganda produced in the Protectorate would be run through a special office in the Protectorate administration.[4] The film was probably written by Irena Dodalová, a Czech Jewish prisoner who had ran a film studio in Prague with her husband before the war.[5][3] Little is known about it, since it is little mentioned in the memoirs and testimonies of Theresienstadt survivors, and was only rediscovered in fragmentary form in 1994.[6][3]

In an attempt to preserve its credibility and preeminence as a humanitarian organization while reports on the mass extermination of Jews continued to reach the Western Allies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) requested to visit Theresienstadt concentration camp in November 1943.[7] On 23 June 1944, Maurice Rossel, an ICRC delegate, and two Danish officials went on a tour of Theresienstadt. In preperation for the visit, the Germans "beautified" and cleaned the camp prior to arrival and arranged cultural activities to give the appearance of a happy, industrious community. To cover up the endemic overpopulation of the camp, thousands of people were deported to Auschwitz before the arrival of the Red Cross delegation. In his report, Rossel claimed erroneously that Jews were not deported from Theresienstadt; nor were they mistreated.[8][lower-alpha 1] Rossel gave copies of photographs he took during the visit to the German Foreign Ministry, which used them to claim that Jews were treated well under Nazi rule.[10]

Filming

Shooting the film

Preparations for a second Theresienstadt film, again sponsored by Günther rather than Goebbels, began concurrently with the "beautification" of the ghetto prior to the Red Cross visit.[11] Günther's Central Office paid a Czech company, Aktualita, 350,000 Czech koruna (35,000 Reichsmarks) to produce the film; Margry notes that the Central Office was funded by stolen Jewish property.[12] In December 1943, Jindřich Weil was ordered to write a script; by March he had produced a synopsis and two drafts, which were only approved in part.[11] In January 1944, the Nazis filmed the arrival of a transport of Danish Jews and a welcome speech by Paul Eppstein, with a view of including it in a later film.[13] There was no effort to complete the film before the Red Cross and screen it to the guests; Margry argues that the "beautification" efforts had a higher priority.[13][11]

Instead, filming began in July. Kurt Gerron, a leading German Jewish actor and director, was deported from Westerbork to Theresienstadt in February 1944, but he did not become involved in the film until four months later.[11][14] The resulting script, while it has traditionally been credited to Gerron, closely adhered to Weil's draft and the dictates of the SS. His role in the filming was more symbolic than substantial, since Karel Pečený and his company Aktualita Prag performed the actual filming and did all post-production work.[15] On 28 October, Gerron was deported to Auschwitz, where he attempted to declare himself sick in order to avoid hard labor. Instead, he was sent to the gas chambers.[16]

Gerron never saw even a preliminary version of the film. The actual film was still in production in March, when Aktualita sent a crew to the camp in order to collect some samples of "Jewish music", including snippets of the work of Felix Mendelssohn, Jacques Offenbach, and the children's opera Brundibár by Theresienstadt prisoner Hans Krása. The music was performed under the direction of prisoner Otto Deutsch, who had experience of soundtracks from before the war. The SS wanted to have the film finished to present to an ICRC headed by Otto Lehner, which arrived on 6 April 1945.[16][10] Testimonies agree that the film was displayed to the delegation, and that it ran about 90 minutes, the standard length.[16]

Aftermath

The film was intended to be shown in neutral countries to counter Allied news reports about the persecution of Jews. Influential organisations such as the International Red Cross and the Vatican would be given screenings. However, the progress of the war in late 1944 to early 1945 made that impossible. After an initial screening in early April 1945 to senior members of the government and SS, there were a few other screenings to international humanitarian groups in Theresienstadt in April 1945. Further distribution was halted by the defeat of Germany.[14]

The film was mostly destroyed, but about 20 minutes of sequences from it have survived.[14] The surviving footage features a children's opera, Brundibár, and two musical performances on a wooden pavilion in the town square. One is of Karel Ančerl conducting a work by Pavel Haas, and the other is of the jazz band leader Martin Roman and his Ghetto Swingers. Ančerl and Roman both survived Auschwitz; most of their musicians and the children from the opera did not.

Historiography

In the postwar era, the film was lost, but continued to be the focus of discussion. In 1964, a fifteen-minute fragment of the film were discovered in Prague, then under Communist rule. Another seven minutes of footage were discovered in an Israeli archive in 1987.[17]

According to Kurt Gerron's papers, the original title was Die jüdische Selbstverwaltung in Theresienstadt ("The Jewish Self-Government in Theresienstadt"); later, he used the short title Theresienstadt. Excerpts of the film discovered in the Israeli archive revealed the official title to be Theresienstadt, with the subtitle Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet ("A Documentary Film from the Jewish Settlement Area"). According to Margry, the Nazis called it a "documentary film" in order to cast the film as an authentic representation of Theresienstadt life rather than staged propaganda, while the last three words imply that there were more "Jewish settlements" like Theresienstadt. It is believed that Jewish prisoners gave the film an ironic title, Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt, ("The Führer Gives a City to the Jews"), during the final months of the war, which has become a commonly used title. Margry argues that the Nazis would never have given the film that title, because it implies that Hitler made a personal gesture of generosity towards the Jews. At Karl Rahm's 1947 trial, the title was initially given as the correct Theresienstadt but later changed to Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt after Jewish witnesses had testified. The misconception about the correct title has been used in a number of analyses of Nazi propaganda by film critics.[18]

Film historians have often claimed that the film was ordered by Goebbels, but that is not the case.[19] Many scholars have claimed that the film was ordered between the Red Cross visit, but that is not the case, since it was prepared from late 1943.[20] The earlier origin of the film discredits many theories that have been offered for why the Nazis ordered the film:[20]

  1. The successful D-Day landings in Normandy and subsequent threat of German military defeat
  2. The deception of Maurice Rossel and the Red Cross delegation on 23 June
  3. Discovery around 17 July 1944 that several Theresienstadt artists had successfully smuggled images of Theresienstadt's horrible conditions out of the camp
  4. Soviet liberation of Majdanek extermination camp on 24 July 1944
  5. Negotiations between Eichmann and Joel Brand and Saly Mayer for the rescue of Jews, beginning in April 1944 (Brand) and August (Mayer)

It has also been claimed that Heinrich Himmler was closely involved in the production of the film and showed it to the Western Allied agents with whom he was conducting secret negotiations in late 1944. However, the only evidence suggesting that he even knew of the film's existence is a letter between his secretary, Rudolf Brandt, and personal masseuse, Felix Kersten, in March or April 1945.[20]

Legacy

The "Beautification", the Red Cross tour, and the making of the film are dramatized extensively in the novel and mini-series War and Remembrance. Austerlitz, a novel by W.G. Sebald, features discussion of and a still from the film. It is also explored in documentary film The Given Town. Gerron's role in the film was explored in the 2002 Canadian documentary Prisoner of Paradise.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ However, the Red Cross had access to independent information that Jews were being deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, and murdered there.[9]
Citations
  1. ↑ Theresienstadt 2018, Establishment.
  2. ↑ Theresienstadt 2018, Overview, "Retirement Settlement".
  3. 1 2 3 España 2001, p. 152.
  4. ↑ Margry 1992, p. 147.
  5. ↑ Margry 1999, pp. 315-316.
  6. ↑ Margry 1999, pp. 309.
  7. ↑ Farré & Schubert 2009, pp. 69–70.
  8. ↑ Stránský 2011.
  9. ↑ Fleming 2014, pp. 199, 214–216.
  10. 1 2 Schur 1997.
  11. 1 2 3 4 España 2001, p. 153.
  12. ↑ Margry 1992, p. 148.
  13. 1 2 Margry 1992, p. 151.
  14. 1 2 3 Prager 2008, p. 178.
  15. ↑ España 2001, pp. 153-154.
  16. 1 2 3 España 2001, p. 154.
  17. ↑ España 2001, p. 151.
  18. ↑ Margry 1992, pp. 150-151.
  19. ↑ Margry 1992, p. 146.
  20. 1 2 3 Margry 1992, p. 149.
Print sources

  • de España, Rafael (2001). "El film sobre Theresienstadt. Un ejemplo atípico de propaganda nazi" [The film about Theresienstadt. An atypical example of Nazi propaganda]. Historia, Antropología y Fuentes Orales (in Spanish) (25): 151–157.
  • Farré, Sébastien; Schubert, Yan (2009). "L'illusion de l'objectif" [The Illusion of the Objective]. Le Mouvement Social (in French). 227 (2): 65–83. doi:10.3917/lms.227.0065.
  • Fleming, Michael (2014). Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139917278.
  • Margry, Karel (January 1992). "'Theresienstadt' (1944–1945): The Nazi propaganda film depicting the concentration camp as paradise". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 12 (2): 145–162. doi:10.1080/01439689200260091. ISSN 0143-9685.
  • Margry, Karel (August 1999). "The First Theresienstadt Film (1942)". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 19 (3): 309–337. doi:10.1080/014396899100190.
  • Prager, Brad (17 June 2008). "Interpreting the visible traces of Theresienstadt". Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. 7 (2): 175–194. doi:10.1080/14725880802124206. ISSN 1472-5886. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  • Strusková, Eva (2 May 2016). ""The Second Life" of the Theresienstadt Films after the Second World War". Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. 0 (2–3). doi:10.17892/app.2016.0002.28. ISSN 2365-7758.
Web sources

  • Schur, Herbert (1997). "Review of Karny, Miroslav, ed., Terezinska pametni kniha". Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  • Stránský, Matěj (19 July 2011). "Embellishment and the visit of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Terezín". Terezín Initiative. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  • "Theresienstadt". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
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