The Nazi Past in Contemporary German Film: Viewing Experiences of Intimacy and Immersion

215 Pages·2014·3.691 MB·English

by  Axel Bangert

The Nazi Past in Contemporary German Film
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Screen Cultures: German Film and the Visual
Series Editors:
Gerd Gemünden (Dartmouth College)
Johannes von Moltke (University of Michigan)
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The Nazi Past in
Contemporary German Film
Viewing Experiences of
Intimacy and Immersion
Axel Bangert
Rochester, New York
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Copyright © 2014 Axel Bangert
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation,
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2014
by Camden House
Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.camden-house.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-57113-905-4
ISBN-10: 1-57113-905-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bangert, Axel.
The Nazi past in contemporary German film: viewing experiences of intimacy
and immersion / Axel Bangert.
pages cm. — (Screen cultures: German film and the visual)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
ISBN 978-1-57113-905-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)—
ISBN 1-57113-905-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. National socialism and motion pictures. 2. National socialism in motion
pictures. 3. Nazis in motion pictures. 4. Motion pictures—Germany—History—
20th century. 5. Motion pictures—Germany—History—21st century. I. Title.
PN1995.9.N36B37 2014
791.43'65843086—dc23
2014035519
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
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In memory of Kirsten
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1: Close Views of Private Pasts 23
Shameful Exposures: Documenting Personal Stories and
Family Histories 23
Intimate Insights: Portraying Nazi Leaders and
Resistance Activists 40
2: Seductive Encounters with Nazi Perpetrators 55
Monstrous Fascinations: Face to Face with Evil 58
Homoerotic Attractions: Inside the Third Reich 78
3: Immersive Spectacles of Public Pasts 102
A Hollywood Aesthetics of German Trauma 105
Event Television and Media Convergence 126
4: Unifying Legacies of National History? 136
The Holocaust at Home 138
The Loss of “Heimat” 145
A Heritage of Destruction 152
Conclusion 162
Filmography 171
Bibliography 177
Index 189
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Illustrations
1.1 and 1.2 Traudl Junge watches her own testimony in
Im toten Winkel—Hitlers Sekretärin 32
1.3 and 1.4 Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) writing a letter to a
friend in Sophie Scholl—Die letzten Tage 47
1.5 and 1.6 Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch) writing her
farewell letter in Der Untergang 47
2.1 The undead “Hitler” (Armin Mueller-Stahl) tries
to work his charisma on the American Jewish
historian Dr. Webster (Bob Balaban) in
Gespräch mit dem Biest 62
2.2 The monstrous Dr. Josef Mengele (Götz George)
towering above the lawyer Peter Rohm
(Kai Wiesinger) in Nichts als die Wahrheit 62
2.3 Friedrich (Max Riemelt) undergoes racial
measuring as part of the Napola entry exam in
Napola—Elite für den Führer 82
2.4 and 2.5 Albert Speer (Sebastian Koch) attends a 1930
speech by Adolf Hitler (Tobias Moretti) and is
gripped by his charisma in Speer und Er 87
3.1 and 3.2 Anna (Felicitas Woll) witnesses the destruction of
Dresden in Dresden 110
3.3 A panoramic view of the devastated city in Dresden 114
3.4 Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody) beholds the
devastated Warsaw in The Pianist 114
3.5 Russian planes attack the refugee trek crossing the
frozen Vistula Lagoon in Die Flucht 126
3.6 The last moments of the sinking of the refugee
ship Wilhelm Gustloff in Die Gustloff 126
4.1 Preparing the Gernstorff residence for the
engagement ball in Die Flucht 153
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