EAST GERMAN FILM AND THE HOLOCAUSTFilm Europa: German Cinema in an International Context
Series Editors:Hans-Michael Bock (CineGraph Hamburg); Tim Bergfelder (University of Southampton); Barbara Mennel (University of Florida)
German cinema is normally seen as a distinct form, but this series emphasizes connections, influences and exchanges of German cinema across national borders, as well as its links with other media and art forms. Individual titles present traditional historical research (archival work, industry studies) as well as new critical approaches in film and media studies (theories of the transnational), with a special emphasis on the continuities associated with popular traditions and local perspectives.
Recent volumes:
Volume 22
East German Film and the Holocaust
Elizabeth Ward
Volume 21
Cinema of Collaboration: DEFA Coproductions and International Exchange in Cold War Europe
Mariana Ivanova
Volume 20
Screening Art: Modernist Aesthetics and the Socialist Imaginary in East German Cinema
Sen Allan
Volume 19
German Television: Historical and Theoretical Pespectives
Edited by Larson Powell and Robert R. Shandley
Volume 18
Cinema in Service of the State: Perspectives on Film Culture in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, 19451960
Edited by Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal
Volume 17
Imperial Projections: Screening the German Colonies
Wolfgang Fuhrmann
Volume 16
The Emergence of Film Culture: Knowledge Production, Institution Building, and the Fate of the Avant-Darde in Europe, 19191945
Edited by Malte Hagener
Volume 15
Homemade Men in Postwar Austrian Cinema: Nationhood, Genre and Masculinity
Maria Fritsche
Volume 14
Postwall German Cinema: History, Film History and Cinephilia
Mattias Frey
Volume 13
Turkish German Cinema in the New Millenium: Sites, Sounds, and Screens
Edited by Sabine Hake and Barbara Mennel
For a full volume listing, please see the series page on our website: http://www.berghahnbooks.com/series/film-europa
EAST GERMAN FILM AND THE HOLOCAUST
Elizabeth Ward
First published in 2021 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
2021 Elizabeth Ward
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of Berghahn Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ward, Elizabeth (Lecturer), author.
Title: East German film and the Holocaust / Elizabeth Ward.
Description: New York : Berghahn, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references, filmography, and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020015862 (print) | LCCN 2020015863 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789207477 (hardback) | ISBN 9781789207484 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion picturesGermany (East)History. | Holocaust, Jewish (19391945), in motion pictures.
Classification: LCC PN1993.5.G33 W37 2020 (print) | LCC PN1993.5.G33 (ebook) | DDC 791.43/658405318dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015862
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015863
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78920-747-7 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78920-748-4 ebook
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The publication of this book marks the end of a research and writing process that has lasted several years. This journey has been underpinned by the collegial generosity, personal support and academic insights of so many brilliant people.
I am most grateful to Bill Niven and Erica Carter who have not only been the most wonderful mentors, but also incredibly supportive friends. Their support for the next generation of scholars is unparalleled and I thank them for all they have done and continue to do. I hope to be able to express my full gratitude by paying this forward in my career.
I would like to thank everyone who has read and commented on drafts of chapters in their different forms and whose feedback has been invaluable. The support from colleagues within the German Studies community and, in particular, the German Screen Studies Network is a wonderful source of inspiration and I look forward to our future conversations, collaborations and exchanges. I would like to express my personal thanks to Chris Homewood for his support and friendship, as well as to Kerry Dobson, Chris Harris, Eleanor Halsall, Alison Price-Moir, Helen Fenwick, Rob Miles and Catherine Baker for their generosity of spirit, enthusiasm and shared laughter.
Thank you to Berghahn Books, in particular to Chris Chappell, Mykelin Higham and Caroline Kuhtz, for their ongoing belief in this project and for all their behind-the-scenes work in bringing it to press. I am also most grateful to the readers for their insightful and constructive feedback that undoubtedly helped to develop this book further.
A considerable amount of archival work underpins this book. I would like to thank the archivists, collections specialists and reading room staff without whose knowledge, insights and support I could not have completed this book. Here in particular I would like to thank Tim Storch and the Bundesarchiv, Ute Klawitter and the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Birgit Scholz and the Potsdam Filmmuseum, Nicky Rittmeyer and the Akademie der Knste, the Politisches Archiv des Auswrtiges Amts, Jrg-Uwe Fischer and the Deutsches Rundfunk Archiv, the archives and library of the Deutsche Kinemathek, the Press Documentation Centre of the Filmuniversitt Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, the DEFA-Stiftung, the Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum and the Margaret Herrick Library.
During the writing process, I spent significant amounts of time in university libraries in Germany. The ability for anyone to walk in and make use of academic materials and benefit from the resources is a model that every scholarly institution should seek to emulate. I am also most grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the German Historical Society, Women in German Studies and the German Screen Studies Network for providing generous funding that facilitated much of the research in its earlier stages, and to the University of Hull and the University of Leeds for their institutional support. Some material in this book has appeared in print previously and I wish to thank German Life and Letters and John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Metropol Verlag and Peter Lang for allowing this to be incorporated within this book.
On a personal note, thank you to my family and friends. Thank you to Jennifer Rushworth, Philip Chadwick, Sarah Garforth, Rachel Green, Matthew Hunter, Theresa Guczogi and Giorgia Faraoni who have endured the full spectrum of emotions, have championed the successes and have been by my side during the challenges. They never once questioned my ability to undertake this project often in spite of my quite vocal protestations to the contrary and I could not wish for more loyal coffee companions and truer friends. Finally, to my parents for their ongoing love and support, thank you.
