Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Nazi Movies  -- See latest WWII news here.

A Woman in Berlin: WWII movie opens old wounds over Red Army rapes
The phrase "Komm Frau!" sends chills down the spines of elderly Germans. It was the command of Russian soldiers as they pillaged German cities, searching for women to rape. The postwar horror is about to be let out in a new film, A Woman in Berlin, likely to stir bitterness against the Russians. The film is based on a diary of Marta Hillers, who began to write it in a cellar on April 20, 1945. Within days of the Soviet occupation she had been raped several times by Red Army soldiers. When the German soldiers returned from the lost war, they did not want to know about the raping of their wives, daughters and mothers - or about the Russenbabies.     [ timesonline.co.uk :: 2008-10-21 :: Nazi Movies ]

Made-in-Germany Nazi parody U-900 aims to break German taboo
A Nazi satire which parodies 1981 submarine epic "Das Boot" proves the Third Reich is no longer taboo. In director Sven Unterwaldt's "U-900" a German is forced to flee Nazi Germany after being caught in committing a crime with a Nazi bigwig's daughter, whose life he later saves by highjacking "U-Boot 900." Germans long equated history with pain and filmmakers avoided any treatment of their past. Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" was a rare exception until the ban started to break down in 2004 with the "Downfall." In recent years many German comedies (Schroeder's List, Go for Zucker: An Unorthodox Comedy, Goebbels and Geduldig) about the Nazi era has emerged.     [ reuters.com :: 2008-10-10 :: Nazi Movies ]

Movie review: The Wave (Die Welle) shows how to turn children into Nazis
In Die Welle (The Wave, by Dennis Gansel) teacher Wenger invites his students to take part in an experiment. Put their faith in him and he will deliver a unique insight into the mindset of a citizen in a nazi state. What begins as a light-hearted study in psychological manipulation soon runs away with itself. By midweek, Wenger is recoiling in horror. His students have been transformed into an ersatz Hitler Youth complete with uniform, badge, salute and an keenness to jackboot all nonbelievers. The film is modelled on a real experiment that took place in a classroom in Palo Alto, California.     [ timesonline.co.uk :: 2008-08-31 :: Nazi Movies ]

Adolf Hitler remixes are big hit on YouTube, especially remixes from Downfall
A 2004 German movie about Adolf Hitler's last days in the bunker in Berlin is becoming a popular internet meme. Jokers are dubbing humorous dialogue over a key scene of the film Der Untergang (The Downfall), which shows the Führer screaming at his generals when told the war is over. The Downfall clip has been ironically remixed nearly 100 times, and the latest creation is "Hillary's Downfall."     [ wired :: 2008-05-15 :: Hitler Movies ]

German filmmakers take control of their nation's Nazi past
Nazi storm troopers and battle tanks heading through the streets or even the appearance of the Fuhrer at mass rallies would seem to be at odds with modern Berlin, which has emerged as a background for a wave of new films exploring the horrors of the Third Reich which have underlined the moves by German filmmakers to take charge of their history. The flood of WWII films have included stories about an elite Nazi school (Napola), the life of Joseph Goebbels, a uprising by Jewish prisoners' women forced to work as prostitutes for Nazi Germany's wartime army, along with interview with Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge in Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary.     [ earthtimes :: 2008-01-23 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

1933 Reichstag Fire - Germany's UFA lights up over 'Fire'
Nazi Germany's darkest period remains a treasure trove for filmmakers. In "Der Reichstagsbrand" (The Reichstag Fire), Potsdam-based UFA Filmproduktion will explore the circumstances of the unexplained fire that destroyed Germany's parliament building, the famed Reichstag, in the early days of Adolf Hitler's reign. The 1933 blaze paved the way for Adolf Hitler's consolidation of power over the country after the Nazi government blamed the fire on a communist conspiracy. In the wake of the attack, Hitler won a vote granting him powers to rule by decree, making him in effect, a parliamentary-approved dictator.     [ variety :: 2007-04-18 :: Nazi Movies ]

Black Book - Resistance by the Dutch during the Nazi occupation
Black Book, Set in the Netherlands during World War II, is a war film with raw violence, intense action and a twisting plot that offers a series of surprises. Breaking records in the Netherlands as the highest-grossing Dutch-made film, it explores underground Resistance by the Dutch during the Nazi occupation. The story's focus is a woman who forms allegiances with whomever she can in order to avoid capture by the Nazis. Rescued by Resistance fighters, she becomes an arms smuggler, infiltrating Nazi headquarters. Abruptly seizing an opportunity, she seduces a high-ranking Nazi soldier in a move that changes the outcome of several lives.     [ usatoday :: 2007-04-05 :: Nazi Movies ]

Movie about Allied torpedoing of refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff
Germans are marking the 62nd anniversary of history's worst sea disaster: the Allied torpedoing of a German refugee and troop ship in the closing days of WW2 that claimed 9,000 lives, mostly women and children. In what would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, a major German tv broadcaster has plans for a movie about a long-forgotten incident which was an embarrassment for the Allies. In what has become an annual ritual in recent years, German media is devoting coverage to the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff on Jan 30, 1945, as the Red Army crossed the eastern border of the Third Reich.     [ monstersandcritics :: 2007-01-27 :: Nazi Movies ]

Mein Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler
The first German-language comedy about Adolf Hitler is to be shown Jan 2007. Dani Levy's "Mein Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler" will be a fantasy version of the last days of the Fuehrer. Like the film Downfall this film focuses on the nazi leaders. But Levy wants people to see his film as a "counter" to films that put Hitler on a pedestal. Germany has never made a comedy about the Third Reich, but films such as The Great Dictator have had a cult following in the country. The filming caused buzz when Levy covered Berlin with swastikas and filled streets with extras wearing Nazi uniforms.     [ ejpress :: 2006-12-07 :: Nazi Movies ]

Film on the Wehrmacht on the Russian front in World War II
Jim Jones is making his debut as a film actor in the film "Rhineland." He has lots of experience as a re-enactor with 38th Jaeger Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, 1st Company, a group portraying an unit that fought with the Wehrmacht on the Eastern front in World War II. His group is associated with the WWII Historical Re-Enactment Society Inc. The 38th Jaeger's purpose is: To preserve the memory of the WWII soldier through re-enactment battles and preservation of WWII memorabilia. When they undertake a re-enactment, the unit commanders get maps and a scenario of an actual battle for the re-enactors to portray.     [ goedwardsville :: 2006-10-11 :: Reenactment & Reenactors: Living History ]

Berlin: Nazi rallying with giant swastika banners
An alarming sight in Berlin: The city's central "Lustgarten" square transformed into a Nazi rallying ground complete with giant swastika banners and a ranting Führer. But Germany's first comedy film about Hitler was bound to break taboos. Tourists stared open-mouthed at the scene in central Berlin: huge red banners bearing the Nazi swastika fluttering in the winter sun outside the city's cathedral, Wehrmacht soldiers in their steel helmets standing guard between the imposing pillars of the Old Museum and a crowd of hundreds cheering their Führer with enthusiastic Hitler salutes and chants of "Sieg Heil!"     [ spiegel :: 2006-03-07 :: Nazi Movies ]

First German fictional film on Dresden bombing confronts taboos
Germany's first fictional film about the Allied bombing of Dresden was screened on the 61st anniversary of the firestorm, in a fresh sign the country is finally confronting its own wartime suffering. "Dresden -- The Inferno" tells the story of how the architectural jewel in eastern Germany known as Florence on the Elbe was reduced to rubble within hours in the British and US bombing of February 13-14, 1945. At least 35,000 people perished, including hundreds of refugees who had fled the horrors of the Eastern front.     [ afp :: 2006-02-15 :: Nazi Movies ]

The film version of the hit(ler) musical, The Producers
My grandfather Lt. Joachim von Busack was fortunate enough to meet Gen. Heinz Guderian, author of Achtung! Panzer. It was on the Eastern Front in 1942. Granddad was looking a little chopfallen due to his wounds and the 15-below-zero weather. Suddenly, the general entered his bunker. Granddad leapt to attention, but before he could salute, Guderian noted his mood. Clapping him on his remaining shoulder, the general rumbled, "Cheer up, soldier! They'll probably make one of those verdamnt musical comedies out of all this." The Producers is a sick joke that is nearly 40 years old.     [ metroactive :: 2005-12-22 :: Nazi Movies ]

The Wannsee meeting is the subject of the film
The Nazis' "Final Solution" began with a top-secret meeting at a magnificent mansion in Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin on Jan. 20, 1942. The conferees - 15 men around a large table - agreed to it over a buffet lunch. The meeting is the subject of the HBO film, "Conspiracy," which starred Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann, the man who organized the conference.     [ bbc :: 2005-12-10 :: Path to Final Solution ]

The Goebbels Experiment: Enthralling film of excerpts from Goebbels's diaries
Entries are spoken over montages of archival footage that span Goebbels's miserable childhood at the start of the 20th century to his ghastly family suicide in 1945. He loved Germany to death, and he remained a defiant nationalist even as the Allies invaded Berlin. The diary entries the film culls present a man teeming with schadenfreude for all things non-German.     [ Boston :: 2005-11-11 :: Nazi Leaders, Axis high ranks ]

Inside Hitler's Bunker - Unsolved History
In early 1945, Adolf Hitler retreated to an underground bunker and never saw the light of day again. In this lair, he ate, slept, held military briefings and married Eva Braun. 1961-1989 the site was screened from Western eyes by the Berlin Wall. In the 70s, the GDR did a underground survey of the area that almost surely included inspecting Hitler's bunker. In 1990, workers clearing the former Hitler Chancellery area stumbled upon a part of the bunker complex. It turned out to be the 1,500-square-foot underground facility manned by the Chancellery's elite SS drivers. Watch as the team resurrects the past: digitally reconstructing the entire bunker.     [ discovery :: 2003-02-08 :: Hitler Movies ]

Hitler: The Comedy Years
Now, as a rule, the Nazis shouldn't be funny. But, in fact, comedy was quite a handy weapon for the Allies when they were trying to keep up the morale during the dark days of World War II. Since then, everyone from Monty Python to Spike Milligan to Freddie Starr has had a pop at the Third Reich with tongue firmly in cheek. "Hitler: The Comedy Years" would be easy to dismiss it as another talking-head-between-the-clips show, but it is at least aiming to ask a question: "Is there a place for such humour on the comedy circuit?" I think the answer is yes, as long as it doesn't cross the line and offend those who suffered under the Nazis.     [ remotecontrol :: 2002-02-08 :: Hitler Movies ]

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