Film Europa. East German Film and the Holocaust / / Elizabeth Ward.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Ward, Elizabeth,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Film Europa ; 22
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

East Germany’s ruling party never officially acknowledged responsibility for the crimes committed in Germany’s name during the Third Reich. Instead, it cast communists as both victims of and victors over National Socialist oppression while marginalizing discussions of Jewish suffering. Yet for the 1977 Academy Awards, the Ministry of Culture submitted Jakob der Lügner – a film focused exclusively on Jewish victimhood that would become the only East German film to ever be officially nominated. By combining close analyses of key films with extensive archival research, this book explores how GDR filmmakers depicted Jews and the Holocaust in a country where memories of Nazi persecution were highly prescribed, tightly controlled and invariably political.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations and Acronyms -- Introduction -- Part I. 1945–49 -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Picking up the Pieces: Kurt Maetzig’s Ehe im Schatten -- Part II. 1949–61 -- Introduction -- Chapter 2. The German Democratic Republic’s Ambassador of Good Will: Konrad Wolf’s Sterne -- Chapter 3. Reframing Victimhood: Konrad Wolf’s Professor Mamlock -- Part III. 1961–71 -- Introduction -- Chapter 4. Crimes of the Past and Politics of the Present: Wolfgang Luderer’s Lebende Ware -- Chapter 5. ‘In Babelsberg, Nothing New’: Gottfried Kolditz’s Das Tal der sieben Monde -- Part IV. 1971–80 -- Introduction -- Chapter 6. New Encounters on Well-Worn Paths: Kurt Jung-Alsen’s Die Bilder des Zeugen Schattmann -- Chapter 7. Returning to the Past: Frank Beyer’s Jakob der Lügner -- Part V. 1980–89 -- Introduction -- Chapter 8. Shifting Identities: Michael Kann’s Stielke, Heinz, fünfzehn -- Chapter 9. Calendar-Based Shame? Siegfried Kühn’s Die Schauspielerin -- Conclusion -- Filmography -- Bibliography -- Index