Iluminace 2018, 30(4):31-49 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1588

The Reich, the Europe, the Protectorate, and the Cinema. Prag-Film during Crystallization and Realization of Nazi Film Expansion

Tereza Czesany Dvořáková
Univerzita Karlova

The study focuses on answering several partial research questions that contextualize the topic of the Protectorate film industry, namely the circumstances of the origin and existence of by-Nazis-created the Prag-Film company. The first part of the study introduces the Reich film concept whose aim was the general production and economic strengthening of German cinema on domestic and foreign level. From 1937 to 1942, the Nazis realized an extensive centralization and partial nationalization of film infrastructure in Germany and in some of the occupied countries including the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. The second part of the study analyses the particular steps and circumstances that led to the Germanization of the Czech film studios by Cautio Treuhand. We are mapping a negotiation process from 1942 whose goal was to clarify the position of the new Prague film company, formally situated under the authority of the Reich Protector's Office's Cultural department, but also under the supervision of the UFI Reich Group (the subsidiary of which Prag-Film became in the same year). Between 1941 and 1944, Germans invested heavily in Prague film studios and built up a complex of 13 film soundstages. Their total area in 1944 was bigger than the area of soundstages of the largest German film company Ufa. Last but not least, the Prag-Film served as an effective instrument of control over Czech film production, and thanks to the systematic engagement of Czech filmmakers it has also played an important propaganda role. Prag-Film became a successful example of a fully integrated instrument serving the goals of Reich's film policy.

Keywords: Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, Prag-Film, The Third Reich film policy, the New Order of Europe, Barrandov film studios

Published: December 1, 2018  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Czesany Dvořáková, T. (2018). The Reich, the Europe, the Protectorate, and the Cinema. Prag-Film during Crystallization and Realization of Nazi Film Expansion. Iluminace, 30(4), 31-49. doi: 10.58193/ilu.1588
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Tereza Dvořáková - Ivan Klimeš, Prag-Film AG 1941-1945. Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Protektorats- und Reichs-Kinematografie. München: edition text + kritik 2008.
    2. Wolfgang Becker, Film und Herrschaft. Berlin: Volker Spiess 1973.
    3. Joseph Goebbels, Sedm filmových tezí. Iluminace 6, 1994, č. 3, s. 81-82.
    4. Joseph Goebbels, Projev na I. sjezdu Říšské filmové komory. Iluminace 6, 1994, č. 3, s. 83-92.
    5. Sabine Hake, Film in Deutschland. Geschichte und Gestichten seit 1895. Hamburg: Rowohlt 2004.
    6. Jürgen Spiker, Film und Kapital. Der Weg der deutschen Filmwirtschaft zum nationalsozialistischen Einheitskonzern. Berlin: Volker Spiess 1975.
    7. Bogusław Drewniak, Der deutsche Film 1938-1945. Ein Gesamtüberblick. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag 1987.
    8. David Welch - Roel Vande Winkel (eds.): Cinema and the Swastika. The International Expansion of Third Reich Cinema. Basingstoke - New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2007.
    9. Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht (ed.), Music and International History in the Twentieth Century. New York - Oxford: Berghahn Books 2015. Go to original source...
    10. Hellmut Th. Seemann (ed.), Europa in Weimar. Visionen eines Kontinents. Göttingen: Wallstein-Verlag 2008.
    11. Armin Loacker, Anschluss im 3/4-Takt: Filmproduktion und Filmpolitik in Österreich 1930-1938. Trier: WTV 1999.
    12. Christine Leteux, Continental Films. Cinéma français sous contrôle allemand. Grandvilliers: la tour verte 2017.
    13. Ingo Schiweck: "[hellip] weil wir lieber im Kino sitzen als in Sack und Asche". Der deutsche Spielfilm in den besetzten Niederlanden 1940-1945. Münster: Waxmann 2002.
    14. Volker Mohn, Nacistická kulturní politika v Protektorátu. Koncepce, praxe a reakce české strany. Praha: Prostor 2018.
    15. Tim Fauth, Deutsche Kulturpolitik im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren 1939 bis 1941. Göttingen: V&R unipress 2004.
    16. Petr Bednařík, Arizace české kinematografie. Praha: Karolinum 2003.
    17. Ivan Klimeš, Kinematografie a stát v českých zemích 1895-1945. Praha: FF UK 2016.
    18. Lucie Česálková, Atomy věčnosti. Český krátký film 30. až 50. let. Praha: NFA 2014.
    19. Tereza Dvořáková, Německá dohoda o budoucnosti kinematografie Protektorátu. Iluminace 14, 2002, č. 4, s. 101-106.
    20. Německá říšsko-protektorátní dohoda o filmových záležitostech (korespondence). Iluminace 14, 2002, č. 4, s. 107-118. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content