Ohm Krüger
Ohm Krüger | |
---|---|
Directed by | Hans Steinhoff |
Written by | Harald Bratt Kurt Heuser |
Based on | Mann ohne Volk by Arnold Krieger |
Produced by | Emil Jannings |
Starring | Emil Jannings Lucie Höflich Werner Hinz Ernst Schröder Elisabeth Flickenschildt Ferdinand Marian |
Cinematography | Fritz Arno Wagner |
Edited by | Martha Dübber Hans Heinrich |
Music by | Theo Mackeben |
Production company | |
Release dates | 4 April 1941 (Nazi Germany) 1 October 1941 (France) 15 March 1942 (Finland) |
Running time | 135 minutes |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Language | German |
Budget | 5.5 million ℛℳ[1][2] |
Ohm Krüger (English: Uncle Krüger) is a 1941 German
It was the first film to be awarded the 'Film of the Nation' award. It was re-released in 1944.
Plot
The film opens with a dying Paul Kruger (Emil Jannings) speaking about his life to his nurse in a Geneva hotel. The rest of the film is told in flashback.
Kruger, being suspicious of the British, has his own plans. Kruger signs the treaty, which gives the British access to the gold, but he imposes high taxes and establishes a monopoly over the sale of TNT, which forces the British to buy explosives at high prices. Hence, ultimately, Kruger tricks the British by signing the treaty. That impresses some of the British, as they find Krüger is their equal in matters of cunning, which is supposed to be the defining characteristic of the British. Having been outmaneuvered, Rhodes tries to buy Kruger's allegiance. Kruger and his wife Sanna, (Lucie Höflich), however, are incorruptible. After being rejected, Rhodes shows Kruger a long list of members of the Boer council who work for the British. Kruger then becomes convinced that the Boers must fight if they are to keep their land, and he declares war against Britain and starts the Second Boer War.
Initially, the Boers are on the ascendancy, with the Boers defeating the British at the
Kruger's son Jan (
The flashback concludes in the Geneva hotel room. Kruger prophesies the destruction of Britain by major powers of the world.
Cast
- Emil Jannings : Paul Krüger
- Lucie Höflich : Sanna Krüger
- Werner Hinz : Jan Krüger
- Gisela Uhlen : Petra Krüger
- Ernst Schröder : Adrian Krüger
- Elisabeth Flickenschildt : Miss Kock
- Walter Werner : MP Kock
- Fritz Hoopts : Colson
- Ferdinand Marian : Cecil Rhodes
- Gustaf Gründgens : Joseph Chamberlain
- Eduard von Winterstein : Commandant Cronje
- Hans Adalbert Schlettow : Commandant De Wett
- Friedrich Ulmer : General Joubert
- Hedwig Wangel : Queen Victoria
- Paul Bildt : Dutch Foreign Minister
- Lord Kitchener
- French Foreign Minister
- Otto Graf : German Foreign Minister
- Otto Wernicke : British concentration camp commandant
- Gerhard Bienert : Brown
- Josef Dahmen : British Soldier
- Karl Martell: British Officer
- Jack Trevor : British Officer
- Walther Süssenguth : Sergeant
- Max Gülstorff : Francis William Reitz
- Lewis Brody : Lobenguela
- Karl Haubenreißer : Dr. Leander Jameson
- Alfred Bernau : Edward, Prince of Wales
Propaganda message
Ohm Krüger was one of a number of anti-British
Publicity material which accompanied the film particularly drew attention to the role of Winston Churchill in the Boer War during which he served as a journalist.[11] Tobis also advised the press to emphasise "what Churchill learnt in the Boer War":
'The same Churchill who in South Africa saw his ideas about exterminating the Boers followed throughout, as the English rulers, voicing polished humanitarian slogans, while driven by mere greed, unleashed the most contemptible actions on a people under attack. [T]he same Churchill is now Albion's prime minister.[12]
British concentration camps were portrayed in the film as intentionally inhumane. Meanwhile, major expansion of the German system of concentration camps was being implemented.[13]
Parallels were drawn between the Boer War and the
Key British figures are demonised in the film, including Joseph Chamberlain and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). Queen Victoria is presented as a drunkard, and the British concentration camp commandant, responsible for the killing of female inmates, resembles Churchill.
The film also reflects German anger at the loss of all German colonies at the end of World War I though less directly than Carl Peters.[14]
Production
The first outline for Ohm Krüger was begun in September 1940 by Hans Steinhoff and Harald Bratt.[15]
The film had very high production costs of over 5.5 million
Reception
Publicity and press coverage
Directives were issued to the press by the RMVP about how to cover the film. They were instructed to draw attention to the significance of the film, but to emphasise its aesthetic rather than its political content.[20]
Audience response
The film had its première on 4 April 1941, two days after being passed by the Censor.[21] It was well-received, attracting a quarter of a million viewers in four days upon its initial release, largely as a result of the high expectations generated by the propaganda press campaign, with word-of-mouth recommendations also being important in the film's popularity.[22]
The Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Nazi intelligence service) reported that the film exceeded expectations, with audiences particularly praising the 'unity of political conviction, artistic expression and acting performances'. The public were also reportedly impressed by the fact that a film of Ohm Krüger's quality could be produced in wartime.[23] The film was particularly popular with young audiences, according to both SD reports and film surveys.[24]
Some, however, did question the authenticity of the film.[25]
Internationally, the film was officially released in only eight independent states (including Italy), all of which were closely linked to Nazi Germany, and in France (first in the
Awards and honours
Ohm Krüger won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film at the 1941 Venice Film Festival, at which the Italian Minister for Popular Culture, Alessandro Pavolini, praised particularly the film's propaganda value and the role of Emil Jannings.[27]
Within Germany, the film was the first to be given the honorary distinction 'Film of the Nation' (Film der Nation) by the
Re-release
The success of the film led Goebbels to re-release it in October 1944, as inspiration for the Volkssturm.[31] On 31 January 1945, the film was banned, for fear that the morale of German audiences would be harmed by images of Boer refugees whose houses had been destroyed - 'images that by the time replicated the harsh realities of everyday life in Germany'.[32]
Further reading
- Bowles, Brett; Vande Winkel, Roel (2022). "A Hard Sell: The Nazi Film Ohm Krüger in Wartime France". Journal of Contemporary History
Citations
- ^ Noack 2016, p. 186.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 231.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, pp. 166, 171.
- ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ISBN 0-399-11845-4
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 229.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, p. 172; Welch, Propaganda, p. 230.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 230.
- ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ISBN 0-03-076435-1
- ^ Fox, Film propaganda, p. 173.
- ^ Quoted in Fox, Film propaganda, p. 173.
- ^ Pierre Aycoberry The Nazi Question, p11 Pantheon Books New York 1981
- ISBN 978-0-674-01172-4
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 230.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 231.
- ^ The Goebbels Diaries, 1939-1941, edited and translated by Fred Taylor, Hamish Hamilton, 1982, p. 293
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 231.
- ^ Berlynsche Tydingen No 1941, 4 April 1941 p.4
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 234.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 229.
- ^ Fox, Film propaganda, p. 182.
- ^ Fox, Film propaganda, p. 182.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, p. 184; Welch, Propaganda, p. 235.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, p. 183.
- ^ Vande Winkel, Ohm Krüger's Travels, pp. 116-120.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, pp. 183-184.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 229.
- ^ Hake, German National Cinema, p. 63.
- ^ Welch, Propaganda, p. 229.
- ^ Fox, Film Propaganda, p. 184; Welch, Propaganda, p. 235.
- ^ Vande Winkel, Ohm Krügers Travels, p. 121.
References
- Noack, Frank (2016) [2000]. Veit Harlan: "des Teufels Regisser" [Veit Harlan: The Life and Work of a Nazi Filmmaker]. Lexinton: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813167008.
Bibliography
- Fox, Jo, Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany
- Hake, Sabine, German National Cinema
- Hallstein, C.W., 'Ohm Kruger: The Genesis of a Nazi Propaganda Film', Literature Film Quarterly (2002)
- Klotz, M, 'Epistemological ambiguity and the fascist text: Jew Süss, Carl Peters, and Ohm Krüger', New German Critique, 74 (1998)
- Taylor, Richard, Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany
- Vande Winkel, R, 'Ohm Krüger's Travels: a Case Study in the Export of Third-Reich Film Propaganda', Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, 35:2 (2009), pp. 108–124.
- Welch, David, Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1939-1945
External links
- Ohm Krüger at IMDb
- Ohm Krüger at the Internet Archive