Abandoned: Propaganda Films of the Third Reich BOOK

During its twelve years, the Third Reich created more than a thousand feature films. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, was a true believer that the motion picture was a key weapon to engage the German public in supporting National Socialism. He personally devoted hours almost every day or night to reading film scripts, screening films before they were approved for cinemas, and overseeing the massive film industry. This is the first book devoted to surveying projects approved and announced in film studios’ annual preview catalogs but never made ­-- ranging from Nazi ideological and military productions to German colony narratives, “German Genius” biopics, and anti-British, pro-Irish, anti-Soviet, or anti-Semitic works. Even a pro-American film was made before Pearl Harbor brought the U.S.A. into WW2. Thirty-nine unproduced propaganda films and all available information, accompanied by chapters detailing Third Reich filmmaking during peacetime and wartime. Extensive research into documents, internal reports, and letters exchanged with Dr. Goebbels, the Propaganda Ministry, the Head of German Film (Reichsfilmintendant), and the Reich Film Chamber, as well as minutes from board meetings at the renowned Ufa film studio, has been conducted to gather insights about these projects, which have been translated into English. A selection of fifty four images, mostly in color, along with graphics and proposed film posters, revive these unknown and forgotten stories.

Written by William Gillespie, Australia, 2025, 156 pages, 6x9 inches Perfect Bound Softcover, 42 Color Graphics and 12 B&W Graphics and Photos. English Language.

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