Abandoned: Propaganda Films of the Third Reich BOOK

"Propaganda in Limbo: The Films Goebbels Couldn't Finish"
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 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. By February 1942, public audiences in Germany reached 1.067 billion attendees, overshadowing Hollywood to become the world's largest film industry.

Post-war historians from the USA and UK acknowledged that German propaganda was "the war that Hitler won," with Nazi propaganda films being significantly more sophisticated and better produced than those of their enemies. Germany's excellent actors, high production standards, major studios, skilled composers, and technicians created numerous top films, such as Jud Süss and Ohm Krüger.

This is the first book devoted to surveying films that were approved and announced in film studios' annual preview catalogs but then never made: Nazi ideological films, military and war films, German colony films, "German Genius" biopics, anti-British and/or pro-Irish films, anti-Soviet films, and anti-Semitic films. Even a pro-American film was planned before Pearl Harbor brought the U.S.A. into WWII.

The collection comprises thirty-nine unproduced propaganda films, along with all available information, and includes chapters detailing Third Reich filmmaking during both peacetime and wartime. Extensive research into documents, internal reports, and letters exchanged with Dr Goebbels, the Propaganda Ministry, the Head of German Film (Reichs-filmintendant), 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.

Book

About the Author
Australian William Gillespie co-authored Film Posters of the Third Reich (ISBN 978-1-4243-3007-2) with Joel Nelson and translated film director Veit Harlan's Testament 1945 (ISBN 978-0-0808612-0-4)

His Karl Ritter-His Life and 'Zeitfilms' under National Socialism was published in April 2012 and a substantially expanded 2nd edition (ISBN 978-0-9808612-2-8) was published in May 2014 in Australia.

His book on Karl Ritter's banned 1943 film Besatzung Dora was published in 2016 as The Making of the Crew of the Dora. (ISBN # 0-9808612-3-3). Legion Condor Karl Ritter's lost 1939 feature film was published in 2019 after the long-lost film script was discovered by the author in the Summer of 2018 in a Berlin Antiquariat. (ISBN # 978-0-980816-6-6).

His 442-page book, Hitler Youth Quex-A Guide for the English-speaking Reader was highly praised as 'essential for classroom reading lists' in universities by The Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television (June 2024) and is now in its 2nd revised, definitive 2024 edition. (ISBN 978-0-980-8612-5-9).

William Gillespie lives in Sydney and collects German film posters and publications. He earned Honors in 20th Century European History from NYU and an MBA from UCLA. He has worked in Europe, Asia, Japan, and the USA in a career exclusively in not-for-profit management.

Unrealised NS Propaganda Films 1934 – 1945
Alte Kameraden (Old Comrades) – Terra Filmkunst 1938/39
Bayreuth (Bayreuth) – Tobis Filmkunst 1940/41
Das große Spiel ("Secret Service") – Tobis Filmkunst 1940/1941
Der Kaufmann von Venedig (The Merchant of Venice) – Ufa 1945
Der rote Tod – (The Red Death of Riga) – Ufa 1934
Der weite Weg (The Long Way) – Tobis Filmkunst 1938/39 [two feature films: Inferna, Auferstehung (Resurrection)]
Die letzte Appell (The last Appeal) – Tobis Filmkunst 1939
Die letzte Nachhut (The Last Rearguard) – Arya Film 1934/35
Die Rote Streifen (The Red Stripes) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Die 7. Großmachte (The 7th Great Power) – Tobis Filmkunst 1939/40
Der verrufene Insel (The infamous Island) – Tobis Filmkunst 1940/41
Die Volkerschlacht bei Leipzig (The Battle of Leipzig) – Hammer Tonfilm 1935/36
Dienst ist Dienst (Service is Service) – Tobis Filmkunst 1938/39
Ein Rüdel Wölfe (Pack of Wolves) – Tobis Filmkunst 1942/43
Einer gegen England – Thomas Paine (One Against England – Thomas Paine) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Feind am Werk (Enemy at Work) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Flandern (Flanders) – Hammer Tonfilm 1935/36
Freibeuter (The Privateer) – Ufa 1937/38
Freibeuter & Frauen (Buccaneers & Women – Ufa 1940/1941
Frauen für Übersee (Women for Overseas) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Jagd ohne Gnade (Hunt without Mercy) – first announced for Ufa 1939/40; then for 1940/41.
Kapitan Boykott (Captain Boycott) – Terra Filmkunst 1940/41
Legion Condor (Condor Legion) – Ufa 1939
Narvik (Narvik) – Ufa 1941/42
Verrat um Kolberg (Betrayal for Kolberg) – Terra Filmkunst 1935/1936
Opiumkrieg (The Opium War) – Tobis Filmkunst 1940/41
Potsdam (Potsdam) – Ufa 1941/42
PK…meldet/Sein letzter Bericht (His last message) –Bavarian Filmkunst 1940/1941
Richard Wagner – Hammer Tonfilm, 1935/1936
Der Rückkehrer (The Returnee) – ZFO 1943/1944
Schicksal ohne Gnade (Destiny without Mercy) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Segen der Arbeit (The Blessing of Work) – Tobis Filmkunst 1939/40
Sieg der Jugend – Ufa 1934
Staatsfeind Nr. 1 (Public Enemy Nr. 1) – Ufa 1937/38
Stein gib Brot! (Stone gives bread!) – Terra Filmkunst 1934/35
Suez (Suez) – Ufa 1940/41
Urlaub auf einen Tag (One Day‘s Leave) – Tobis Filmkunst 1941/42
Vater und Sohn (Father and Son) – Tobis Filmkunst 1940/41
Wehrwolf (Werewolf) – Terra Filmkunst 1934/35