Hitlerjunge Quex (Hitler Youth Quex) DVD and Guide Book Special Offer

Hitler Youth Quex DVD:
The year is 1931, and young Heini Volker has a problem. His unemployed father demands he joins Berlin's young communists. But his heart belongs to the Hitler Youth. How Heini resolves this quandry is the story of Hitlerjunge Quex, a movie that became central to the moral instruction of young Germans throughout the Nazi years. Produced in 1933, just months after Hitler's ascension to power, Hitlerjunge Quex drew from the real-life story of Herbert Norkus, a Hitler Youth killed by communist street-fighters in 1932. An expressly propagandistic vehicle, the film pulls few punches in its depiction of Depression-era misery and the escalating violence of the Weimar Republic's last years. Indeed, its bracing realism owes a strong debt to Germany's left-wing proletarian theater movement - an impression underscored by the several prominent leftist (or formerly so) actors featured here. Also striking are the movie's many quotations - a camera angle here, a mise-en-scéne there - from other Weimar-era classics, from Caligari to Fritz Lang's M and Bertolt Brecht's Kuhle Wampe. The fascinating result is a film that, more than any other Nazi-era production, combines hard-scrabble realism with National Socialist myth-making, its singular portrait of German working-class misery refracted through the transformative lens of Nazi ideology. An immediate box office success, the film became a Nazi propaganda staple for years afterwards, by 1945, an estimated 20 million viewers had paid some degree of witness to Heini's life and martyrdom. Produced by Karl Ritter; Directed by Hans Steinhoff; music by Hans-Otto Borgmann; featuring Heinrich George, Berta Drews, and Claus Clausen.

Germany, 1933, B&W, 87 Minutes, German dialogue with English subtitles.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Historical Background Slide Show
• Original Promotional Materials Slide Shows: Film-Kurier, Cinema Handbill, Preview Booklet, all with English translations, Posters & Press Photos.

Hitler Youth Quex Guide Book:
Hitler Youth Quex, the story of a fifteen-year-old working-class boy who defied his father to join the Hitlerjugend in 1932 and died a martyr, was a best-selling novel that became a box office hit when it was released as a motion picture by the famous Ufa film studio in September 1933.  The film’s song became the anthem of the HJ, and over eleven million youngsters saw the film in the Third Reich. Hitlerjunge Quex became the cult film of the new German youth.

This Guide provides a wealth of information about the film – from the evolution of the story as a novel to its newspaper serialization to the silver screen. Presented are the fascinating careers of the critical men involved – the book’s author Karl Schenzinger, the film’s producer Karl Ritter, and the film’s director Hans Steinhoff. The pivotal role of the Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach is explored, with commentary from his oldest son, Klaus. The unpublished diaries of Karl Ritter found in Argentina provide new insight into the film's production. A chapter on Jürgen Ohlsen, who played the title role, offers information heretofore overlooked. All of the comprehensive Ufa studio marketing and publicity materials are translated into English for the first time. The movie's success before 1945, not just in German cinemas but in Europe, North America, and Japan between 1934 and 1944, is documented with rare advertising and reviews. The fate of the film post–WW2 and how it is dealt with in today’s Germany is examined. Post-war critical analysis is also surveyed.

This Guide is the first book solely devoted to telling the story behind Hitler Youth Quex in English or German. It will interest film students, film collectors, and anyone interested in Third Reich propaganda.

Written by William Gillespie. Australia, 2022, over 400 pages, 6x9 inches Perfect Bound Softcover, with 63 B&W illustrations and four color plates. English Language.

"Gillespie’s book is a treasure trove for scholars of history, film history and propaganda more generally. This includes graduate and postgraduate students, early career researchers and more established academics. As such it is recommended for the essential classroom reading lists on any course dealing with film propaganda." – The Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television.

NOTICE FOR DVD: Sales are prohibited to the European Union (EU), UK, Canada and Australia. BOOK ALONE IS NOT RESTRICTED