Third Reich Era Films DVDs

Over 1,000 feature films were made in Germany during the Third Reich. Of these only about a sixth can be said to be direct political propaganda, the rest encompassing a great variety of entertainment genres. Though some actors and directors left Germany when the Third Reich began, many stayed, and new performers emerged to become adulated, highly paid film stars. In viewing these films, one should remember that all of them were influenced by Government policy to some extent. Beginning with the coming of the Third Reich in 1933, films were increasingly controlled by the Government, so by 1938 film production companies had been nationalized, Jews had been excluded from filmmaking, scripts had to be submitted for Government approval, and completed films had to be approved and sometimes altered by Government censors. The Government also sometimes intervened in the production of films it thought especially worthwhile, and aided them with subsidies and tax abatements. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels played a key role in all these activities. So these films offer a rich experience to the modern day viewer: Besides often being enjoyable as entertainment, they offer valuable insights into the worldview of the Nazi Government and Nazi Germany as a whole.