This dissertation examines two DEFA films produced in the 1960’s by Joachim Kunert and Konrad Wolf,who became part of East Germany’s 2nd generation of filmmakers and who explored the causes of National Socialism and the remedies for the dreadful catastrophe that overcame Germany between 1933 and 1945.
The collapse of the Reich in 1945 saw the end of the 12 year National Socialist reign of terror over Germany. The Nazi’s had ensured that they had control of cultural life in Germany and had invested heavily in a film industry that created a national myth in order to support Nazi Party aims and which manipulated the public. The defeat of Germany saw the discrediting and failure of fascist, national identity, myth making, artistic stereotypes and the foundational films produced in Germany during the period 1933-45.
By the 1960’s DEFA, the GDR’s state film production company had been exploring the origins of National Socialism for twenty years, starting with Wolfgang Staudte’s Die Mörder sind unter uns, 1946, DEFA. The GDR’s state film company, DEFA, was given the task of” […]restor[ing] democracy in Germany and remove all traces of fascist and militaristic ideology from the minds of every German[…] (Allen, 1999,3). These films were produced to enable the Germans to have an “honest confrontation with the military and moral catastrophe that […]the Germans had brought on themselves[…]” (Barnouw,2008,48) and sought to “develop a cinematic language[…]to confront the recent German past (Pinkert,2008,20).
The “grammar” of DEFA anti- fascist films was established by such films as Staudte, Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns orIrgendwo in Berlin, 1946, Gerhard Lamprecht, DEFA and Die Buntkarierten,1949, Kurt Maetzig, DEFA or Rotation,1949, Wolfgang Staudte,DEFA. These films were made by a generation that had grown up in the Weimar period and who had experienced the slide from Weimar chaos to National Socialist Dictatorship at first hand. The film makers were born in the late 19th or early 20th Centuries, Staudte in 1906, Lamprecht in 1897 and Maetzig in 1911. Their early films are an almost emotional expression of the moment of defeat containing heartfelt investigations of the causes of the catastrophe from within the Soviet Occupation Zone and later in the GDR. The 1950’s saw DEFA turn its attention to films which explored the everyday concerns of GDR citizens struggling to build a new state centring on the Berlin films of the middle of that decade.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Genre: Anti-Fascist Film
Genre: Anti-War Film
Genre: Biographical Film
Genre: Road Movie
Genre: Western
Conclusion and Further Work
Objectives and Themes
This dissertation investigates how two "National Foundation" films, Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt and Ich war neunzehn, construct and contribute to East German national identity through the lens of specific film genres.
- Analysis of DEFA's "National Foundation" films as tools for shaping national identity.
- Exploration of how genre conventions are utilized to communicate didactic state messages.
- Comparison of the "good" socialist-aligned German versus the "bad" SS-aligned German.
- Investigation into the themes of generational identity, trauma, and societal reconstruction in the 1960s GDR.
Excerpt from the Book
Die Abenteuer Des Werner Holt
Released in 1965, the film is loosely based on Dieter Noll’s the 1960 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, both born in 1924, who become friends at Gymnasium. Holt is studious and easily led while Wolzow is the son of a General and fascinated by war. The film opens with them preparing for the final defence of a town somewhere on the “Ost Front”. In the process of this they find their Commanding Officer, who is about to abandon his post and leave Wolzow and Holt to fight on their own. Wolzow arrests the officer and relieves him of his command,initially they are going to hang the officer but resolve to make him drunk and prevent him from running away. Holt, as radio operator, is ordered to make contact with the regiment and the camera concentrates on his face as he forlornly calls, “Hier ruft Adler[…]” and relives the events that have brought him to this point through a series of flashbacks.
He recalls the Gymnasium where he met Wolzow and became friends. He recalls excitement at being called up and serving first, as a Flakhelfer, and his slow disillusionment as he experiences the war at closer and closer hand. Intertwined with these memories are the women he has met and who have signposted the bankruptcy of the regime he fights for. His memories become ever more regretful as he recalls the senseless deaths and desertion of friends.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This chapter introduces the focus on two seminal DEFA films and outlines the methodological approach using film genre to analyze GDR national identity.
Genre: Anti-Fascist Film: This section details how the GDR utilized the anti-fascist genre to establish a foundational myth of loyalty to the socialist state by contrasting it with a perceived fascist West Germany.
Genre: Anti-War Film: This chapter analyzes how these films differentiate themselves from traditional war movies by focusing on the disillusionment and pointlessness of war rather than military glory.
Genre: Biographical Film: This section examines the use of fictionalized biographies to create relatable protagonists that embody the transition from National Socialist ideology to socialist consciousness.
Genre: Road Movie: This chapter explores how the travel motif serves as a catalyst for self-discovery and reconciliation with a homeland that has been radically transformed.
Genre: Western: This final analytical chapter discusses how western tropes are applied to describe the GDR as a frontier society defending socialist civilization against outlaw forces.
Conclusion and Further Work: This chapter summarizes the findings and proposes future research avenues regarding the biography of Joachim Kunert and the broader comparative study of East and West German film history.
Keywords
DEFA, GDR, National Identity, Anti-Fascism, Werner Holt, Konrad Wolf, Joachim Kunert, National Foundation Films, Genre, Socialism, World War II, Bildungsroman, Frontier, Heimat, Cultural Memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this dissertation?
This work examines the GDR's construction of national identity through two "National Foundation" films: Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt and Ich war neunzehn.
What are the central thematic areas?
The core themes include the formation of a socialist national identity, the confrontation with the National Socialist past, and the role of generational trauma.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine how film genre can be utilized to discern and analyze the national identity of a state as projected through its cinematic output.
Which scientific method is employed?
The dissertation utilizes film genre analysis, comparing how conventions of anti-fascist, biographical, road movie, and western genres are applied to these specific DEFA productions.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body systematically applies different genre lenses—anti-fascism, war, biography, road movie, and western—to analyze how Kunert and Wolf portrayed the German experience and the legitimacy of the GDR.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include DEFA, national identity, anti-fascism, genre theory, and the specific historical context of 1960s East Germany.
Why did the director Joachim Kunert choose a train for the road movie motif instead of a car?
While the classic road movie often uses cars or trucks, Kunert’s use of the train emphasizes the specific German landscape and the logistical "stations" of the protagonist's disillusionment during the final years of the war.
How does the author interpret the "Western" ending of these films?
The author views the "western" endings—where protagonists ride or drive off into an uncertain landscape—as a refusal of the state to provide definitive certainties, reflecting underlying creative tensions during a period of societal and political crisis.
- Citation du texte
- Richard McKenzie (Auteur), 2010, GDR’s national Identity in “National Foundation” films: "Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt" and "Ich war neunzehn", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/178293
