As long as the Roses still bloom. The track record of the German Heimatfilm

Table of Contents

Introduction

Heimatfilm - History and Historical Background

Empirical Research

Case Study: The Immenhof - Trilogy (1955-57)

Wer fruher stirbt ist langertot (2006) - New and old Elements of the Genre

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix

As long as the roses still bloom:

The track record ofthe German Heimatfilm

Introduction

In 1948 the German film industry agreed upon a voluntary code that aimed at banning all violence and immorality from German cinemas.

The code indicated, for example, the following:

‘2. Andere Verbrechen durfen nicht in Einzelheiten gehen, die die Technik ihrer Durchfuhrung zeigen. Dies gilt insbesondere fur: b) Massenmorde, sei es, dass sie von Verbrechern im Kampf mit der Polizei, oder von Verbrechergruppen untereinander, oder bei offentlichen Unruhen begangen werden;

‘2. Other crimes may not go into details which display the technique of their accomplishment. This applies especially to: b) Mass murders, either committed by criminals in fight with the police, or within groups of criminals or during public riots; ^[1]

When reading this, it becomes quite clear that in the years following the Second World War a longing for peace and harmony on the screen was the dominating force. This ‘escapism’ can especially be found in the genre Heimatfilm (‘Homeland’-film). Speaking for Western Germany there was no Stunde Null (‘zero hour’), as Sabine Hake claims in her publication on German National Cinema, as far as its film industry is concerned.^[2] The Heimatfilm was not a new phenomenon, but during the 1950s the genre became a guarantor for one box office hit after the other. Nowadays, German films of the 1950s are often regarded with some embarrassment on account of their triviality. Some film scholars like Barbara Bongartz deny their impact and only mention them briefly in their publications on the postwar cinema.^[3] But that decade seems to be determined by the notion of ‘Heimat’, usually translated by ‘native region’ or ‘homeland’, neither of which is precise enough to render the whole concept.^[4] These films set either in the mountains, at a lake, in a wood or on the heath symbolize the ‘holiday from history’ that people were craving for in the first decade after the Second World War.^[5] Sabine Hake names four main regions that serve as settings: The Bavarian Alps, the Black Forest, the Rhine Region and the Northern Heath, nonetheless a disproportionate number of such films are set in the South.^[6] Ever since, the German Heimatfilm has been persistent in its appearance in German cinema or rather, more recently, on television, as a unique genre. The classical Heimatfilme from the 1950s are frequently repeated, but also new productions can be detected. The film Ruf der Berge (2005) was watched by more than 5 million people^[7], a significant market share. The inevitable sequel followed in 2007. Additionally, a pay TV channel called Heimatkanal exists as well, clearly indicating that the genre is not outdated.^[8] Alasdair King points out that none of the critics have ever really tried to explain the phenomenon and the causes for its mass success.^[9] As a decisive part of what might be called the German National Cinema it has been largely ignored. Nevertheless, up to this year, 2008, 63 years after the war and despite all the criticism, the genre is still in existence. While it seems relatively easy to understand its mass success during the fifties, when it reached its peak, this thesis aims to investigate why it is still so popular today. Historians have only started to pay attention to the medium film very recently.

It has obviously become one of the central instances of shaping collective as well as individual interpretations of history. In various studies it has been revealed, often accidentally, how decisive films can be as far as the meaning of history is concerned. Amongst academic scholars it is common sense that films might tell something about the epoch they are dealing with, but, even more importantly, they tell something about the times they were being produced in^[10] and must always be read within their surrounding history.^[11] The historian John E. O'Connor raised the following question in 1973: ‘Do films primarily shape the popular mind or are they more important as reflections of it?’^[12] The Heimatfilm, in its existence from the past to the present is probably able to perform both. According to Siegfried Kracauer, films reflect a society’s psychological state of mind, more than any other medium can do, since they are never products of individuals and as they satisfy the needs of an anonymous mass.^{[13] [14]} So, what does it say about German self-perception and coming to terms with the past that Heimatfilme are still produced in the 21st century? Why are TV-series like Forsthaus Falkenauu or Schwarzwaldklinik^[15] that use the same aesthetic still so popular in terms of mass taste?

The film scholar Thomas Elsaesser sums up the films’ messages by saying that love triumphs everything. In fact, the topics of the Heimatfilm can be quite various. But, social issues -if they occur at all- are resolved with a happy ending. Traditional values succeed over modern or urban ones. The rural community is idealized whereas the settings try to be as authentic as possible. Despite its limitations and superficiality, the Heimatfilm can be seen as an effective means of displaying dubieties and social contradictions. Elsaesser adds that they have ever since been ‘barometers of shift in public opinion across a wide spectrum of social and moral issues’ and ‘an expression of conflicts that extend beyond the boundaries of setting and the limited perspectives of its characters’.^[16] In that sense this thesis will furthermore ask: In how far does the genre’s success reflect German national identity and how do the issues dealt with in the medium are relating to German society in the 21st century?

While the fifties and the so-called Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) are willingly remembered these days, the fact that Germany was lying in ruins after 1945, is neglected to a large extend. The lack of buildings and food, the spread of diseases led to conflicts between the communities and the displaced persons. All these developments raised the issues of identity, place and homeland. It was the right time to celebrate the genre Heimatfilm, with its constructed communities of displaced and native Germans, set in what people identified as their genuine ‘homeland’. The first box office hits at that time were Schwarzwaldmadel (Black Forest Girl, 1950) and Grun ist die Heide (Green is the Heath, 1951), which was awarded the most influential German film trophy, ‘Bambi’; both are remakes from the 30s. With directors like Veit Harlan (Jud Suess, Hanna Amon) or Hans Deppe (actor in Hitlerjunge Quex, director of Schwarzwaldmadel, Grun ist die Heide and many more Heimatfilme), the film industry was dominated by exactly the same people that had already made films under Hitler’s reign of terror.^[17] No one had actually expected that these films would be such significant successes. But the German film industry, which was struggling with low audience figures, gratefully accepted this development. Thereby, the Heimatfilm also marked the end of the black and white Trummerfilm (rubble films).^[18] Both films mentioned above featured Sonia Ziemann and Rudolph Prack as the perfect couple in the traditional gender roles. Prack, who could have been Ziemann’s father, represented the ideal actor. A bank employee in real life, both he and his uninspired nature embodied sincerity, cleanness and decency.^[19]

The films simultaneously benefit from the innovative use of colour photography. Folk music (especially popular songs by Hermann Lons in Grun ist die Heide) plays an important role, too. These two films by Hans Deppe can be identified as the prototype of all German Heimatfilme.^[20] Whenever these films are shown on TV nowadays, they are still very successful in terms of audience figures. There is another kind of genre that has been outstandingly popular in German cinema and on TV over the last few years, the so-called event film. In the centre of the films historical happenings can be found, like the bombing of Dresden, the escape of the German population from the eastern borders at the end of WW II or the blockade of Berlin. In these films Germans are shown as the victims of the Second World War. Significant audience figures were achieved by Sonke Wortmann’s Wunder von Bern, produced in 2003. As in expressions like Wirtschaftswunder or Kinowunder, the (re)construction of another German miracle or foundation myth from the 1950s is embodied, as the film deals with

Germany’s unexpected success in the football world championship final in Bern in 1954, told according to the pattern ofa Hollywood blockbuster.^[21] A parallel to the Heimatfilm genre can be drawn in the way that the film deliberately disregards problematic issues (like the relations with the GDR, the Cold War or rearmament) and employs a very simplified version of the political status quo, as Laucht and Hochscherf argue.^[22] Soccer serves to repress the ‘dark years’ (as they are often vaguely called) after the war, while Sepp Herberger, German coach and former NSDAP member, mutates into the hero of the nation, and is celebrated as such up to this day.^[23] As in the Heimatfilm genre, a strong sense of community can be detected, even in non-rural areas, where football unites people (throughout all social classes). With its colourful portrayal of Swiss landscapes it furthermore resembles the genre. Germany, only shown in various shades of grey at the beginning of the film, becomes more and more colourful after the success in the final. The glorious victory is now often remembered as Germany’s first step back to international recognition as a democratic nation. But this has not always been the case. In 1979, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, critical director of the so-called New German Cinema, whose works are free from nostalgic motifs like famous battle scenes, heroic actions or key figures in history, shot the film Die Ehe der Maria Braun. In his films he constantly tried to cure the German society and its doubtful values. For Fassbinder, 1945 was nothing more than a setback to the old order, made possible through financial and military aid from the Americans. His use of the events in 1954 seems to be forgotten in public cultures of recollection. Several times throughout the film the audience hears the voice from the radio commentating on the legendary final of the football championship in Bern in 1954. After the gas explosion in the house that leads to the ultimate catastrophe in the end, the commentator’s voice from the radio, shouting Weltmeister (‘Master of the World’) can still be heard.

Twenty-six years after Fassbinder’s death the 50s are more popular than ever before: Speaking about the years after the currency reform of 1948 and the subsequent ‘economic miracle’ Chancellor Angela Merkel said: ‘That is what made our nation strong after 1948. That is exactly what we need today’.^[24] It should not be forgotten, of course, that she only became a citizen of the Federal Republic in 1990. But Merkel was not the first conservative to comment on present-day policy in the tradition of the father of the FRG, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. It reveals that the current image of the 50s has more to do with wishful and nostalgic thinking than historical reality. If we ask ourselves today what we associate with the 50s the answers will not be starvation, prisoners of war or displaced people. The 1950s are popular again, especially their designs, films and, of course, their economic success.

Methodology

Empirical Research

In order to find out how successful the genre nowadays still is, a closer look will be taken at the German TV guide HORZU, which has existed since 1946 and which is archived in the Hans-Bredow-Institute in Hamburg.^[25] To obtain a statistical chart, the years 1991 and 2007 will be compared by looking at the frequency with which the Heimatfilm was shown on certain channels (ARD, NDR, MDR, BR, all of them public service broadcasters). When was the frequency higher, when lower (e.g. public holidays)? At what time of the day were they shown (mornings, prime time)? Which channels show what kinds of Heimatfilme? Does the Bayrischer Rundfunk show mainly films that are set in

Bavaria? Does the MDR (a regional broadcaster for Eastern Germany) transmit old Heimatfilme from the FRG or rather the GDR-produced films of the former DEFA^[26] ?

Case Study

In addition, two case studies will be accomplished. In order to do this, the thesis will examine the film Die Madels vom Immenhof (1955) and the two sequels to it. They will be analyzed with regard to the values they convey; how they deal with social issues; how men and women are depicted; the symbolism that can be found; how the meaning of home and the cities are emphasized; which music is used and how the films come to terms with the nation’s past. With German being a nation that suffered from major conflicts rising up over questions of race, national identities, national territories and its borders, it is likewise essential to take a look at how Heimatfilm deals with space and the rural population as the foundation of the nation.^[27] It shall then be compared to a fairly new representative of the genre, the successful cinema production Wer fruher stirbt ist langer tot (2006).

Film has the possibility of taking its viewers anywhere. They can be set in real or constructed landscapes, which can be of different importance to film genres: In every western the audience expects to see the typical wide-open spaces or cowboys on horsebacks.^[28] And so do we expect to see mountains, lakes or forests in a Heimatfilm. It seems impossible to separate them. That is a central concept in understanding the success of the genre, especially in the course of Germany’s history in the 20th century. The films are arranged within a setting that allows them to let difficult issues concerning identity and territory always result in a happy ending. The settings usually seem unchanging, and, of course, never endangered by any kind of destruction or war. In the years after 1945, Germany was subject to territorial shifts, occupation and separation. A continuous change was taking place as streets were renamed and buildings transformed to serve different purposes. Additionally, more than twelve million Germans were forced to resettle in the years from 1945 to I960, many of them were so-called Heimatvertriebene (displaced people driven from their homeland).^[29] What was traumatically lost in real life, was turned into a dream onto the screen: the homeland.^[30] Hake names two further key purposes of the genre: It helped to create a postwar identity and offered an alternative status to a divided nation after the war.^[31] To understand precisely the historical background and the track record of the Heimatfilm, the first part of the thesis will deal with the development of the genre.

Heimatfilm - History and Historical Background

The year 1945, the so-called Stunde null (zero hour), is often portrayed as the beginning of a new period of a nation with a different society, determined by the economic miracle and its young democracy. But in 1945 Germany was undoubtedly a traumatised nation. Those who came back from the war were perpetrators and could not really speak about what they had gone through. Germany was punished with 1.7 million dead civilians, 5.3 million dead soldiers plus 11 million prisoners of war, but as the culprits largely unable to grief.^[32] And as nearly every family had to endure the same, it became more or less German normality.

Alexander and Margarethe Mitscherlich argue that three processes prevented Germans from grief and melancholy after 1945. The first is the emotional rejection, accompanied by a sudden de-realisation of the Third Reich and the war. The second process is a shift of identification. Americanization was unstoppable, despite the fact that Germany and the USA had only recently been war-time enemies. The third process is the attempt to make things undone, which explains the incredible effort that was made in rebuilding the cities.^[33]

The allies started their occupation in 1945 ambitiously, but only few of their ideas were realised. One of their educational measures were mandatory screenings. A newsreel called Die Todesmuhlen, (1945, Death mills) portrayed the merciless truth of concentration camps.^[34] Manvell and Fraenkel describe the effect on audiences: ‘Public reaction to the newsreel naturally varied. Many saw the film in silence without visible emotion. Some women wept; others laughed hysterically, then burst into tears. Men were sitting with bowed heads, covering their faces with their hands.’^[35] But, in the upcoming cold war, educational campaigns and de-nazification were more and more disregarded. Lots of former civil servants managed to stay in their old positions.^[36] Another factor that should be taken into consideration when outlining the developments after the war is the massive numbers of immigrants that reached Germany in 1945. More than 12 Million Heimatvertriebene (displaced people) were driven from their homeland. Illness and starvation were threatening. They usually had to live in stables or cellars, often for months. Even in I960, 2360 Wohnlager (camps) could still be found in the Federal Republic. Whoever still had some space in their house or what was left of that house was forced to let immigrants live there. While hoping to get rid of them very soon, the immigrants themselves dreamed of a return to their old homeland. A fear of the ‘foreign’ could not be denied.^[37]

After 1945 it was not only the people of Germany who were on the move: their goods, ideals and values were also shifting. Between 1949 and 1960 nearly every immigrant in Germany moved house at least once more. There was still not enough space in the country.^[38] As a consequence people must have felt a longing for wide-open spaces, as shown in the Heimatfilm.

After the currency reformation and the Marshall plan things started to look a little better for the FRG. The ethnologist Libuse Volbrachtova tries to show how immigrants create a double identity that features two homes: One is their reality, the place they are living in right now, but the other one is for their heart.^[39] This concept can be expanded to all those people in Germany who lost their homes, either because it was bombed or because they were forced to leave. And it seems that this home for the heart can frequently be found on the screen, brought to the audiences by the genre Heimatfilm.

Adenauer claimed in 1949 that it would be best for the young republic to do a tabula rasa with their Nazi past.^[40] Germans, at that point of time, seemed largely apolitical, at least outwardly. But, again, referring to the critical concept of the ‘zero hour’, it has to be mentioned that old ideas and values were still manifested in many heads.

The first films produced in Germany after the war were the so-called Trummerfilme (‘rubble films’), such as Die Morder sind unter uns by Wolfgang Staudte. These films portrayed the reality from East and West at the same time. The screen was kept ‘clean’, as only ideologically untouched stars like Hans Albers or Heinz Ruhmann could be seen. Of course, TV was not in serious competition with the cinema yet and the impact of Hollywood was also not too great at that point in time.^[41]

With the success of Schwarzwaldmadel in 1950, the cinema screens were now determined by illusions instead of realities. Numerous films followed, more than 300 in the 50s. Popular ones were also those dealing with royal families (like the German-Austrian trilogy Sissi with Romy Schneider). The first country the Germans started travelling to after the war was Austria: it felt like being at home and unter sich (by themselves). The Austrian past seemed to be less burdened (at least from the perspective of the Austrians themselves) and so they were able to keep their typical characteristics and calmness.^[42] And in the Heimatfilm Germany and Austria sometimes became one, especially when the Austrian Emperor Franz married the Bavarian Princess Sissi on the screen in 1955. Moreover, millions of Germans followed the coronation of Elisabeth II live on TV in 1953 and according to Urs Jenny, the fairytale-like character of the event led parts of the audience to dream of their nation being a monarchy again at that moment.^[43]

Germany’s policy and film making were determined by the same Slogan in the 1950s, namely Adenauer’s: No experiments! The cinemas also successfully advertised by using the following message: ‘Mach dir ein paar schone Stunden: Geh ins Kino!’ (‘Enjoy a few relaxing hours, go to the movies!’)^[44].

At the end of the 50s, the cinema’s impact became less significant, as TV was on its unstoppable way to conquering German living rooms, leading to a decrease in audience figures. The number of cinemas nearly halved, from 6239 in 1955 to 3446 in 1970.^[45] Older generations, who foremost appreciated the genre film, were lost as cinema-goers, whereas young people followed a largely Americanized mass culture.^[46] With the production of the anti-war tragedy Die Brucke (The Bridge) in 1959, German cinema seemed to slowly turn its back on mountains and lakes. The genre could only keep itself afloat as a travel/vacation film. With Italy becoming the preferred holiday destination during the 1960s, more and more films were set there, before the rest of the century was determined by the popular Schlagerfilm (kitschy films with pop- singers in the leading parts). In 1961 the jury of the national film prize did not award a best film or director, due to the lack of quality of produced films in that year.^[47]

Before outlining the ongoing history of the genre, an attempt shall be made to explain the expression and the corresponding concept of Heimat. Heimat is not only a geographical place, but rather one that someone belongs to, where he/she was brought up, where somebody’s roots can be found. It has not always been connected with triviality, but was formerly shaped by great poets like Goethe or Schiller and, as mentioned before, Reitz simply named his famous TV-trilogy Heimat, which will be introduced later. The term itself is always closely connected with homesickness, as Heimat is the place where everyone would like to, but cannot always be. And people only refer to it as Heimat when they are miles away from it. The geographical limits can very much vary then: For a Bavarian in Hamburg Heimat would be Bavaria, whereas he would refer to Germany as his Heimat while being further away, e.g. on a different continent. This moreover expresses the emotional character of the term. Heimat is the opposite of everything that is foreign. It is strongly related to nature and untouched landscapes. Although it is definitely not a unique German feeling, there is no adequate translation for the term. Heimat has a lot to do with longing, the past, childhood, community, hopes and wishes. But it also includes a negative connotation deriving from the Nazi past when it was misused for ideological purposes. In the 80s, the expression was revived from a different angle after Edgar Reitz gave his famous TV- trilogy the title Heimat ^[48] . With that background it is symbolic for a continuous German struggle: the search for security, warmth, the lost paradise.^[49] Psychoanalyst Siegmund Freud argued that the German word for uncanny {unheimlich) stands in opposition to the word homely. He concluded that ‘the uncanny’ is therefore threatening, as it is foreign, unknown territory and reveals a considerable lack of orientation.^[50] The German Brockhaus encyclopedia, however, defines Heimat as the place or the countryside into which somebody has been born, and through which his identity and mentality are coined.^[51]

A genre can be defined as a group of films that are determined by similar plots and characteristics. The Heimatfilm genre was not invented in the 50s, but the conditions for its success were better than ever before. The years 1945-49 were dominated by reconstruction. Being an occupied country, only films produced abroad were presented in cinemas, mainly from the United States. In 1949, Germany’s film industry regained its self-determination. The Trummerfilme^[52] (rubble films) became the predominant genre during the first years. A famous example is the DEFA-produced Die Morder sind unter uns (The murderers are amongst us, 1946). However, their existence was rather temporary. The commercial success was only moderate. Apart from that they failed to achieve their ambitious aims. Set in ruins, they surprisingly never really asked for the causes of the war. National Socialism is portrayed as an anonymous force and in the end the films somehow make their subtle arrangements with the nation’s past.^[53]

Filmmakers started to look for new settings: The cities were destroyed and Prussia, as a popular area to shoot films, was lost. The countryside offered beautiful scenery, largely untouched by the war.

To understand the rise and success of the Heimatfilm, it must be taken into consideration that people’s everyday lives were pervaded by sorrows during the first years after the war. Germans were simply tired of going to the cinema to see even more rubble. Instead of coming to terms with the past and the query of collective guilt, cinema audiences wanted to laugh and, more importantly, to dream.^[54] Reality was suppressed by a more distant and vague history. Consequences of the war could be seen here and there, but as in the TV event-film, Germans were depicted as victims. Giordano sees a second guilt in this development (through ignorance of the first). This collective silence was maintained up to the 60s and the Heimatfilm helped to establish this uneasy relationship to German history.^[55]

After the premiere of Grun ist die Heide that Von Moltke describes as the prototype of the genre, a critic wrote: ’Her majesty the audience wants such entertainment films-it appears that this is what Heimtfilme need to look like’.^[56] Its visual attractions could not have been more different from those of the rubble films. The colourful portraits (made possible through the use of Agfacolor film for the first time after the war^[57] ) of idyllic landscapes of the Northern German heath combined with prominent songs by Heimat poet Hermann Lons made amends for the weak plot of the film. The lyrics ‘On the Luneburg Heath/In the wonderfully beautiful land/I wandered up and down/And many things I found’^[58] underline the landscape shots (a characteristic feature of this genre). Willing to pay 1.50 Deutsche Mark per film, the spectators could relax in their seats. What they saw was healing: beautiful landscapes from the Northern heath to Bavaria’s mountains. Eventually, Germans found something they could still be proud of.^[59] The communities of the villages are portrayed as unchangeable, continuous systems that could not even be distressed by the war. Their actions are not influenced through politics, but by old traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. The plots are strictly chronological, flashbacks are never used. Moreover, the films comforted audiences with typical behavioural patterns and proposed solutions.^[60] The comprehensibility of the Heimat-world unfolds its soothing effects. Even if problematic issues appear, they only serve to make clear how beautiful and idyllic the setting is that must be saved and preserved by all means. The films often culminate in the traditional fair, where the happy ending can be fully celebrated.^[61] Obviously, traces of the past are existent, but widely separated from their context. Incomplete families and orphans appear; the whereabouts of missing parents or family members remain unsolved. Trimborn explains that it is often the mothers that are missing, as this does not directly mirror German reality. Furthermore, characters in their thirties and forties are rarely to be found, as they were considered as the supportive foundation of National Socialism.^[62] It seems unlikely to the viewer that one of the sympathetic characters was actually a Nazi. The displaced people that occur in some of the films are usually aristocrats. The large number of workers that had to flee is not represented. The immigrants are successfully integrated, but, at the same time, they do not seem to have relinquished their old Heimat yet. It is still present, especially in the songs that they are singing, as Rother emphasises.^[63]

Looking back to the 50s, one is struck by the contradictory developments of that decade: What Von Moltke describes as a ‘restoration approach’ on the one hand; versus rapid modernization through economic development on the other. In similar words: Adenauer’s ‘No Experiments’-slogan versus dynamic changes, innovations, Americanization. In his discussion of ‘Nostalgic Modernization’, Von Moltke claims that Heimatfilm is a synthesis of these contradictory developments, yet not at first sight. Restorations build the frame for modernization. Domesticity interacts with mobility and travel. And this new ability of moving around (cars appear frequently in the films) is what gives Heimat its significant value.^[64]

Cinema in the 50s was a different institution from that of today, of course. The number of cinemas increased from 4000 to 7000 during the 50s to meet the enormous demand. Cinema was fulfilling purposes that TV fulfils today: light entertainment after a stressful day, preferably through TV-series like the already mentioned all-time favourite Schwarzwaldklinik.

Heimatfilm was mainly popular with people from lower social classes and educational status, especially with women and elder people, as a survey revealed. Intellectuals and young people generally declined the whole genre. It was made for people who were rather vulnerable to nostalgic feelings like the numerous displaced people, who had lost their homes. For some spectators it also meant a substitute for travelling as not everyone could afford that. Women, many of whom had lost their husbands in the war, particularly enjoyed love as the central topic in the films. The happy ending usually results in marriage or one to come. Illegitimate children or orphans are willingly accepted by the future husband.^[65]

The beginnings of the genre can be found in writing. Heimat- literature developed as an opposite of realism and naturalism in the 19th century. The most popular author is presumably in Ludwig Ganghofer^[66], who sold millions of books around the turn of the century, of which thirty were later filmed.^[67] The first films that became categorized as Heimatfilme were all literature adaptations. One which is still popular can, for example, be found in Schloss Hubertus (adapted in 1934, 1954 and 1973), based on a novel by Ludwig Ganghofer. But the new genre’s aesthetic was foremost inspired and influenced by its predecessor, the Bergfilm (mountain film), which aimed at portraying exceptional landscapes that were unknown to a large number of people living in urban areas.

[...]

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^[1] Freiwilliger Kodex der Deutschen Filmindustrie, Entwurf, in: Von Bredow/Zurek, Film und Gesellschaft in Deutschland-Dokumente und Materialien, (Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1975), p. 255, translation by J. Ossenbrugge.

^[2] Hake, Sabine, German National Cinema, (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 86.

^[3] Bongartz, Barbara, Von Caligari zu Hitler- Von Hitler zu Dr. Mabuse? Eine psychologische Geschichte des deutschen Films von 1946-1960, (Muenster: MAkS Pubikationen, 1992), p. 51.

^[4] King, Alasdair, Placing Green is the Heath (1951), in: Halle/McCarthy, Light motives: German popular film in perspective, (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003), p. 131.

^[5] Von Moltke, Johannes, Evergreens: The Heimat Genre, in: Bergfelder/Carter/Goektuerk, The German Cinema Book, (London: British Film Institute: 2002), p. 19.

^[6] Hake, 2002, p. 110.

^[7] Horzu, 47 (2007), p. 102.

^[8] www.heimatkanal.de. 19/07/2008.

^[9] King, Alasdair, in: Halle/McCarthy, 2003, p. 130.

0 Rother, Rainer (Ed.), Bilder schreiben Geschichte: Der Historiker im Kino, (Berlin: Verlag KlausWagenbach, 1991), p. 11.

^[11] Rollins, Peter C. (Ed.), Hollywood as Historian. American Film in a Cultural Context, (Lexington: Kentucky University Press, 1983), p. 4.

2 O'Connor, John E., Historians and Film: Some Problems and Prospects, in: The History Teacher, Vol. 6, No. 4, (Aug., 1973), p. 550.

^[13] Krakauer, Siegfried, Von Caligari to Hitler. Eine psychologische Geschichte des deutschen Films, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947), p. 11.

^[14] Forsthaus Falkenau is a German TV series, first shown on ZDF in 1989. So far 250 episodes have been shot and more are to be produced. Specials have been screened for Christmas. The series deals with a widower, who moves to Kueblach with his three kids and mother-in-law to become the new forester. Other than in the Heimatfilme, problems and conflicts within the community are more obvious, and tragedies, like the death of family members, can destroy the idyll. Nevertheless, after a catastrophe, a happy ending follows sooner or later, Hruska/Evermann, Der neue Serien-Guide, Band 2, (Berlin: Schwarzkopf&Schwarzkopf, 2004), pp. 93f.

^[15] Schwarzwaldklinik is the most successful German TV series with a cast of very well-known actors. First shown on ZDF in 1985 it was transferred to 42 countries and reached a peak with 28 million viewers in Germany only in the seventh episode. Set in the typical Heimatfilm scenario, the series has dealt with various problematic issues; two of the episodes were even censored (one that had shown rape, the other sexual abuse of children). It seems that a TV series cannot go without those real conflicts, but here again, at the end of one series stands an episode with a happy ending (for example, with a marriage), which makes the audience believe that in the end everything will turn out to be fine, Hruska/Evermann, Der neue Serien- Guide, Band 4, (Berlin: Schwarzkopf&Schwarzkopf, 2004), pp. 18f.

^[16] Thomas Elsaesser, "The Heimatfilm", in: Wagner, Elsaesser (Ed.), Deutscher Heimatfilm (London: Goethe Institute, 1988) p. 5.

^[17] Trimborn, Jurgen, Der deutsche Heimatfilm der funfziger Jahre: Motive, Symbole und Handlungsmuster, (Koln: Teiresias-Verlag, 1998), p. 143.

^[18] King, in: Halle/McCarthy, 2003, pp. 134f.

^[19] Riess, Curt, Das gibts nureinmal, Das Buch des deutschen Films nach 1945, (Hamburg: Nannen Verlag, 1958), pp. 263ff.

^[20] King, in: Halle/McCarthy, 2003, pp. 134f.

^[21] Hochscherf/Laucht, ‘Every nation needs a legend:’ The Soccer Epic The Miracle of Bern (2003) and the Creation ofa German Postwar Myth, in: Briley/Schoenecke/Carmichael (Ed.), All-Stars, Movie Stars: Sports in Film and History, (Lexington: Kentucky University Press, 2008), p. 2.

^[22] Hochscherf/Laucht, in: Briley/Schoenecke/Carmichael (Ed.), 2008, p. 5.

^[23] Hochscherf/Laucht, in: Briley/Schoenecke/Carmichael (Ed.), 2008, p. 13.

^[24] http://www.bundesreqierunq.de/Content/DE/Rede/2008/06/2008-06-12-rede-merkel-60- iahre-soziale-marktwirtschaft.html. 22/08/2007.

2bhttp://www.mediacultureonline.de/fileadmin/bibliothek/seegers hoerzu/seegers hoerzu.html , 06/06/2008.

6 DEFA (Deutsche Film AG) was the only film society in the GDR. It existed from 1946-1992 and was controlled by the ministry of culture. Popular topics were anti-fascism and socialism. Moreover, main emphasis was put on children’s films and fairytale adaptations, Rother, Rainer (Ed.), Sachlexikon Film, (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1997), pp. 52-54.

^[27] King, in: Halle/McCarthy, 2003, p. 131.

^[28] Horton, Andrew, Reel landscapes: cinematic environments documented and created, in: Robertson/Richards, Studying Cultural Landscapes (London: Hodder Arnold, 2003), p. 77.

^[29] King, in: Halle/McCarthy, 2003, pp. 132f.

^[30] Kaes, Anton, From Hitler to Heimat. The Return of History as Film, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 15.

^[31] Hake, 2002, p. 109.

^[32] Lakotta, Beate, Getrauert wurde nie, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, Die 50erJahre. Vom Trummerland zum Wirtschaftswunder, (Munchen: Goldmann Verlag, 2007), p. 64.

^[33] Mitscherlich/Mitscherlich, Die Unfaehigkeit zu trauern, (Muenchen: R. Piper & Co. Verlag, 1967), p. 40.

^[34] Hake, 2002, p. 87.

^[35] Manvell/Fraenkel, The German Cinema, (London: Dent&Sons, 1971), p. 111.

^[36] Friedmann, Jan, Ohnmachtige Sieger, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 94.

^[37] Noack, Hans Joachim, Die geteilte Heimat, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, pp. 114-117.

^[38] Noack, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 123.

^[39] Noack, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 121.

^[40] Bonisch, Georg, Amnesie und Amnestie, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 217

^[41] Jenny, Urs, Saubere Leinwand, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 297.

^[42] Karassek, Hellmuth, Sehnsucht nach dem Happy End, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 269.

^[43] Jenny, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 299/Bleicher, Joan Kristin, Chronik der Institutionsgeschichte des deutschen Fernsehens, in: Hickethier, Knut (Ed.), Geschichte des Fernsehens in der Bndesrepublik Deutschland (1), (Muenchen: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1993), p. 372.

^[44] Jenny, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 299.

^[45] Prinzler, Hans Helmut, Chronik des deutschen Films: 1895-1994, (Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 1995), pp. 204/272.

^[46] Hake, 2002, pp. 113f.

^[47] Jenny, in: Bonisch/Wiegrefe, 2007, p. 300.

^[48] Heimat is a TV trilogy by Edgar Reitz, first shown in 1982. The epic portrayed sixty years of regional history of the common people, as a family/village chronicle. It emphasizes the development: new versus old elements; people staying and going. Heimat, as shown here, is undergoing changes and is only noticeable as a feeling of remembrance, Kaschuba, Wolfgang {Ed.), Der deutsche Heimatfilm: Bildwelten und Weltbilder; Bilder, Texte, Analysen zu 70 Jahren deutscher Filmgeschichte, {Tubingen: Ludwig-Uhland-Institut fur Empirische Kulturwissenschaft d. Univ. Tubingen, 1989), pp. 140f.

^[49] Gennerich, Nicola, Das Genre des Heimatfilms : Dargestellt am Beispiel des Films "Wilde Wasser" (1962), {Hamburg: Univ., Diss., 1991), pp. 2/5.

^[50] Freud, Siegmund, Das Unheimliche, {London: Imago Publishing, 1941), p. 47./Fischer Doppelpunkt, 1963???

^[51] Der Brockhaus in einem Band, {Leipzig; Mannheim: Brockhaus, 1998), p. 374, translation by J. Ossenbruegge.

^[52] Trummerfilme are gloomy films, set in the immediate years after the war. They were produced in Western Gerany as well as by the DEFA, Rother, Rainer, 1997, p. 300.

^[53] Gennerich, 1991, pp. 40f.

^[54] Kaschuba, 1989, p. 81.

Trimborn, 1998, p. 147.

Von Moltke, Johannes, No place like home: locations of He[mat in German cinema, (Berkeley, Calif. [a.o.]: University of California Press, 2005). p. 80.

^[57] Rother, 1997, p. 145.

^[58] Von Moltke, 2005, p. 89.

^[59] Gennerich, 1991, p. 42.

^[60] Gennerich, 1991, p. 193.

^[61] Trimborn, 1998, p. 131.

^[62] Trimborn, 1998, p. 80/130/Rother, Rainer, 'Kriegserfahrung' im Heimatfilm, in: Heukenkamp, Ursula (Ed.), Schuld und Suhne? Kriegserlebnis und Kriegsdeutung in deutschen Medien der Nachkriegszeit (1945-1961). Amsterdamer Beitrage zur neueren Germanistik, pp. 321-331.(Amsterdam/Atlanta, 2001, Rodopi B.V.), p. 330

^[63] Rother, in: Heukenkamp, 2001, p. 330/Trimborn, 1998, pp. 92f.

^[64] Von Moltke, 2005, pp. 115-119.

^[65] Gennerich, 1991, p. 55, Berthoud, Martin, Die Primetime der Gemutlichkeit, in: medium spezial 22 (1992), p. 23.

^[66] Ludwig Ganghofer (1825-1920) was a German novelist and playwright. He was a friend of Wilhelm II and also worked as a reporter during World War I. The idylls he created in his novels were often regarded as kitsch by critics, but still he remains Germany’s most adapted novelisy, http://www.br-online.de/baverisches-fernsehen/lesezeichen/qrosse-bavern- DID1188597884/index.xml. 25/08/2008.

^[67] Kaschuba, 1989, p. 21.