HITLER'S HENCHMEN: GOEBBELS: THE FIREBRAND {DER BRANDSTIFTER: JOSEPH GOEBBELS} (TV)
Summary
One in this six-part German-produced documentary series about the men who engineered and ruled Hitler's Third Reich. Using recently discovered archival footage, rare biographical material, and newly recorded testimony from firsthand witnesses, the series profiles six members of Hitler's inner circle and architects of Third Reich. This program examines the role and legacy of Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda.
The picture of Goebbels that emerges from his diary entries and the firsthand accounts of acquaintances and eyewitnesses is one of tangled contradictions: Goebbels is a physically handicapped and homely man who exploits the "ugliness" of non-Aryans to justify their slaughter; a failed writer whose words lead a nation into insanity; and a sentimentally devoted family man who fully embodies the psychotic hatred that fuels the Nazi cause. Goebbel's personality and function as Hitler's chief demagogue are examined with emphasis on the following: Goebbels's iron-fisted control of the German media, which ensures the total saturation of the public consciousness with Nazi propaganda; a career setback in the form of a humiliating sex-scandal with Czech actress Lida Baarova; Goebbels's vigorous promulgation of virulent anti-Semitism and orchestration of widescale, escalating harassment of Jews; Goebbels's presentation of the Reich as a constant national holiday, with the attendant rallies, speeches, and parades; Goebbels's blind devotion to the image of Hitler that he himself had created, and his pathetic need for the Fuhrer's approval; and Goebbel's morbid patriotism in the face of defeat, in which he dooms his wife and young children to death in Hitler's bunker. Includes commentary by the following individuals: Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretatry; Stephane Roussel, a reporter in Berlin; political opponent Fritz Marcuse; Reich film director Fritz Hippler; Arno Hamburger, a German Jew; journalist Hans Borgelt; Barbara von Kalckreuth, a family friend of Goebbels; actress Anneliese Uhlig; Goebbels's staff member Wilfred von Oven; actress Lida Baarova; Hitler's staff member Reinhard Spitzy; Inge Deutschkron, a German Jew; Sports Palace rally audience members Sabine Boebe and Brunhilde Pomsel; Heinrich Hunke, the head of foreign propaganda; Hitler Youth member Karl-Heinz Bialdiga; the Commandant of Luban, Rupprecht Sammer; Reich Chancellery soldier Franz Neuhuttler; and Rochus Misch, telephonist in Hitler's bunker.
(This program is in German with English narration and subtitles.)
(This program was originally telecast on the ZDF German Television Network as "Der Brandstifter: Joseph Goebbels" on January 28, 1997.)
Details
- NETWORK: History Channel
- DATE: October 20, 1997 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:54:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:50249
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Anti-Semitism; Germany - History - 1933-1945; Nazism
- SERIES RUN: History Channel - TV, 1997
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Guldo Knopp … Executive Producer, Created by
- Andrew McDonald … Producer
- Jorg Mullner … Researcher
- Peter Hartl … Director, Writer
- Klaus Doldinger … Music by
- David Ritchie … Narrator
- Geraint Evans … Narrator
- Traudl Junge … Guest
- Stephane Roussel … Guest
- Fritz Marcuse … Guest
- Fritz Hippler … Guest
- Arno Hamburger … Guest
- Hans Borgelt … Guest
- von Kalckreuth, Barbara … Guest
- Anneliese Uhlig … Guest
- von Oven, Wilfred … Guest
- Lida Baarova … Guest
- Reinhard Spitzy … Guest
- Inge Deutschkron … Guest
- Sabina Boebe … Guest
- Brunhilde Pomsel … Guest
- Heinrich Hunke … Guest
- Karl-Heinz Bialdiga … Guest
- Rupprecht Sammer … Guest
- Franz Neuhuttler … Guest
- Rochus Misch … Guest
- Goebbels, Joseph (See also: Goebbels, Josef)
- Adolf Hitler