Cinema and the Swastika

This is the first publication to bring together comparative research on the international expansion of Third Reich cinema. This volume investigates various attempts to infiltrate - economically, politically and culturally - the film industries of 20 countries and regions either occupied by, friendly with or neutral towards Nazi Germany.

Winner of the 2007 Willy Haas Award for books on German cinema. For more information see the prize website: http://www.wgfilmtv.ugent.be/willyhaas_award_ENG.htm

'A revelatory book which transforms our sense of German and European film history'

Katie Trumpener, Yale University, USA

'The crude and moralising conceptualisation of film propaganda that devalues the academic validity of so many works on Nazi film propaganda is absent. The concise contributions, providing dense and comprehensible information, form outstanding introductory texts. Detailed footnotes and references lead to further, deeper research results.'

Martin Loiperdinger, H-Soz-u-Kult

'Cinema and the Swastika was rightfully awarded the Willy Haas Award for outstanding publication on German cinema at Cinefest 2007 in Hamburg. The contributions are stimulating, informative, and jargon-free. This book belongs in the reference collection of anyone engaged in the study of German politics, culture or film history from 1933 until 1945.' - Horst Claus, Filmblatt

'The chapters address the complex issues that surround the international dimension of Third Reich Cinema and thus reinvigorate academic discourses dealing with this controversial era. Strongly recommended.'

Tobias Hochscherf, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

'This innovative collection on the Third Reich should trigger new research. The essays are extremely informative, raising new issues about cultural imperialism and consumerism during the National Socialist era. Each essay is a precise, informative piece about the chosen country or region, introducing, indeed for the first time, film industries usually left out of Third Reich cinema studies.' - Christelle Le Faucheur, H-Net

'The papers collected in this volume offer new and diverse material invaluable as a resource to film students and historians alike, as well as being a fascinating companion to the films produced under the Third Reich. The content is extremely well presented and referenced, with an excellent index, select bibliography and black and white images illuminating film posters and historic photographs from the period. The end result is a professional and extremely interesting collection of important studies.' - Karl Birkelbach, Limina

'Cinema and the Swastika is long overdue and should prove invaluable to screen historians...The emphasis is very much on the political and economic aspects of continental cinema rather than its content. But while this may disappoint those seeking a greater insight into the exploitation and collaboration of renowned actors and directors and the calibre of the films they produced, the audacious bid for cultural hegemony attempted by the Nazis makes for consistently compelling reading....a pioneering work that seeks to inspire others to delve deeper into the operational procedures and artistic aspirations of international film-makers in the 12 years following the Nazi accession to power...the standard text on the subject.' - David Parkinson, The Oxford Times

Cinema and the Swastika breaks genuinely new ground by exploring the international expansion of the Nazi film industry, particularly during the war.' - Gerwin Strobl, War in History

BRETT BOWLES Assistant Professor of French Studies, the State University of New York, Albany, USA DAVID CULBERT John L. Loos Professor of History, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA MICHAEL ECKARDT Visiting Scholar, Stellenbosch University, South Africa JO FOX Senior Lecturer in Modern History, the University of Durham, UK RALF FORSTER Film historian, the Filmmuseum Potsdam, and Lecturer, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany DAVID FREY Assistant Professor of History, the United States Military Academy at West Point, USA JANINE HANSEN Graduate, the Ostasiatisches Seminar at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany GIANNI HAVER Professor at the Institut de sociologie des communications de masse (ISCM), the Université de Lausanne, France LISA JARVINEN Assistant Professor of History, La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA ARISTOTLE A. KALLIS Senior Lecturer in European Studies, the University of Lancaster, UK TIM KIRK Lecturer in European History, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK IVAN KLIMES Head of the Department fo Film Theory and History, National Film Archives, Prague, Czechoslovakia PAUL LESCH Lecturer, University of Luxembourg and the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center, Luxembourg BENJAMIN GEORGE MARTIN Post-Doctoral Fellow, the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany JULIO MONTERO Senior Lecturer, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain LUIZ NAZARIO Professor of Film History, the Fine Arts School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais MARIA ANTONIA PAZ Professor at the Faculty of Information Science, the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain FRANCISCO PEREDO-CASTRO Professor/Researcher, the Faculty of Political and Social Science of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) DANIEL RAFAELIC Film Historian currently working in Croatian cinematheque INGO SCHIWECK PhD Graduate, History and Political Science in Germany and the Netherlands EIRINI SIFAKI Lecturer in Film History, the School of Film Studies, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece BJORN SORENSSEN Professor at the Department of Art and Media Studies, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Trondheim, Norway KEYAN TOMASELLI Professor of Culture, Communication and Media Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa ROEL VANDE WINKEL Assistant Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium ROBERT VON DASSANOWSKY Professor of German and Film Studies, the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA DAVID WELCH Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Propaganda and War, the University of Kent, UK ROCHELLE WRIGHT Professor of Scandinavian and Comparative Literature, Cinema Studies, and Gender and Women's Studies, the University of Illinois, USA