"All Quiet on the Western Front" was banned!

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 13 Nov 2003 01:35

I am actually reading a biography about Goebbels and I was stunned to learn that the Nazi banned the marvelous film "All Quiet on the Western Front" after 5 days of projection. They said that they wanted a heroic German point of view so that's why they banned the film. That film portrayed the World War I German soldier miserable in the life in the trenches...

Beppo Schmidt · Post by **Beppo Schmidt** » 13 Nov 2003 02:21

Hitler and company wanted young Germans to be enthusiastic about marching off to war to "defend the Fatherland". Watching All Quiet On The Western Front would certainly not encourage them.

Helly Angel · Post by **Helly Angel** » 13 Nov 2003 02:23

Yes Benoit,

Göbbels said this film was a coward, defeatist and a call to betray the Fatherland!

And was banned in the Reich.

Best,

Redbaron1908 · Post by **Redbaron1908** » 13 Nov 2003 03:35

Intresting to know that, does anoyone know what the German government attitude towards the film after the war was, was it still banned?

Grand Admiral · Post by **Grand Admiral** » 13 Nov 2003 03:55

As was The Grand Illusion, for the same reasons.

R.M. Schultz · Post by **R.M. Schultz** » 13 Nov 2003 04:38

Benoit Douville wrote:I am actually reading a biography about Goebbels and I was stunned to learn that the Nazi banned the marvelous film "All Quiet on the Western Front" after 5 days of projection.

The Nazis weren’t in power when the movie came out:

David Irving, in “Goebbels, Mastermind of the Third Reich” wrote:In December 1930 Goebbels staged his most effective propaganda demonstration yet, against the Ufa film version of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ The film was pacifist and anti-German (its author had already emigrated). In one scene, German soldiers were depicted haggling with a dying comrade whose legs had been shot away, over who should inherit his new boots. At its first public showing on the fifth, Goebbels’ S.A. men emptied the cinema with stink bombs and live mice. For once the Nazis found Berlin’s police, many of them ex-army officers, in broad sympathy with them. Angriff reported laconically that their Doctor had been present ‘for informational purposes,’ and planned to see the rest of the film for informational purposes ‘on Sunday evening.’ His men took the hint and trashed the movie theatre while thousands of cheering Berliners looked on. The management cancelled the next performance after that. Even the Mosse’s Berliner Tageblatt dared not to criticize, because this time he had the people behind him. On the seventh the movie theatre tried again. Goebbels staged another ‘spontaneous’ riot. Afterwards his men smashed through police cordons to the sound of the Horst Wessel anthem and rampaged down Kurfürstendamm, while Goebbels himself took the salute at Uhland Corner in the heart of the West End. He called for further protests the next night. The police cordoned off entire districts. This time, he estimated, forty thousand Berliners turned out to protest against the film; opposing newspapers put the figure at six thousand. Under pressure from Grzesinski the Prussian minister of the interior Severing banned all open-air demonstrations. 36 On the eleventh the Reichstag itself debated the situation. Goebbels was evicted from the building, but the victory was his. At four P.M. the Brüning government ordered the objectionable film withdrawn ‘because of the danger to Germany’s image abroad,’ then adjourned until February 3, 1931.

Zapfenstreich · Post by **Zapfenstreich** » 13 Nov 2003 08:19

Erich Maria Remarque was put on Goebbel's and Himmler's hit lists. All his books and movies made from thos books were banned. Remarque got out in time to save his life and his works received great acclaim in the USA and Britain even though his heroes were soldiers in the German Army. Only twenty years before they would have been considered enemies.

He wrote several anti-war books including "Der Weg Zurück" and "Drei Kameraden". You should read these too. They will give you a very clear picture of what life was like in post war Germany for those school boys who went of to serve the Vaterland.

A short summary might be "Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori" is a crock.

Z

R.M. Schultz · Post by **R.M. Schultz** » 13 Nov 2003 08:59

Zapfenstreich wrote:… "Der Weg Zurück" …

An English translation of this excellent book is available:

"The Road Back," translated from the German by A.W. Wheen, Ballantine Books, New York, 1998.

Daniel L · Post by **Daniel L** » 13 Nov 2003 11:51

As far as I know the book is still censored in Great Britain.

Best regards/ Daniel

tonyh · Post by **tonyh** » 13 Nov 2003 16:12

Theres a lot of fuss about this and really for no reason. Governments ban movies and books all the time that they have a bug bear about. For instance, France also banned "All quiet on the Western Front" in the 30's and the 1950's film "Paths of Glory" was banned from public viewing until the 70's. Britain and the US have also banned various movies and books throughout the years. The British government of the time tried to ban "The day of the Jackel", because it portrayed an Englishman trying kill De Gaul and the US tried to ban "Johnny got his gun" during the Vietnam era and succeeded too IIRC.

Tony

Zapfenstreich · Post by **Zapfenstreich** » 13 Nov 2003 16:42

tonyh wrote:Theres a lot of fuss about this and really for no reason. Governments ban movies and books all the time that they have a bug bear about. For instance, France also banned "All quiet on the Western Front" in the 30's and the 1950's film "Paths of Glory" was banned from public viewing until the 70's. Britain and the US have also banned various movies and books throughout the years. The British government of the time tried to ban "The day of the Jackel", because it portrayed an Englishman trying kill De Gaul and the US tried to ban "Johnny got his gun" during the Vietnam era and succeeded too IIRC.

Tony

You're right. All nations have banned books at one time or another. However, the USA, Britain and France do not send the author to the gas chamber, gallows or firing squad.

Z

Zapfenstreich · Post by **Zapfenstreich** » 13 Nov 2003 16:43

D. Löwenhamn wrote:As far as I know the book is still censored in Great Britain.

Best regards/ Daniel

Daniel, do you know why?

Z

mty · Post by **mty** » 13 Nov 2003 19:09

You mean Frederick Forsyth's best-seller "The Day of the Jackal" is still banned in Britain?

At least in Gibraltar the movie version of the title was shown in a theatre - and Gibraltar is part of UK.

John H. · Post by **John H.** » 13 Nov 2003 23:29

i will have to read that book in 10th grade even though i already have read it in 7th grade on my own. i liked it but i can see why the germans said it made it look like that had a miserable in the life in the trenches. (even though they did)

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 14 Nov 2003 00:52

R.M. Shultz,

I know that the Nazi weren't in power when the film came out but still they banned this marvelous film when they came to power 3 years later.

Regards

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"All Quiet on the Western Front" was banned!

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