The Eternal Jew (1940 film)
| Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) |
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Original release poster
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| Directed by | Fritz Hippler |
| Produced by | Deutsche Film Gesellschaft |
| Written by | Eberhard Taubert |
| Narrated by | Harry Giese |
| Music by | Franz R. Friedl |
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| Distributed by | Terra |
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Release date
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Running time
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62 minutes |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
The Eternal Jew is a 1940 antisemiticGerman Nazi propaganda film, presented as a documentary. The film's initial German title is Der Ewige Jude, the German term for the character of the "Wandering Jew" in medieval folklore. At the insistence of Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, the film was directed by Fritz Hippler.
With a screenplay credited to Eberhard Taubert, the film consists of feature and documentary footage combined with materials filmed shortly after the Nazi occupation of Poland. At this time, Poland's Jewish population was about three million, roughly ten percent of the total population. Actor Harry Giese (1903–1991) narrated.
Hitler and Goebbels believed that film was a vital tool for molding public opinion. The Nazis first established a film department in 1930 and Goebbels had taken a personal interest in the use of film to promote the Nazi philosophy and agenda. Soon after the Nazi takeover, Goebbels insisted in speeches that the role of the German cinema was to serve as the "vanguard of the Nazi military" as they set forth to conquer the world.
The Goebbels film appears to have been intended as a violently anti-Semitic version of the 1934 British film of the same name which argued that Jews were victims of unjustified persecution throughout history. Saul Friedländer suggests that Goebbels' intent was to counter three films, Jew Suess, The House of Rothschild, and a British film also called The Eternal Jew. The original films, all released in 1934, supported the notion that Jews were persecuted throughout history; the Goebbels films presented a message which stated the contrary.
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