Iluminace 2018, 30(4):51-60 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1589
German Film Stars as Cultural Agents in Occupied Belgium (1940-1944)
- Katolická univerzita v Lovani, LUCA
Many articles and books discuss film stars of the so-called 'Third Reich', the movies they played in and/or the ways in which such stars supported by the National-Socialist regime, by attending social events, supporting Winterhilfe or performing for German troops. This article expands that focus by looking at the ways in which German film stars were deployed to target foreign audiences. Within the context of his ongoing research on the German reorganisation of the Belgian film sector (1940-1944), the author reconstructs the visits that several famous actors or directors (Marika Rökk, Georg Jacoby, Heinz Rühmann, Hertha Feiler, Zarah Leander, Ilse Werner, Hans Steinhoff and Heinrich George) paid to German-occupied Belgium (1940-1944). This reconstruction demonstrates that such visits were welcomed by the German propaganda service in Belgium (Propaganda-Abteilung Belgien), but, all in all, were rarely and sometimes rather hastily organised. The propaganda service and the Belgian branches of the German film distributors Ufa and Tobis seem to have failed to develop a consistent strategy of using German film stars as cultural agents. By extension, the German film producers/distributors do not seem to have developed a similar strategy for (occupied) Europe.
Keywords: Belgium, WW II, film stars, Marika Rökk, Zarah Leander, Ilse Werner
Published: December 1, 2018 Show citation
References
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Go to original source... - Roel Vande Winkel a Ine Van linthout, De Vlaschaard 1943. Een Vlaams boek in nazi-Duitsland en een Duitse film in bezet België. Kortrijk-Brussel: Groeninghe 2007.
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