A provocative movieposter: Hitler'sHitparade. It shows the swastika, adapted by Hitler as the'Hakenkreuz', and the portrait of a fashionably dressed young ladyfrom 1938.
Mainz (bpb) „Hitler'sHitparade", a documentary film by the young German producer C. CayWesnigk, received the most coveted Grimme Award 2005.The public TV channelZweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) announced that the film wasproduced for ZDF by the ARTE TV, jointly financed by the French andGermans (Jerome Clement and Wolfgang Bernhard).The winning teamincludes Oliver Axer und Susanne Benze (script/direction) andAlexander Bohr (coordination).
The film recalls the "Good old times of music" inthe years from 1930 to 1945 in Germany, with great singers as ZarahLeander (Sweden), Marika Roeck (Hungary) Ilse Werner (Germany) andLale Andersen with her internationally popular song "Lili Marlene"during the Second World War. Many melodies of the Hitler Era becameevergreens, as for instance the folk song "Muss i denn zumStädtele hinaus". Elvis Presley was one of the successfulinterpreters of these songs, when he served in the US Army inGermany.
"Hitler's Hitparade" means "Hitler's Top Ten inMusic" and "Hitler's Favourite Music Charts". The film by Cay Wesnigkis illustrated with several classical artworks by the most famoussculptor Arno Breker (copyright www.museum-arno-breker.org). Theproducers were not even afraid to show in the movie Hitler's unique,authentic portrait bust by Arno Breker.
ZDF chief Markus Schächter has realized longago that films about Hitler always sell well. There is a great demandamong the people in Europe and USA for information about the ThirdReich. Under the leadership of the ZDF chief Schächter, thispublic TV channel, supported by the German government, became theleading distributor of the so-called 'historical Nazi-films'. ZDF hasset up a separate department for this kind of productions, and gavedirector Guido Knoop a free hand to make use of all film materialsfrom the NS times. However, this activity of the ZDF has also foundsome critics among the Jewish people, who feel that these films aboutthe Nazi times serve more the propagation of Neo-Nazi ideas andanti-Semitism in the German society, instead of just informing aboutthe cruelties of the NS Reich.
Copyright 2005 West Art, Prometheus 95/2005