Film Censorship in the Weimar Republic
Author | : John Paul Mason |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 133 |
Release | : 2020 |
Genre | : Art and society |
ISBN | : |
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The establishment of film censorship legislation in Germany after the end of World War I ultimately contributed to political crisis and the rise of the Nazis in 1933. The Weimar National Assembly passed the Motion Picture Law in 1920, establishing the film censorship boards which would conduct film censorship for the rest of the Weimar Era. This law, which Socialist Democrats and Nationalists came together to support, exacerbated the animosity between the Communists and the Social Democrats, while simultaneously giving credit to Nationalist ideas that German culture was under the threat of foreign influence and degradation at the hands of Communists and Jews. In practice, the film review boards sought to control political opinions and limit sexual deviancy, furthering these divides even more and normalizing homophobia. Although the majority of the German population accepted most of the film review boards’ censorship decisions, their approval and subsequent censorship of Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front served as a dramatic point of contention in which the Nazis gained political support and legitimacy. Film censorship contributed to the growth in Nazi support and the ever-widening political divisions between the German left, leading to the rise of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933, as well as providing cultural normalization and political legitimacy Nazi acts of violent extremism against racial ‘others’ and those deemed inferior, Communists, and the LGBTQ community.