Der ewige Jude (1940)

Director:

Fritz Hippler

Writer:

Eberhard Taubert (writer)

Release Date:

28 November 1940 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama

Plot:

The Jews of Poland (invaded by Germany in 1939) are depicted as filthy, evil, corrupt, and intent on world domination...

Plot Keywords:

Hitler | Jew | Jewish History | Hate | Ethnic Hatred

Cast

Curt Bois	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Chaplin	...	Himself (1931) (archive footage)
Albert Einstein	...	Einstein (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (speaking at Reichstagssitzung) (archive footage)
Fritz Kortner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Lorre	...	Hans Beckert (archive footage)
Ernst Lubitsch	...	Himself (archive footage)
Rosa Luxemburg	...	Herself (archive footage)
Mona Maris	...	Herself (archive footage)
Anna Sten	...	Herself (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Ein Filmbeitrag zum Problem des Weltjudentums (Germany) (subtitle)
The Eternal Jew (International: English title)

Runtime:

USA:62 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:(Banned) (1945) | Portugal:(Banned) (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Lódz, Poland

Company:

Deutsche Filmherstellungs- und -Verwertungs- GmbH, Berlin (DFG)

Trivia:

It is suspected that the scene from M (1931) in "Der ewige Jude" (or "The Eternal Jew") was used to demonstrate that 'Peter Lorre''s "child murderer" was being portrayed as a sympathetic character and was an example that the Jews were twisting the reality of good and evil and therefore perverting German society.

Quotes:

Adolf Hitler: If the international finance - Jewry inside and outside Europe - should succeed in plunging the nations into a world war yet again, then the outcome will not be the victory of Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Film as a Subversive Art: Amos Vogel and Cinema 16 (2003)

Soundtrack:

Toccata und Fuge in D-Moll

Brilliantly executed, but sickening so-called documentary, explaining why the Jews must be exterminated

It is simply impossible to grade this film, because one has to look at it from two different points of view. In terms of content it is simply disgusting, filled with pure lies which are portrayed as scientific truths and are represented here as the perfect excuse to exterminate all the Jews from this Earth. It really made my skin crawl. On the other hand, it is a truly powerful piece of propaganda and one can understand how the German people - who could hardly escape this movie when going to the cinema - would condone the extermination of the Jews. This film just stacks up lie after lie, but in such a conniving, documentary-like fashion, that one nearly begins to think that among all these lies, there has to be some truth. And only those who REALLY know Jewish culture - and very few non-Jews do - will be able to refute all the 'evidence'. Now if you forget about content and purely look at the build-up of this documentary, one has to say that is a brilliantly executed piece of propaganda that is a warning to everyone who relies on their own media to tell them the truth. State-controlled television only tells you what they want you to know, and it can fill you with lies. The use of color, the use of so-called stock-footage, the use of ghetto-Jews - who were probably (again, this I do not know for certain) forced to or tricked into taking part in this movie, the build-up in evidence, culminating in the truly atrocious and sickening footage of cattle being slaughtered 'in the Jewish tradition'. These are the images that remain with you long after the movie has finished. And after this, we hear Hitlers famous speech, in which he first talks about 'die Vernichtung des Judischen Rasse in Europa'! Probably the most powerful propaganda-film ever made, extremely well-made but it is a bunch of lies. My grade is based simply on the technical credits of this 'documentary', not on its content. There is no rating low enough for that one...