- Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1983
- He studied Chemistry, Business Administration and Political Economics. He also attended lectures at the Sorbonne in Paris.
- In 1934 his career in the film industry was limited by the Nazi Reichfilmkammer because his mother was Jewish.
- His mother was from a wealthy family of tea merchants from Hamburg and Denmark.
- During the Nazi era, he was able to remain involved in the motion picture industry by getting jobs with various firms in Berlin as an expert in film technology and photochemistry.
- In 1944 he joined the underground German Communist Party.
- In 1932 he began a series of internships with filmmakers.
- His father owned a film laboratory that produced release prints.
- After completing his studies in Munich, and with his opportunities in the Nazi controlled film industry limited, he was able to increase his expertise by working in his father's film laboratory.
- He was a member of the filmaktiv involved in the founding of DEFA.
- He became the Artistic Director of DEFA in 1946.
- He was a Professor of film directing at the Film Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg.
- His feature film "Ehe im Schatten" (1947) ["Marriage in the Shadows"] became the first feature film to be shown in all four of the occupied German zones.
- He was member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic.
- He was the first president of the newly founded Film Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg where he was a professor of film directing.
- In 1974 he became vice president of The International Federation of Film Societies. In 1979, three years after he retired from directing, he was elected lifetime honorary president.
- Together with "Ehe im Schatten" (1947) his other notable films include Die Buntkarierten (1949), which was entered into the Cannes Film Festival, the Ernst Thälmann films (1954-55), and the science fiction film Der schweigende Stern (1960).
- He was also president of the Nationales Spielfilmfestival der DDR (English: GDR National Film Festival) on four separate occasions between 1980 and 1990, and he has been a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin since 1950, where a considerable archive of his works is located.
- He retired as a film director in 1976.
- He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR.
- In 1986 he received The Findling Award for his life's work.
- In the late 1920s, Maetzig worked at his father's factory during the holidays, gaining experience in all areas of film production. He began shooting his own films in 1932, and three years later he ran his own cartoon workshop, where he also worked on titles and opening credits for short films.
- During the First World War, he stayed with his grandmother in Hamburg.[2] After the end of the war, he moved back to Berlin, where he completed his secondary education at the Leibniz-Oberrealschule. He then enrolled at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he studied chemistry, engineering and political and business economics.
- From 1967 to 1988 he was an executive member of the Verband der Film- und Fernsehschaffenden der DDR (GDR Federation of Film and Television Producers). He then became the vice-president of the Fédération Internationale des Ciné-Clubs (International Federation of Cinema Clubs) (FICC) in 1974.
- He was also the first director and editor of the weekly newsreel "Der Augenzeuge" (English: The Eyewitness).
- Some of Maetzig's work has been described as East German propaganda particularly his two part series on Ernst Thalman (Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse, Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse), though nearly all his films in production from 1965-66 were banned by East German authorities.
- After the war, he moved back to Berlin, where he co-founded a group called "Filmaktiv" in 1945, whose aim was to organise a resumption of film production.
- He received his PhD from TUM in 1935 after he had completed his dissertation entitled "The accountancy of a film-copying institution." He then worked for various firms, including his father's, where he worked on film technology and photochemistry, and also gave lessons on copying techniques and problems with sound and colour in films.
- He also directed the film Das Kaninchen bin ich (The Rabbit is Me) (1965), which was one of twelve films that were banned in East Germany after the 11th plenum of the SED's Central Committee for being too critical of the internal social problems within the country.
- From 1954 to 1964, Maetzig was the first president of the German University of Cinema in Potsdam-Babelsberg, where he also held the post of Professor of Stage Direction.
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