Le péril juif (1940)

Under the guise of a brutally honest documentary, this malevolent propaganda film aims to be an "indispensable tool in the hands of the Aryan race", designed to depict the "true" Jew when the masks of western civilisation fall off.

Director:

Fritz Hippler

Writer:

Eberhard Taubert

Stars:

Curt Bois, Charles Chaplin, Albert Einstein

Cast

Credited cast:
Curt Bois	...	Self (archive footage)
Charles Chaplin	...	Self (1931) (archive footage)
Albert Einstein	...	Einstein (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler	...	Self - Speaking at Reichstagssitzung (archive footage)
Fritz Kortner	...	Dimitri Karamasoff (archive footage)
Peter Lorre	...	Hans Beckert (archive footage)
Ernst Lubitsch	...	Self (archive footage)
Rosa Luxemburg	...	Self (archive footage)
Mona Maris	...	Self (archive footage)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Léon Blum	...	Self (archive footage)
Kurt Gerron	...	(archive footage)
Leslie Hore-Belisha	...	Self (archive footage)
Emil Ludwig	...	Self (archive footage)
Richard Oswald	...	Self (archive footage)
Walther Rathenau	...	Self (archive footage)

Storyline

The Jews of Poland (invaded by Germany in 1939) are depicted as filthy, evil, corrupt, and intent on world domination. Street scenes are shown prejudicially, along with clips from Jewish cinema of the day and photos of Jewish celebrities, while the narrator "explains" the Jewish problem. The climax and resolution of the film is Hitler's 1939 announcement that the Jewish race will meet its "annihilation" (Vernichtung).

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Plot Keywords:

nazi propaganda | ethnic hatred | racism | propaganda | nazi | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene at the end of M le maudit (1931) in which Peter Lorre, as a child murderer, is judged by a jury of other criminals was added to this film because Lorre is Jewish and Adolf Hitler felt that this "proved" the criminal mind of the Jew.

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Goofs

This film states that Charlie Chaplin was a Jew. In reality, he was raised Anglican and later professed to be Agnostic. When asked if he was Jewish, he reportedly said, "I do not have such an honor".

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Quotes

Narrator: The Jews are a people without farmers or workers: a race of parasites. Where the body of a nation shows a wound, they anchor themselves and feed on the decaying organism. They make business out of the sickness of the nations, and therefore endeavor to deepen and prolong all conditions of sickness. That's how it is in Poland, and how was in Germany. The Jews have been this way throughout their entire history. Their faces bear the age-old features of the perpetual sponger: the eternal Jew.

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Connections

Featured in Les Films interdits (2014)

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Soundtracks

Toccata und Fuge in D-Moll
BWV 565
by Johann Sebastian Bach

User Reviews

The Big Lie.

First I wanted to say how appalled I am at the number of Nazis who have felt compelled to exercise their twisted logic on this forum. Seek help--you are truly sick people.

Der Ewige Jude is a hate-filled propaganda film from a failed ideology. The Jews in the film were forced at gunpoint to portray their scenes and were shipped to concentration camps and killed. Nazis used demonic hatred as their cornerstone belief and all the hysteria and the insanity and the cruelty of the Nazis is clearly observed in the lie-filled film. The lowest of the low: animals were made to suffer in the slaughterhouse scenes for mere effect. The film shows that we have not come far as a civilization.

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

July 1942 (France)

Also Known As:

Le péril juif

Filming Locations:

Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1