1944 – Nazis Use Garden in Propaganda Film

Still photograph from the Nazi propaganda film, “Der Fuehrer Schenkt den Juden eine Stadt” [The Fuehrer gives the Jews a City]. Theresienstadt inmates working in the SS vegetable gardens. This work brigade was called the Stab Garten and was greatly increased in size for the filming.

“There were gardens, and we worked in them, but they were only to feed the SS. You could be deported (to the death camps) for taking one potato.” Helga Hoskova spent two and a half years at Thereisenstadt.

The SS, seeking to exploit the beautification efforts undertaken at Theresienstadt in preparation for the Red Cross visit of June 23, 1944, decided to produce a film about the ghetto for propaganda use in Germany.

Entitled “Der Fuehrer Schenkt den Juden eine Stadt” [The Fuehrer gives the Jews a City], its purpose was to show the pleasant life of Jews in a town that was generously given to them by the Nazi regime, in contrast to the hardships faced by Germans under the Allied bombardment.

Aktualia, a Prague firm specializing in documentary films, was hired to make the movie, while Kurt Gerron, a Theresienstadt inmate and former cabaret actor, was assigned the role of producer and director. Prisoners were forced to serve as members of the cast. Though the film was shot in August and September, 1944, it was not completed until March 1945. At that time the documentary was seized by the German authorities. Only a portion of the original film survived.

See more about the photo at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum here.

The Film

A poorly lit, 16 minute copy of the film ‘The Fuehrer gives the Jews a City’ can be seen here at Google Video. The garden is featured in the twelfth minute of the film and lasts for more than a minute. If anyone can translate the German voice-over for me, I will include it here.
Here is the link to the film.

Further references.

The film: ‘The Fuehrer gives the Jews a City’.
See commentary on the film here.

See this study guide prepared by The National Centre For Jewish Film here.

Prisoner of Paradise – the film

And this 2002 documentary presents a complete background to the making of the propaganda film by presenting a full history of the life of Kurt Gerron who was ordered to make the film. I highly recommend seeing this documentary!

“‘Prisoner of Paradise’ is the startling true story of Kurt Gerron, a well known and beloved German-Jewish actor, director and cabaret star in Berlin in the 1920′s and ’30′s. Among his greatest accomplishments, he co-starred with the legendary Marlene Dietrich in the film classic The Blue Angel. Gerron also sang Mack The Knife in the original production of Threepenny Opera. Ultimately, he was captured and sent to a concentration camp, where he was ordered to write and direct a pro-Nazi propaganda film. ‘Prisoner of Paradise’ follows Kurt Gerron’s career and remarkable odyssey, offering a unique prospective on this extraordinary period.

“Shot on location in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Prague, ‘Prisoner of Paradise’ is directed by Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender who have won Emmy and Academy awards for their work.”

Link to ‘Prisoner of Paradise’ website here.