The Eternal Jew (Der Ewige Jude) does not have what we today would call the markings of a scholarly document: rather than naming experts or sources to support what it says, it simply says, without opposition, what it wants us to believe (one will concede that American newsreels of that period were also much less regulated than would seem ethical to a modern audience, often inserting dramatized scenes and passing them off as actual news footage). Add to this directed propaganda the fact that filmmaker Hippler was "preaching to the converted," not so much asking gentile Europeans to hate the Jews as validating the feelings so many of them must have held already, in order to have allowed the holocaust that followed. The weakest link in the film's logic shows in its "rat" analogy, wherein it goes on to explain the behavior of rats, and then adds something to the effect of "Well, Jewish people are like that too." Similarly it characterizes Jewish people as ugly by showing ugly Jewish people in comparison to attractive gentiles; the accompanying leap of faith is that ugly is bad. The film appears to contradict itself a few times, for example by attacking Western painters who portrayed Old Testament characters as light-skinned Europeans; thereby the text admits that so-called "Hebrew" ethnicity is in fact an ingrained aspect of Christian culture. It also shows ghetto Jews willingly living in roach-infested filth, despite the supposed treasure they've hoarded, and then flip-flops by saying that these same undesirables live in wealth and luxury as soon as they leave the ghetto. Incidentally, who wouldn't? The use of scenes from a well-known American film, House of Rothschild, shows an equally blurry deployment of logic. First the film is denounced as having been made by Jews; then it is apparently used by Hippler to verify the deceptiveness of Jews (the aforementioned pretense of poverty by ghetto Jews, shown as a means of avoiding taxation, although the Rothschild character's "spin" is that Jews are taxed excessively); finally the Rothschild film is once again execrated for implying that the famed banking family invented the checking account. This apparent indecisiveness in whether the American footage is shown positively or negatively might become clearer with repeated viewings, but at first sight it makes for some murky moviewatching. For all of Eternal Jew's imperfections, I was at first surprised that the IMDb viewer rating for this film is as high as it is, just shy of a "5" to date. I'd say the reason is that EJ's documentary value has exceeded its original purpose, offering us, unintentionally, a look into the lives of European Jews as they would not be seen a few years hence. Needless to say the film's very badness also provides an historical insight into bad, or simply evil, filmmaking as a propagandist's tool. About this time I should expect director Hippler to flip-flop once again, springing forward to say "That's what I meant to do all along!" The scenes depicting animal slaughter are particularly gruesome, and show same as decidedly inhumane, contrary to the intent of Kosher law to prevent animal suffering. I would like for someone who has seen the film, and has some knowledge of these procedures, to comment on whether the portrayal is accurate.
40 Reviews
An interesting view into nazi-propaganda
uldbjerg2 February 2002
People might argue that this movie is full of lies, and thus have no value because its untruthfulness. I find the film very interesting because it is a opportunity for us to learn how things not always is how they seem to be. We must have in mind that the common people of that time didn't have the same horizon as people have now a day. Therefore it was easier to convince them.
I see the film as a reminder to not always trust what we are told.
I see the film as a reminder to not always trust what we are told.
propaganda
niggbrotha12 January 2006
First of all, this is clearly a propaganda movie. Its purpose is NOT to provide solid rational expertise against Jews' questionable actions and political views, it's an attack on Judaism itself, from its Semitic beginnings to "progressive" political, social and "artistic" currents Jews have advocated. The movie's purpose is to instill visceral hatred of Jews, portraying them as "ferments of decomposition" and enemies of Europe ahead of time. The reason for doing so is very simple. From 1933 onwards, Jews have unleashed a vicious media campaign against Hitler after seeing their influence on German social and political sphere practically annihilated.
The "Wandering Jew" tries to document a Jewish conspiracy against European nations from immemorial times to WW2, whose outburst is thought as being the product of Jewish machinations. It portrays Jews as obligate parasites feeding on the wounds of their hosts, emitting substances that prevent the organism from reacting against the infection. In Nazi views such substances are: moral relativism, Bolshevism, degenerate art. To them, Nazi propaganda juxtaposes the hard-working, handsome, virtuous Aryan, carrier of an idealized (and politically charged, as seen in the sculptures always portraying people of Aryan type) image of European culture (thus delegitimizing the latter's irretrievable path towards decay, whose cause becomes attributed to Jews rather than its own exhaustion).
An interesting fact is the way this relation is portrayed belongs to radical Socialist propaganda, thus invalidating Jews' ridiculous claim that Nazism is the embodiment of capitalism (so-called "far-right"). On one hand, we have the Jew who hates work (which means, in Socialist parlor, PHYSICAL LABOR) and accumulates wealth through illicit means (by exploiting, deceiving, cheating), on the other we have the Aryan working enthusiastically under a factory's protective shadow. Being born in Communist Romania, I recall this image in just about every communist poster. After all, if one replaces Jews with Bourgeoisie, a communist would easily identify with the movie's message.
By far the most memorable scene is the one of Kosher slaughter. I won't spoil it, because I advise every one of you to watch this movie and decide yourselves what is true and what is untrue. The agony of the poor animal moved me deeply but it is also a cheap attempt to stir up additional public wrath.
Yet everything is done in such a flimsy fashion that it convinces no one. Its primary purpose, that of converting lost souls to the "Aryan cause" is NOT served. It would have done a much better case if the "documentary" would have stuck to modern realities. For all these reasons, I rate this as bad propaganda movie, technically inferior to Jews' own propaganda movies against Nazi Germany.
The "Wandering Jew" tries to document a Jewish conspiracy against European nations from immemorial times to WW2, whose outburst is thought as being the product of Jewish machinations. It portrays Jews as obligate parasites feeding on the wounds of their hosts, emitting substances that prevent the organism from reacting against the infection. In Nazi views such substances are: moral relativism, Bolshevism, degenerate art. To them, Nazi propaganda juxtaposes the hard-working, handsome, virtuous Aryan, carrier of an idealized (and politically charged, as seen in the sculptures always portraying people of Aryan type) image of European culture (thus delegitimizing the latter's irretrievable path towards decay, whose cause becomes attributed to Jews rather than its own exhaustion).
An interesting fact is the way this relation is portrayed belongs to radical Socialist propaganda, thus invalidating Jews' ridiculous claim that Nazism is the embodiment of capitalism (so-called "far-right"). On one hand, we have the Jew who hates work (which means, in Socialist parlor, PHYSICAL LABOR) and accumulates wealth through illicit means (by exploiting, deceiving, cheating), on the other we have the Aryan working enthusiastically under a factory's protective shadow. Being born in Communist Romania, I recall this image in just about every communist poster. After all, if one replaces Jews with Bourgeoisie, a communist would easily identify with the movie's message.
By far the most memorable scene is the one of Kosher slaughter. I won't spoil it, because I advise every one of you to watch this movie and decide yourselves what is true and what is untrue. The agony of the poor animal moved me deeply but it is also a cheap attempt to stir up additional public wrath.
Yet everything is done in such a flimsy fashion that it convinces no one. Its primary purpose, that of converting lost souls to the "Aryan cause" is NOT served. It would have done a much better case if the "documentary" would have stuck to modern realities. For all these reasons, I rate this as bad propaganda movie, technically inferior to Jews' own propaganda movies against Nazi Germany.
Shocking, fascinating and a documentary of object than the subject
rolf_ernst18 January 2003
Admittedly the most racist (and at that best produced given the limitations of its time), this move captivates from the first time it talks about the 'observations of Jews taken in their burrows in Poland'. This movie is in German and I am not aware of a subtitled version in English (and even the German version needs technical improvement to be comprehensible).
This is a historical document, no doubt. It is not a document of the Jews of the time but of the producers and the powers to be of that time. As such it is more than a tad enlightening.
The Nazis were masters at mass-manipulation without so much as an agenda, but when they latched onto something they sure wouldn't let go. It seems almost by chance that the Jews became victims of their bizarre ideology; but then anti-semitism had quite a breeding gound in Eastern Europe for half a decade before Hitler's time.
What makes this movie so chilling is that it *does* have an emotional impact on you - whether you like it or not. When the movie goes to ridicule Einstein as a Zionist (which he never was) I was (almost) taken by it.
This movie is dangerous. It is the quintessential counterpart to the 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion' (a book/novel produced apparently in Russia at a time beforehand to discredit the Jew). It is evil propaganda at its best.
Its not Hollywood, its bad quality, its German only (although I understand a subtitled DVD copy will enter circulation) but when you hear Hitler end his Reichstagssitzung with the words that 'if Jewry will not join civilized nations instead of bringing about WW II they will be exterminated' you sure know which way the wind blows.
Wait for the subtitled copy if you don't speak German and wait to see hatred, insanity and bizarre politpropaganda come to life. This movie is intense (some truly disturbing scenes) but much more at what it says about the (unfocused) ideology of the holocaust than any statement it might make about Jewish lifestyle, tradition and culture.
This is a historical document, no doubt. It is not a document of the Jews of the time but of the producers and the powers to be of that time. As such it is more than a tad enlightening.
The Nazis were masters at mass-manipulation without so much as an agenda, but when they latched onto something they sure wouldn't let go. It seems almost by chance that the Jews became victims of their bizarre ideology; but then anti-semitism had quite a breeding gound in Eastern Europe for half a decade before Hitler's time.
What makes this movie so chilling is that it *does* have an emotional impact on you - whether you like it or not. When the movie goes to ridicule Einstein as a Zionist (which he never was) I was (almost) taken by it.
This movie is dangerous. It is the quintessential counterpart to the 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion' (a book/novel produced apparently in Russia at a time beforehand to discredit the Jew). It is evil propaganda at its best.
Its not Hollywood, its bad quality, its German only (although I understand a subtitled DVD copy will enter circulation) but when you hear Hitler end his Reichstagssitzung with the words that 'if Jewry will not join civilized nations instead of bringing about WW II they will be exterminated' you sure know which way the wind blows.
Wait for the subtitled copy if you don't speak German and wait to see hatred, insanity and bizarre politpropaganda come to life. This movie is intense (some truly disturbing scenes) but much more at what it says about the (unfocused) ideology of the holocaust than any statement it might make about Jewish lifestyle, tradition and culture.
Why give any stars?
frommsen22 March 2012
I refuse to give any stars (still have to give one) for such a work of propaganda which bases on a sick, racist and, yes, ungodly view of mankind and especially the Jewish people that turned into the practice of killing millions of people. In my opinion, there is a limit behind which there is nothing left to appreciate, no matter how "good" something was made technically. The design of the perfect electric chair does not leave me standing in awe, it makes me cry. I give this film only 1 star out of moral reasons. No achievement in any other category can make me spend even a second one. I hereby state that I really meant what is stated above so I have enough lines to make this review valid for IMDb.
The most prejudicial and anti-semitic film ever made!
Lars-655 April 2001
1940. - A visit to the Lodz ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, recorded by a German cameramen with the naive co-operation of the Jewish community, is combined with archival footage, clips from international newsreels, and excerpts from related cultural films to portray the World's Jews as swindlers and parasites. This 'documentary' interprets Jewish life from the viewpoint of traditional anti-Semitism and Nazi ideology. A candid, cinematically-unique expression of racial hatred. I personally find this film frightening and highly offensive. One can only hope that such pictures as this will never reach the screen again.
An evil film that has some historical value.
planktonrules28 April 2015
The great intellect and humanitarian, Josef Goebbels, ordered this documentary to be made in order to explain to everyone in occupied Europe why it's imperative to do SOMETHING about the Jews which were ruining mankind. In other words, it's a hate-filled piece of crap made by a bunch of hateful, bone-headed Nazis. It begins with the presupposition that Jews are evil and using film clips, it spends a little over an hour assaulting the intelligence of the audience with its hateful message. The film's logic is negligible and the film is cringe-worthy. It not only makes antisemitic remarks throughout, it also makes fun of blacks. It's just garbage.
Now despite being garbage, I DO recommend seeing the film for its historical significance, as it's a wonderful summary of everything evil about the philosophical underpinnings of the Nazis. Plus, if you ignore history, you don't learn from it. See it and learn.
Now despite being garbage, I DO recommend seeing the film for its historical significance, as it's a wonderful summary of everything evil about the philosophical underpinnings of the Nazis. Plus, if you ignore history, you don't learn from it. See it and learn.
Is this really a "documentary"?
Hossman-49 August 1999
That shall be a documentary? I saw it (which is forbidden in Germany) and I have to say, that it was the worst documentary I've ever seen. It is nothing but one big lie from the beginning to the end. Who can doubt after this trash that all Jews were supposed to be killed in the concentration camps?
Brilliantly executed, but sickening so-called documentary, explaining why the Jews must be exterminated
bakooi-126 July 2005
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 forced to or tricked into taking part in this movie, the build-up of 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...
Truly hateful Nazi propaganda.
HumanoidOfFlesh2 November 2005
"The Eternal Jew" is a sickening Nazi propaganda film made by Fritz Hippler at the insistence of Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.The film consists of feature and documentary footage combined with new materials filmed shortly after the Nazi occupation of Poland,which then had a Jewish population of about 3 million.One of the opening shots of the film shows a pack of rats emerging from a sewer,juxtaposed with a crowd of Jews in a bustling Polish street.Close-ups of individuals show sickly,malformed facial features.The narration explains how just as rats are the vermin of the animal kingdom,Jews are the vermin of the human race and similarly spread disease and corruption.Toward the end of the film,after showing how Jews have been responsible for the decline of Western music,science,art and commerce,is a scene of a cow being slaughtered for meat by a shochet(Jewish ritual slaughter).This long scene,lasting several minutes,is pretty nasty and offensive."The Eternal Jew" is utterly vile Nazi propaganda filled with tons of lies.Still the film is well-made and it works as the historical warning.7 out of 10.
Germans really bought into this message
bkoganbing12 July 2016
There are some films with messages I truly despise, but I've given the films middling reviews if the technique was good in the story telling. But I'm happy to say that The Eternal Jew is an exception. There's no way I could look objectively at this film because of the vile message it contains right from the first frame.
The Eternal Jew has for its goal nothing less than the dehumanization of a group of people. When they are portrayed as a parasitical race since the beginning of written history, there's only one answer for them, elimination. No kind of treatment for them is too vile or too despicable. In fact a year after The Eternal Jew came out Adolph Hitler was already implementing his final solution.
The film begins with the description of how the Germans liberated Poland and of course while loyal Poles fought and died, do you think these Jews fought in any way. No they stayed in their ghettos and just made war profits. They greeted the Nazis with indifference instead. But the Germans were up to their tricks.
I've heard many descriptions of how Jews viewed the Nazis as they rolled up conquests in all the European countries they invaded. I've never heard the word "indifference" to describe their arrival anywhere. Especially among Jews.
But that's only the beginning. Jews are a parasitical race who are shown like rats who spread plague in the Middle Ages, they spread a moral cancer wherever they arrive. After a lot of real estate being taken over Germans really bought into this message.
Germans recognized the danger early and they're taking steps to deal with the problem. Jews permeate every aspect of society, the sciences, the arts, politics, and all to weaken the moral fiber of a nation for the sake of the conquest of international Jewry. People like Felix Frankfurter, Albert Einstein, Herbert Lehman, Fiorello LaGuardia(his mother was Jewish) and Charlie Chaplin. Right about this time Chaplin was waging his own war against Nazism with The Great Dictator. Can't forget to include him.
Synagogues and Hebrew schools are portrayed as places of subversion with the ordinary religious rituals as something sinister. Not unlike Mosques today in some places and synagogues still where radical Islam is running things.
They saved the best for last. On top of everything else Jews torture animals when they slaughter them in a Kosher manner. The Germans however are known for their love of our four legged friends and they took measures to stop this. What the folks at PETA would think of this?
The Eternal Jew is as a vile a piece of propaganda you will find made more frightening because the power of the state was behind the making and distributing of this film. As long as people fall victim to thinking there is some group of people who are responsible for all the evil of the world then propaganda like this will find an audience.
The Eternal Jew has for its goal nothing less than the dehumanization of a group of people. When they are portrayed as a parasitical race since the beginning of written history, there's only one answer for them, elimination. No kind of treatment for them is too vile or too despicable. In fact a year after The Eternal Jew came out Adolph Hitler was already implementing his final solution.
The film begins with the description of how the Germans liberated Poland and of course while loyal Poles fought and died, do you think these Jews fought in any way. No they stayed in their ghettos and just made war profits. They greeted the Nazis with indifference instead. But the Germans were up to their tricks.
I've heard many descriptions of how Jews viewed the Nazis as they rolled up conquests in all the European countries they invaded. I've never heard the word "indifference" to describe their arrival anywhere. Especially among Jews.
But that's only the beginning. Jews are a parasitical race who are shown like rats who spread plague in the Middle Ages, they spread a moral cancer wherever they arrive. After a lot of real estate being taken over Germans really bought into this message.
Germans recognized the danger early and they're taking steps to deal with the problem. Jews permeate every aspect of society, the sciences, the arts, politics, and all to weaken the moral fiber of a nation for the sake of the conquest of international Jewry. People like Felix Frankfurter, Albert Einstein, Herbert Lehman, Fiorello LaGuardia(his mother was Jewish) and Charlie Chaplin. Right about this time Chaplin was waging his own war against Nazism with The Great Dictator. Can't forget to include him.
Synagogues and Hebrew schools are portrayed as places of subversion with the ordinary religious rituals as something sinister. Not unlike Mosques today in some places and synagogues still where radical Islam is running things.
They saved the best for last. On top of everything else Jews torture animals when they slaughter them in a Kosher manner. The Germans however are known for their love of our four legged friends and they took measures to stop this. What the folks at PETA would think of this?
The Eternal Jew is as a vile a piece of propaganda you will find made more frightening because the power of the state was behind the making and distributing of this film. As long as people fall victim to thinking there is some group of people who are responsible for all the evil of the world then propaganda like this will find an audience.
Fascinating film
jesusyanez7814 April 2021
Despicable contents, but still a priceless movie
Horst_In_Translation11 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Der ewige Jude" or "Ein Filmbeitrag zum Problem des Weltjudentums" or "The Eternal Jew" is a German documentary film and from the title already it becomes very obvious when this was made, namely during the early years of World War II. The film had its 75th anniversary last year and is a German black-and-white sound film that runs for slightly over an hour, so pretty short actually. Hippler and Taubert, who made this one, are known for some other propaganda stuff from this very dark era in (German) history too. So yeah, what do I mean with my title's review. I think it is fairly obvious. What you see and hear during this hour is as defamatory and despicable as it gets when Jewery as an entire religion is denounced in the worst way one could imagine. It all seems so absurd and unrealistic right now, but back then less than a century ago, people appreciated the film, supported the message.
It should be a lesson to every generation that we should not let things go so far that we just accept such a film as reality and an actual documentary. And we have to keep in mind that most Germans did not know about the genocide at this point. They weren't evil or something. They just sucked everything in that the Hitler administration handed them. And this is why I call this one a priceless film. It is a great opportunity to analyze controversial demagogic films like this one and see what we can do in order to learn from the past and improve our future. Finally, the only part where I somewhat agreed with the narration is the ending. The way Jews treat animals is really despicable and should not be justified by religion. All in all, a good watch for everybody with an interest in (20th century) history. Be prepared for the graphic and revolting content. If you can deal with these scenes, this one is certainly worth checking out. You could maybe call it the documentary equivalent to "Jud Süß".
It should be a lesson to every generation that we should not let things go so far that we just accept such a film as reality and an actual documentary. And we have to keep in mind that most Germans did not know about the genocide at this point. They weren't evil or something. They just sucked everything in that the Hitler administration handed them. And this is why I call this one a priceless film. It is a great opportunity to analyze controversial demagogic films like this one and see what we can do in order to learn from the past and improve our future. Finally, the only part where I somewhat agreed with the narration is the ending. The way Jews treat animals is really despicable and should not be justified by religion. All in all, a good watch for everybody with an interest in (20th century) history. Be prepared for the graphic and revolting content. If you can deal with these scenes, this one is certainly worth checking out. You could maybe call it the documentary equivalent to "Jud Süß".
Sickening yet fascinating
ElNeilo9 May 2010
I watched this film to see how truly low the human psyche could sink and concluded there seems to be no limit.
This so-called documentary is a vile ugly squalid farrago of lies and hatred yet its fascination is that it brings to the forefront again the baffling mystery of how the German people could swallow and ultimately embrace the message espoused by such tripe.
Didn't ordinary decent German citizens think there was something seriously wrong with their country when faced with images of Jews interspersed with swarms of rats or saw their streets patrolled by an ever-increasing army of men wearing black uniforms with a skull and crossbones on the cap?
The film was made in 1940 but the German people had long before then begun their tragic headlong rush into mass insanity and this relentlessly grim movie is an eloquent testament to the depravity and amorality of the Nazis, traits they with no sense of irony whatsoever ascribe to their victims.
Jews are terribly cruel to cattle and the Nazi government, we are proudly told, has banned their barbaric method of ritual slaughter, which we are shown in lengthy and disgusting detail. However, no mention is made and we are not treated to film of the barbaric ritual slaughter of human beings herded shaved and naked into vans and chambers and summarily gassed. Oh wait a minute, I forgot. Jews are subhuman, no better than rats, so that doesn't count.
The film is so preposterous that you might even think a dismissive laugh or two is in order. But laugh you won't.
This so-called documentary is a vile ugly squalid farrago of lies and hatred yet its fascination is that it brings to the forefront again the baffling mystery of how the German people could swallow and ultimately embrace the message espoused by such tripe.
Didn't ordinary decent German citizens think there was something seriously wrong with their country when faced with images of Jews interspersed with swarms of rats or saw their streets patrolled by an ever-increasing army of men wearing black uniforms with a skull and crossbones on the cap?
The film was made in 1940 but the German people had long before then begun their tragic headlong rush into mass insanity and this relentlessly grim movie is an eloquent testament to the depravity and amorality of the Nazis, traits they with no sense of irony whatsoever ascribe to their victims.
Jews are terribly cruel to cattle and the Nazi government, we are proudly told, has banned their barbaric method of ritual slaughter, which we are shown in lengthy and disgusting detail. However, no mention is made and we are not treated to film of the barbaric ritual slaughter of human beings herded shaved and naked into vans and chambers and summarily gassed. Oh wait a minute, I forgot. Jews are subhuman, no better than rats, so that doesn't count.
The film is so preposterous that you might even think a dismissive laugh or two is in order. But laugh you won't.
Raw cruelty on film.
Jordan_Haelend7 February 2003
A film used to "educate" the German public on the "danger" allegedly posed by the Jews, this film does all it can to paint Jews as subhuman (or better, anti-human) monstrosities.
Randall Bytwerk points-out in his biography of Nazi leader Julius Streicher (an excellent book which is much more about anti-Jewish propaganda techniques than it is a biography) that it was impossible for the Nazis to actually make the mass of Germans actively hate their Jewish fellow citizens. Bytwerk argues that the propaganda machinery focused on the idea of making Jews seem so wretched, disgusting and hateful that they would appear to be beings simply not worth caring about. This film, it seems to me, takes that as its motivation.
There is one interesting moment that hurts the filmmakers' cause: the camera panning over the crowds in the ghetto, when a group of Jewish youngsters are shown plainly trying to look over one another's shoulders and heads, grinning at the camera. Such moments would remind the average person that these were plainly people like anyone you might know.
Overall, however, the Berlin Gestapo reported that audience reaction to this film was "highly favorable," particularly the scenes equating Jews with disease-spreading rodents.
Randall Bytwerk points-out in his biography of Nazi leader Julius Streicher (an excellent book which is much more about anti-Jewish propaganda techniques than it is a biography) that it was impossible for the Nazis to actually make the mass of Germans actively hate their Jewish fellow citizens. Bytwerk argues that the propaganda machinery focused on the idea of making Jews seem so wretched, disgusting and hateful that they would appear to be beings simply not worth caring about. This film, it seems to me, takes that as its motivation.
There is one interesting moment that hurts the filmmakers' cause: the camera panning over the crowds in the ghetto, when a group of Jewish youngsters are shown plainly trying to look over one another's shoulders and heads, grinning at the camera. Such moments would remind the average person that these were plainly people like anyone you might know.
Overall, however, the Berlin Gestapo reported that audience reaction to this film was "highly favorable," particularly the scenes equating Jews with disease-spreading rodents.
This one really stinks up the place.
pc-savant6 June 2005
Having seen "Triumph of the Will," I can only say this movie is ghastly, even measured against the historically low "standards" of the time. Naturally it's all totally fabricated and prejudicial. This is what one would expect of 1930's German propaganda. Unfortunately, the quality of the presentation, itself, is hackneyed and cheap. It's also so blatantly ridiculous that even contemporary Germans must've left the theater holding their noses. In a genre renowned for its base appeal, lack of originality and unapologetic wrong-headedness, this film doesn't even qualify as "bad." It would have to improve significantly to attain that status!
What's that word I'm looking for?
TheOtherFool26 March 2004
Interesting? Hardly. The 'scientific evidence' the movie provides for its point (which is basicly that Jews are a cancer) is so stupid and lame, it's almost laughable (if we didn't know what happened in that era).
Important? Nah. I can't imagine Germans (even at that horrid time) would like or believe this movie. Compare it to Riefenstahl's Triumf des Willens. Now that was I movie I was impressed with. This is just silly garbage.
'Best' part is a scene from M (one of my all-time favorites) where (the jew, as the announcer so eloquently keeps reminding us) Lorre plays a child-molester and murderer. In the eyes of these film-makers, only a depraved mind can do so. Uh-huh. Didn't know M was Hitler's favorite movie, right?
No, it's just plain STUPID. Even for it's nazi-propaganda genre. 2/10.
Important? Nah. I can't imagine Germans (even at that horrid time) would like or believe this movie. Compare it to Riefenstahl's Triumf des Willens. Now that was I movie I was impressed with. This is just silly garbage.
'Best' part is a scene from M (one of my all-time favorites) where (the jew, as the announcer so eloquently keeps reminding us) Lorre plays a child-molester and murderer. In the eyes of these film-makers, only a depraved mind can do so. Uh-huh. Didn't know M was Hitler's favorite movie, right?
No, it's just plain STUPID. Even for it's nazi-propaganda genre. 2/10.
Just as awful as you've heard it is
m_a_singer5 April 2003
This film is justly famous as one of the most horrible examples of propaganda ever produced. The insistent equation of Jews with disease is simply
pathological, and even worse it almost becomes believable for brief seconds
through its sheer repetition. The fact that something this crude works, even
briefly, is an object lesson in itself. You have to have a strong stomach and a firm grip on yourself to sit through this, and I wouldn't recommend trying unless you have a good reason.
pathological, and even worse it almost becomes believable for brief seconds
through its sheer repetition. The fact that something this crude works, even
briefly, is an object lesson in itself. You have to have a strong stomach and a firm grip on yourself to sit through this, and I wouldn't recommend trying unless you have a good reason.
Consider the votes-consider the fans
jacksflicks22 June 2020
The nature of the Internet is such that anyone can find a "community" for his pathology. I notice that the reviews which acknowledge the obscenity of what this film depicts get down-voted. There are far more votes than reviews, and
the more negative the review, the more down-votes it gets. One can only hope that the loathsome underbelly of the human species in evidence here is due to the aforesaid "Internet community" effect: When it's Saturday night at Disco Goebbels, the whole world is anti-Semite.
Perhaps the most effective propaganda movie ever made.
showa4820 April 2003
Looking away from the content, and seen strictly as a movie whose purpose is propaganda and instilling hatred and dislike of jews, this movie did it's job very well.
If you see this movie as a document of the general atmosphere at that time (60 years ago, already dislike of jews in NS-Germany, lower educational level among the public in general, etc.) you can easily imagine how effective it was.
As an illustration of the atmosphere in prewar, nazi-Germany for the historically interested, this movie is a good document.
If you see this movie as a document of the general atmosphere at that time (60 years ago, already dislike of jews in NS-Germany, lower educational level among the public in general, etc.) you can easily imagine how effective it was.
As an illustration of the atmosphere in prewar, nazi-Germany for the historically interested, this movie is a good document.
Propaganda, and pretty poor at that
rgcustomer6 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I'm surprised that this film is considered "effective".
It's mostly just a bunch of narration, over pictures of rather normal looking people, who we're told are all secretly Jewish, secretly taking over, from Germans who are apparently just too stupid to compete against them. Then there's some long gaps with no speaking, for no apparent reason. All sorts of claims are made, with little evidence, and what was there was cherry-picked and brief. It demonizes its subject, but it also insults its intended audience. In form, it's like some high-school student's project.
The only interesting part is how animals are cruelly killed for kosher meat (the same process as for halal meat) but you would have to stay awake long enough to get to that part. It is because of this section that I rated the film as highly as I did (and yes, 5 is a high score for this one). It's time to end the long tortured deaths of our food animals.
The end does get a bit terrifying if you imagine yourself there, basically stating that the war will lead to the destruction of Jews in Europe, with lots of military imagery.
I can't imagine that this thing actually worked as propaganda. Triumph des Willens, this is not.
It's mostly just a bunch of narration, over pictures of rather normal looking people, who we're told are all secretly Jewish, secretly taking over, from Germans who are apparently just too stupid to compete against them. Then there's some long gaps with no speaking, for no apparent reason. All sorts of claims are made, with little evidence, and what was there was cherry-picked and brief. It demonizes its subject, but it also insults its intended audience. In form, it's like some high-school student's project.
The only interesting part is how animals are cruelly killed for kosher meat (the same process as for halal meat) but you would have to stay awake long enough to get to that part. It is because of this section that I rated the film as highly as I did (and yes, 5 is a high score for this one). It's time to end the long tortured deaths of our food animals.
The end does get a bit terrifying if you imagine yourself there, basically stating that the war will lead to the destruction of Jews in Europe, with lots of military imagery.
I can't imagine that this thing actually worked as propaganda. Triumph des Willens, this is not.
Really Good
colbielakendrick1 October 2018
The Ironic Nazi
Theo Robertson18 June 2013
I feel no justification to state why I went out of my way to watch this documentary . It is probably the most infamous propaganda film of the most murderous regime history has given us . Stalin and Mao might have been responsible for more deaths of human beings and that is not to excuse them but the Nazi crimes are probably of a unique horror , one of a deliberate and systematic genocide against people who were " the wrong sort of Europeans " . People might say the holocaust is consigned to ancient history but on a more personal level I did have the immense pleasure of working with some really wonderful waitresses a couple of years ago four of whom , Maria a moranno converso from Madrid whose grandparents were murdered by the Franco regime , Kristine an ethnic Russian from Latvia , and Anna and Ola from Poland , I had my picture taken with on my Ipod . I took my Ipod to India last year and very quickly learned that every time any male whether Muslim or Hindu asked to look through my photos on the Ipod the ones with Maria , Kristine , Anna and Ola gained the greatest reaction
" Who are these girls ? they're beautiful , are these all your girlfriends ? "
" Oh no " I replied " They're just girls I had to work with all day every day because I'm one lucky b*stard "
Which led to a round of high fives and backslaps . For a small moment in time a thin , bespectacled middle aged man with thinning hair and ears that stuck out became the most envied man on the Indian sub-continent . I could appreciate the irony of being in a land where the swastika is common ( The Nazis stole the ancient Indo-Aryan symbol for themselves and disgraced it ) and being envied because I was in the presence of four women who the Nazis would happily murder for being the wrong sort of Europeans
Nazis obviously don't understand irony . This notorious propaganda piece starts with a column of refugees in occupied Poland and the narrator states " The Jews haven't suffered from the chaos of war as the native Pole " Well if the Nazi invaders were so worried about Poles suffering the chaos of war might it have been a good idea not invading Poland in the first place ? But if nothing else it illustrates that the Nazis blamed everyone else for everything . Alexander The Great , The Roman Empire and world trade are touched upon for " bringing Jewry in to Europe "
There's no consistency even within its own twisted logic . The Jews according to the start of the documentary a religion but then consider Karl Marx - someone who was brought up a Protestant and who along with Darwin effectively proved there's no God - a Jew alongside Albert Einstein who went a Catholic school and who again held atheist views along with Charlie Chaplin who was a self confessed agnostic . The documentary then states the Talmud " is a corruption of religion " . So are Jews a religion or a race or both or neither ?
Actually the one thing the documentary is correct in is that " the idealised the Biblical figures of Hebrew tribal history ... the Hebrews of the Bible couldn't have looked like this " . Indeed they wouldn't because the cultural meme of white Biblical figures perceived by Western culture stems from Da Vinci's The Last Supper. In reality the Hebrew tribe from Bronze Age Palestine would be of Arabic appearance since they were from an ethnic point of view Arabs themselves . Of course the documentary makes a point of who killed Jesus which considering Jesus is purely a mythical figure is -like blasphemy - a victimless crime
In short this is a notorious poisonous propaganda piece . Certainly watching it in 2013 you can understand why it has gained its reputation . No one with a brain can fail to recognise it as anything more than low brow propaganda . That said anyone with a brain can also recognise the bitter ironies such as Peter Lorre in a clip from M a film directed by Fritz Lang being used as an anti-Semitic scapegoat . But I guess having a terminal irony deficiency is the very least reason for hating Nazism ?
" Who are these girls ? they're beautiful , are these all your girlfriends ? "
" Oh no " I replied " They're just girls I had to work with all day every day because I'm one lucky b*stard "
Which led to a round of high fives and backslaps . For a small moment in time a thin , bespectacled middle aged man with thinning hair and ears that stuck out became the most envied man on the Indian sub-continent . I could appreciate the irony of being in a land where the swastika is common ( The Nazis stole the ancient Indo-Aryan symbol for themselves and disgraced it ) and being envied because I was in the presence of four women who the Nazis would happily murder for being the wrong sort of Europeans
Nazis obviously don't understand irony . This notorious propaganda piece starts with a column of refugees in occupied Poland and the narrator states " The Jews haven't suffered from the chaos of war as the native Pole " Well if the Nazi invaders were so worried about Poles suffering the chaos of war might it have been a good idea not invading Poland in the first place ? But if nothing else it illustrates that the Nazis blamed everyone else for everything . Alexander The Great , The Roman Empire and world trade are touched upon for " bringing Jewry in to Europe "
There's no consistency even within its own twisted logic . The Jews according to the start of the documentary a religion but then consider Karl Marx - someone who was brought up a Protestant and who along with Darwin effectively proved there's no God - a Jew alongside Albert Einstein who went a Catholic school and who again held atheist views along with Charlie Chaplin who was a self confessed agnostic . The documentary then states the Talmud " is a corruption of religion " . So are Jews a religion or a race or both or neither ?
Actually the one thing the documentary is correct in is that " the idealised the Biblical figures of Hebrew tribal history ... the Hebrews of the Bible couldn't have looked like this " . Indeed they wouldn't because the cultural meme of white Biblical figures perceived by Western culture stems from Da Vinci's The Last Supper. In reality the Hebrew tribe from Bronze Age Palestine would be of Arabic appearance since they were from an ethnic point of view Arabs themselves . Of course the documentary makes a point of who killed Jesus which considering Jesus is purely a mythical figure is -like blasphemy - a victimless crime
In short this is a notorious poisonous propaganda piece . Certainly watching it in 2013 you can understand why it has gained its reputation . No one with a brain can fail to recognise it as anything more than low brow propaganda . That said anyone with a brain can also recognise the bitter ironies such as Peter Lorre in a clip from M a film directed by Fritz Lang being used as an anti-Semitic scapegoat . But I guess having a terminal irony deficiency is the very least reason for hating Nazism ?
The most vile piece of cinematic garbage ever made
JMartin-217 November 1999
We watched this film in history class as an example of Nazi racial ideology. The fact that they were somehow able to stretch Hitler's braindead axiom -- summed up in his speech at the film's close, where he prophesizes the destruction of the European Jews -- to an hour-plus-long-film is amazing. There is not a single truth to be found here; even the film's explanation of the migration of Jews into Europe (something a first-year anthropology student can figure out) is distorted, while pseudo-scientific figures are used in an attempt to justify the obviously unjustifiable. Many parts would be hilarious, in a sort of camp, paranoid, "Reefer Madness"-type way, if not for the fact that the German people swallowed this garbage hook, line and sinker and stood by idly while their leaders carried out the genocide of millions of innocents. Many snippets are almost deliciously ironic in retrospect -- for example, the bit attacking Einstein's Jewish "pseudo-science" (a peculiar allegation, seeing how desperate the Nazis were to recruit his aid) and another slamming the Jewish actor Peter Lorre and his film "M" (Lorre was Hitler's favorite actor, and "M" his favorite film). From a cinematic perspective, the film is dull and hackneyed, even by 1940 "documentary" standards. It should be said that the movie is darkly fascinating (in the same sense as, say, a bad car wreck), but the only legitimate reason for its existence is to illustrate the evil yet idiotic nature of Nazism.
the problem of power and one reason more why the majority are always the losers
karlericsson17 May 2009
For illustrating how a minority always wins out against a majority (provided that they are not persecuted), this film deserves a 10. For depicting the Jews as a special problem regarding this, this film does however deserve only a 0(zero). The resulting 5 is thus explained. If I belonged to a minority, whose members had some liking to one another, and I moved to a foreign country and was given a position of power, I would probably employ people in influential positions from my own minority rather than people I felt less for. This should not come as a surprise for anybody. As long as there is power, there are privileges and minorities or interests groups trying to get hold of as much power as possible for "security" reasons, if for nothing else. It is childish to think something else. The majority can act similarly as the minority and exclude those from power positions whenever there is a vacancy somewhere but this is called "racism" or "persecution" and is, with some right, deemed unfair, since the majority are always so many more than the minority. If, however, a minority becomes very successful in its masonry (because that is what it is), persecution follows as an act of defense against that majority, however usually instigated by a newly formed minority, using the majority in order to push away the old minority from power-positions, which they like to obtain for themselves. In a power-society, this kind of game goes on and on for as long as we allow power amongst human beings. If we honestly want to get rid of racism and the like, we just have to get rid of power, because then there will be nobody who lives from the sweat of others, except the miserable and the handicapped, whom we are all indebted to help as we are indebted to overcome the injustices of fate rather than enhancing them but not only for that reason, for who amongst us can refute the heroism of the handicapped and who amongst us deserves more praise than those amongst us, who carry the toughest loads?
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
