The Theme of Greed Immortalized in Films of the Nazi Era

 

The Theme of Greed Immortalized in Films of the Era:

"Woman in the Moon" (1929) is a German film considered one of the first serious science fiction films. It was written and directed by Fritz Lang. The scientific advisor for the film was Hermann Oberth, who was also Wernher von Braun's teacher. Oberth even planned to build a small, real rocket to be launched and used for authentic footage, but this did not materialize. The film was groundbreaking, and its echoes reach our times, as it features an early depiction of important technologies related to spaceflight. Its plot revolves around a young engineer who wants to launch a rocket to the moon to find gold there. A smooth-talking swindler takes over the plan and joins the flight. The human drama intertwines with technology and astronomy, which serve as a new backdrop for ancient emotions. The female protagonist is torn between two men in outer space, amidst a setting of clear sexual symbols: the rocket as a masculine symbol and the moon as a feminine one.

"L'Argent" (1928) is a film with impressive French-German production, showcasing the cosmopolitan atmosphere and financial adventurism in the Weimar Republic, against the backdrop of aviation's golden age. The plot centers on a pilot who embarks on a stock market-funded quest to search for raw materials in new territories.

"Cabaret" (1972) is a musical film about the life of an American girl in Berlin before the Nazis' rise to power. The film is based on the story "Goodbye to Berlin" (1939) by Christopher Isherwood and portrays Berlin during that transitional period through its cafes and picturesque streets, the absurdly extreme nightlife, and the power of both the masses and the millionaires. "Money makes the world go round" is a key line in the musical.

"Schindler's List" (1993) is a film by Steven Spielberg that touches upon the upper echelon of Nazi greed, which involved forced labor in privately-owned factories.

"The Zone of Interest" (2024) is a film depicting the comfortable life of the Auschwitz commandant and his family, who resided in an idyllic villa, disconnected from the horrific reality within the adjacent camp.

A display in the Auschwitz Museum of valuables,  taken from Jews upon their arrival at the site

The Nazis' War on Memory

 

Erasing Jewish Identity

The Nazis were not content with annihilating Eastern European Jewry and plundering all their possessions. They also erased any trace of Jewish existence throughout the generations. In Jewish cemeteries, all tombstones were uprooted. Synagogues and other community buildings became Nazi property. All records in Jewish community archives, including family lineages spanning dozens of generations, were destroyed. Even their civil records in state authority archives, such as the Interior Ministry and municipalities, were obliterated.

Stolen Heritage - The Denial of Citizenship

Today, many Israelis obtain a second passport from the European Union based on their country of origin. In Eastern European countries that were under Nazi occupation, this is impossible. Descendants of Holocaust survivors from Poland, many of whose families perished, cannot prove that their parents were born in that country and are rejected outright by the relevant authorities.

Women's Roles in the Nazi Regime

 

Germanization and the Nazi Woman

Within the policy framework based on benefits, women held a privileged position in the Nazi regime. Hitler believed that women's place was in the home. He did not enlist them in the war effort, neither as soldiers nor as factory workers. He saw their purpose as housewives, whose primary role was to bear children and support the men serving the Reich. In her book, "Women and the Nazi East: Agency and Complicity in Germanization," Elizabeth Harvey examines the activities of German women outside the motherland, particularly in occupied Poland. These women concentrated their efforts mainly in the western regions of Poland annexed to Germany, but they were also active in the areas that remained under self-rule. The responsibility for "Germanization" fell upon the women of the Third Reich. Denied equality with their male counterparts in the homeland, Nazi women found an additional sphere of public control in the East. Although their tasks were primarily domestic, their role was empowered by the fact that while they were subordinate to their German male colleagues, they could act with a sense of superiority and impose strict authority over the local population.

Indoctrination and Expansion

As early as 1933, the Nazis formalized the key role of women in the Germanization of the East. Propaganda emphasized that the struggle to instill "Germanness" in the border regions began at home, in school classrooms where mother-teachers taught health, racial purity, language, and faith. This propaganda aimed to prepare German women for their role in the East. The Nazi victories at the beginning of World War II profoundly impacted these women for the rest of their lives. Many volunteered for the mission of bringing the homeland's culture to Eastern Europe, driven by a sense of German superiority. They believed that people in the East lacked order, hygiene, and efficiency, essential qualities that Germans cherished. Naturally, the lower standard and quality of life in Eastern Europe reinforced their views. The women who moved eastward were portrayed as both courageous pioneers and traditional housewives, serving as settlement advisors, teachers, welfare workers, and the like.

Complicity and the Final Solution

Nazi women were representatives of a brutal and racist regime and participated in activities that advanced its goals. They assisted in the racial screening process, selecting Germans from the general population, resettling them, and confiscating and redistributing Polish and Jewish property. The Nazi women involved in indoctrination in the East, actively or passively, were all aware of the Final Solution's course, culminating in the extermination camps. It was an open secret. They rarely engaged in direct murder, but they contributed as much as they could to the unprecedented plunder of tens of millions of people.

Profiting from the Holocaust - The Nazi Plunder Machine:

 

From Corpses to Commodities

In the extermination camps, the German Reich profited even from the corpses. Gold teeth were extracted from victims' jaws, rings were torn off, and women's long hair was shorn. The gold teeth were melted into bars and handed over to banks. The hair was woven into threads and used to make ropes and mattress stuffing. The bodies were sent to crematoria, their ashes used as fertilizer in fields and as insulation and construction material. 

As SS personnel amassed significant amounts of money and valuables from the victims, none of them cared about the death penalty awaiting them under international law. Items suitable for immediate use were transferred to distribution centers. These were vast warehouses located in the heart of population centers, overseen by appointed officials. Nazi citizens throughout the Reich, in need of various goods during the war when normal commercial activity was disrupted, turned to these centers as one would to a department store. The officials assessed the legitimacy of the requests and provided the products accordingly, free of charge.

The Theft of Jewish Homes

Real estate, including houses, apartments, and land, constituted the primary asset plundered by the Nazis. Immediately upon conquering a city, they compiled a list of Jewish-owned properties. In the second phase, Jews were deported to makeshift ghettos. The real estate list was then handed over to a special office, which distributed the properties to Germans and local collaborators loyal to the Nazi regime. This amounted to hundreds of thousands of homes. After the war, the absence of property owners who had perished, population exchanges between countries, and the new communist regimes obscured original ownership in many places. These factors contributed to legitimizing the takeover of Jewish real estate, which largely consisted of residential apartments belonging to Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Even before the war, pro-Nazi locals openly coveted and divided Jewish buildings among themselves. They would tell the Jews, "Your streets! Our houses!" A black market also flourished, where Jews sold everything dear to them for pennies. This market created a vast economic system in the occupied countries, involving all segments of the population, operating alongside the official plunder.

Nazism as a Regime Based on Benefits

 

Plunder and the Holocaust

In his book, replete with charts, calculations, and citations, Götz Aly argues that the plunder of occupied territories and the theft of Jewish property served the Nazi regime to finance its war effort and elevate the living standards of Germans. Behind this central explanation lies the argument that Germans were not primarily guilty of anti-Semitism but rather succumbed to base instincts of greed, leading first to the seizure of Jewish property and ultimately to the Holocaust. They yielded to the Nazi version of consumer culture.

The Ethnocratic State

Götz contends that Germans did not hate Jews more than other Europeans. Germany never followed a unique historical path. Germany was a country like any other, and Germans a people like any other. The answer to the question of why the Holocaust occurred specifically in Germany is horrifyingly simple: Nazi Germany was an ethnocratic social-democratic state. It granted social rights only to those belonging to the ruling ethnic group. It operated on the same logic as other states of that type, but it went further than any other.

Nazi Welfare

Nazi Germany provided its citizens with benefits greater than any other country: it was the first to distribute child benefits, the first to offer subsidized healthcare to pensioners, its soldiers received decent salaries and could send home loot from war zones and killing sites, and, in general, ethnic Germans lived better than ever before. Ordinary Germans supported the Nazi regime because it provided them with the highest standard of living they had ever experienced. The living standards of non-ethnic Germans were, of course, significantly worse. This was an inevitable consequence of the logic of the ethnocratic welfare state.

The Dark Side of Solidarity

European welfare states have always been based on ethnic solidarity. This solidarity, the feeling of being part of an "us," is a necessary condition for the existence of a state that genuinely cares for the security of the individual, a state whose citizens are willing to give up their tax money in exchange for the government taking care of all their needs. The other side of ethnic solidarity, unfortunately, is the lack of solidarity with anyone outside the ethnic group. It's not necessarily about hatred but rather indifference, a lack of concern for the fate of those who are not part of the same ethos. When this dynamic is amplified, when the state provides far more benefits in exchange for more enthusiastic solidarity, the separation between those inside the charmed circle and those outside it deepens.

Plunder as Policy

Götz adds another layer to this argument. He claims there was a direct link between the rise in German living standards and the dispossession and murder of Jews because the Nazi regime was largely based on plunder. It robbed Jews of their property and distributed it to Germans. Through charts and calculations, he documents and proves what was a massive redistribution of wealth that had a decisive impact on the history of the Nazi regime.

Profiting from Fascism

Götz argues that this transfer of wealth is the primary explanation for the Germans' acceptance of the Holocaust: they were bribed. Götz asserts that the basis for the Germans' situation under the Nazi regime being significantly better than under any previous rule stemmed from the fact that the plunder of Jews and occupied territories was larger, more systematic, and of greater importance than previously assumed, and that the spoils were distributed extensively. Germans profited from racist murder almost without exception. Stolen goods were systematically distributed at bargain prices. Even if a German wasn't a Nazi ideologically, they wouldn't oppose the regime to avoid jeopardizing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Götz shifts the emphasis from the profits of the wealthy capitalists to the profits of the masses. Nazi interests were not shaped by the capitalists but rather by the consumer masses, each of whom personally profited from fascism. His book is a reconstruction of the school of thought that sees the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust as the realization of a pre-planned agenda, with a materialistic emphasis.

George Lucas and the Star Wars movies series

Throughout his life George Lucas had a number of major interests in addition to cinema: anthropology, politics, history, mythology, adventure stories and speed. He connected all of this to liberation from the conventions typical of the Sixties and to liberation from gravity in outer space. He began to convert into space fantasy concepts and symbols he had planned to use in "Apocalypse Now" [1979], a protest film about the Vietnam War, which was eventually created by his partner Francis Ford Coppola.

Lucas imagined a large technological and fascist space empire haunting a small group of freedom fighters. He began by a two-page handwritten idea, telling the story of a revered Jedi warrior, as told by his apprentice. A more advanced ten-page script, entitled "Star Wars," dated May 1973, is based on Akira Kurosawa's film, ''The Hidden Fortress'' (1958). This film had a huge impact on him. Lucas had no basic plot, and he used the bond that appears in this film between the samurai and his apprentice. Kurosawa also influenced him visually, through duels in swords, epic battle scenes and quick editing. The martial arts of the Jedi in "Star Wars" led to a wave of film productions with superheroes in this category in the 1980s, for example "American Ninja" (1985) produced by Menachem Golan.

Throughout 1973 and 1974, Lucas worked on the script, writing and living most of the time alone. He tried to create a classic genre picture of an adventure movie. As a result he sought to connect to the collective unconscious that exists in legends. Among the scholars who influenced him were Bruno Bettelheim and Carlos Castaneda, but the most important was Joseph Campbell.

Lucas completed the rough draft in May 1974. It is a wide-ranging story, featuring many elements that will appear in subsequent drafts: the Jedi vs. the Sith, two lovable robots, Princess Lia, Han Solo. But nothing is yet in its final form. Lucas finished the first draft in July 1974.

The initial script version Lucas wrote includes many scenes with maneuvers of spaceships battles. He wanted to sell the script to the studios, but did not know how to visually illustrate it to them. The solution was to hire artists who created illustrations and production models, which would provide a basis for budget estimates. The artist chosen, in November 1974, was Ralph Macquarie, a former illustrator at Boeing. Macquarie painted a series of eye-catching drawings of stars, spaceships, characters and scenes, in collaboration with Lucas. Later, along with other illustrators, the first drawings for the visual product known today evolved. In this way, the script and the characters also developed.

The ''Star Wars'' movie series is mostly based on the pattern of superheroes in the stories of mythology. As part of this film series, nine sequels have been released, which constitute the canon of the series as a feature epic. The first film in the series, "New Hope", was released in 1977. The last, "The Rise of Skywalker", was released in late 2019. 

The series gained unprecedented popularity. So important was the series at the time that the National Museum of Aviation and Space in Washington dedicated a special exhibition to it, showcasing the mythical message of Luke Skywalker's "Hero's Journey."

There are three main factors for the initial success of the ''Star Wars'' series: a. The structure of the narrative. George Lucas and his fellow creators of the series have been influenced by many sources of inspiration. Prominent among them was Joseph Campbell and his book on the theory of monomyth. B. The order of magnitude of the epic. Today we are inundated with similar, high-budget science fiction films and blockbusters. At the time of the production of the first trilogy in the "Star Wars" series, no similar productions had yet been made. C. "Star Wars" was a product of its time, the mid-1970s. It resonated with the spirit of the time. It touched on the anxieties and tensions of the public consciousness at that time and in particular on the issues of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. 

The series was regarded as redefining cinema, as it create an imaginary universe rich in details. It is known in almost every home in the world and has gained millions of devout fans, including at the level of religious believers, who see it as a modern expression of the biblical struggle between good and evil.

The nine-film canon consists of three trilogies, which represent the parts of the human psyche and its development, according to id, ego, super ego. The Disney company, which acquired the franchise for the brand from Lucas, also develops it through anthology films, complexes in theme parks, TV series, animated series, computer games, books, comic books, clothing and toys. In this way the brand reaches every person in the most appropriate way, according to the latest branding and marketing approaches and the plan for the future is to continue to develop it intensively.

Prof. Joseph Campbell is considered a world expert in mythology and follower of Carl Jung. Campbell researched and found that in all cultures of the world there are myths with the same characteristics, all of which together can be called "monomyth". His books have been a major source of inspiration for George Lucas. His main book is "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". This book presents the constant characteristics of the superhero character, which are preserved behind its many incarnations in different cultures and periods.

The ''Star Wars'' movie series is based entirely on this concept. The films include a gallery of archetypal characters typical of the world of mythology, such as the superhero, the mentor, the distressed young lady, the trickster, the evil hero, the omnipotent magician, the binary duo, the extended family of close friends and more. At the same time, the superhero goes through in the films of the series a journey, known in terminology as "The Hero's Journey. This journey includes many stages of development, which are well characterized in the stories of superheroes from all cultures.

George Lucas spoke at a conference in honor of Professor George Campbell in 1985, to which Campbell responded. Much can be learned from the exchanges between them regarding the "Star Wars" series. 

Lucas told the conference that about ten years ago he intended to write a screenplay for a children's film and had an idea to create a modern fairy tale. This is despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he should do something more important and socially relevant. Lucas began research and writing and a year passed without progressing, then he encountered the book ""The Hero with a Thousand Faces '', read it and began to focus. He found in this study parallels to his intuitive writing and answers to many questions that came to his mind. He continued reading Campbell's books and at the same time writing the script, in a process that lasted several years and ended in a script of hundreds of pages.

Campbell replied in his speech that he had not seen movies for many years, as he was engrossed in research. He came as a blank page to the estate of Lucas, who invited him to be a guest and watch the three first films. He was thrilled with admiration. Lucas was in his eyes a man who understood the use of metaphor. The lack of use of metaphors was in his eyes a built-in weakness of American art. What he saw were things that were in his books, but were presented in terms of a modern problem, which is man and the machine: Is the machine going to serve human life, or is it going to be the master and dictate. The definition of "machine" also includes the totalitarian state, whether fascist or communist and also includes things that happen in the United States, such as the bureaucrat phenomenon that is the man-machine.

In the twentieth century the character of the superhero was often identified with the pioneers of flying in airplanes and spaceships and a very important secondary superhero in the series is Han Solo, the photogenic and cynical pilot who is a loyal friend of Luke Skywalker, the idealistic boy who is the superhero of the series. Han's ''Millennium Falcon'' spacecraft, which has a double bow, is the fastest in the galaxy. It is the object most identified with the series, except for Luke's Light Sword. In the series complex at the Disney theme parks, the full-scale spacecraft is the main attraction.

The importance of Han Solo's character is great, as aviation is linked in the series to the superhero skills. Anakin Skywalker and his sun Luke are described as the best pilots of the galaxy, before they become Jedi warriors. Harrison Ford, who plays the character in the series, has earned superstar status and played the role of other fictional heroes in cinema, including Indiana Jones. Along with the rough identity of the cowboy-pilot character, Han is also undergoing a moral awakening. The process of his development into a superhero continues after his death, through his son Ben, who turns from being Darth Vader's successor into a positive character. 

A second significant connection between aviation and the "Star Wars" is the space battles, which are a key element in the series. Lucas drew inspiration for them from World War II aviation films, which he watched during the long years of writing the script versions.  A collection of aerial combats scenes in old aviation films, which he filmed and edited in a 16mm format, were an integral part of the presentation concept and later the main source for the spaceships battles scenes. The flight scenes in the series are always a spectacular show, accompanied by pyrotechnic displays of firing and spaceships crashes, which reinforce a sense of alchemical connection of the human figures with the metallic objects.

In order to produce these scenes, Lucas set up a special company to deal with the subject of special visual effects. The company is ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). Following the success of "New Hope", ILM became one of the most successful companies in the industry. All the films of the ''Star Wars'' saga were filmed by it and in addition the special visual effects of many other successful film series.

There are similarities between the ''Star Wars'' films and the Nazi aviation films on several levels: A. Emphasis on the photogenicity of the aircraft and the multiplicity of aviation scenes. B. The aviation films of the Nazi regime developed the character of a fighter pilot for propaganda purposes and in this way they also contributed to the developing of the pilot character in the "Star Wars" series. C. The wicked characters Palpatine and Darth Vader are reminiscent of Hitler and Himmler. D. The uniforms of the warriors of the evil empire are similar to the Nazi uniform and so are the mass gatherings. E. The most popular films in the Nazi regime were aviation dramas, in which the romantic scenes are between flight scences during a war and in this too they are similar to the "Star Wars" films.

The "Star Wars" saga can be analyzed as a biblical text about the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil and the desire to survive with the help of God - "the power" in trhe series. There are Jewish scholars who challenge the ideological separation between popular culture and religious life and link episodes in the saga to Jewish religion and history. The saga allows for a critical discussion of various issues, such as feminism and gender, government and minorities, psyche and personality, quality of life, environment and more. 

"Star Wars" also has practical importance for Israel. Militarily, it is synonymous with space warfare and is a source for learning military strategies. From the Israeli society point of view, the popular culture in the United States greatly reinforces the myth of aviation, but at the same time also the image of the pilot as a private person with personal doubts, which are also expressed in the Israeli feature cinema.

Nazi pilot and filmmaker Hans Bertram

Hans Bertram is the third in the Nazi regime, after Ernest Udet and Carl Ritter, who combined a career as a fighter pilot with a film career. Bertram was born in 1906 in Germany. In the early 1920s he learned to fly and became a professional pilot. From 1927 he was an aviation consultant to the Chinese government and was involved in the establishment of its maritime aviation service.

"Flight to Hell" Adventure - In April 1928, about a year after Charles Lindbergh's historic flight from New York to Paris, a German Yonkers W-33 sea plane crossed the Atlantic Ocean from east to west for the first time and the German pilots recieved a victory parade in New York. A few weeks later, elections were held in Germany, in which the Nazi Party won, for the first time, 12 seats in parliament.

About four years later, on February 29, 1932, pilot Hans Bertram and mechanic Adolf Klausmann set out from the German city of Cologne to fly around the world on the same airplane model. For about ten weeks they successfully flew east. On 15 May 1932, they left Timur, with the aim of making the first overnight flight to Australia. They made a mistake in navigating, landing hundreds of miles west of their original destination. They also made a mistake on their way back, moving even further away from civilization. They struggled to survive in various ways and were eventually rescued after 52 days, forty of them without food. The search for them made headlines in the international press of the time.

After recovering, Bertram returned to the airplane, continued on a flight across Australia and from there returned flying it to Germany. Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, and established his rule until about Easter 1933, the date on which Bertram landed back in Berlin, where he was welcomed as a hero.

Bertram wrote his experiences in a book called "Flight to Hell," which became a bestseller with millions of copies and is been sold successfully even today. The name of the book is reminiscent of Howard Hughes' movie ''Hell's Angels" (1930). In 1987 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a mini-series based on the book.

In 1934, Bertram joined the Nazi Party, writing screenplays and directing films. At the same time he continued to serve as a Luftwaffe pilot.

Overseas Adventure Films - Documentary travel films were a popular genre in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Apparently it was a genre that documents an authentic journey abroad to obtain scientific information. The hero in these films is a lone wolf, often a pilot, who fight bravely to document with the camera invaluable scientific information. In fact, his expedition presented the fighting values ​​of strength, determination and sacrifice. He fought to bring valuable treasures to the homeland. Using the camera in analogy to the pstol, the filmmaker captured potential areas for the new living space.

In addition to documentaries, feature films whose themes are adventures abroad were a vital part of all the movie genres prevalent in Nazi Germany. They provided the audience with a sense of partnership on research trips to faraway lands, along with a partnership in building the empire, without having to leave home. These films accounted for about 10 percent of all films produced in 1933, and close to 20 percent in 1939. These films dealt with fundamental questions of society, including: the attitude of the Aryan race towards others, the sense of community and loyalty to its members, the need for resources, building a German home in a distant land, dealing with sexuality in a women-free environment and more. Their common combination of a strong sense of realism and propaganda, along with a tragic ending, established the "Heimat" emotion, the longing for the pure German home. They justified the Germans sense of ownership of land in the "living space".

"Women to the Golden Mountain" (1938), for which Hans Bertram wrote the script, was a typical overseas adventure film. The film is about a group of gold miners on a remote mountain in Australia, who invite wives by mail. The women adapt well, but a heart-to-heart fight creates a confrontation between two men, which ends in the killing of one of them by his friend, who is a former pilot. The pilot flees the scene, but returns with an airplane to locate his friends, after the state lost contact with them following a sandstorm.

Hans Bertram's Aviation Films - Bertram's work in the adventures  genre formed the basis for his subsequent war films, which dealt with the lives of young pilots, from the beginning of their training at the Luftwaffe until their participation in the war. The films feature young members of the Nazi party, who face distance from home, and demonstrate their independence and skills, along with their masculinity.

"Baptism of Fire'' (1940) is a documentary by Hans Bertram. The film shows precisely how the Luftwaffe destroys Polish communications facilities and airfields and provides close air support to ground forces in their rapid movement. The announcer tells viewers that "the young Luftwaffe is ready to fight and destroy like a sword in the sky, ready for battle, determined for war and will destroy anyone who tries to sabotage peace in Europe." The film ends with Goering's speech: ''These very impressive pictures bring home, to the German people, the great impact of the campaign in Poland and especially the part of our Luftwaffe, who has carried out combat missions for future generations. We owe to the Luftwaffe, in particular, the contribution to the defeat and destruction of the enemy… ''. "Baptism of Fire" was very effective as intimidation propaganda and was screened at German embassies across Europe, in front of a local invited audience.

''D III 88'' (1939) is a war-propaganda aviation film by Bertram, whose plot deals with two fellow pilots in a seaplanes squadron, who compete with each other in the air and are suspended from flying. They nevertheless embark on an emergency flight in which they manage to discover the enemy fleet, but land in the sea and their plane capsizes. To look for them, the veteran squadron sergeant leaves, in a fighter airplane left over from the First World War, whose serial number is the name of the film. The aviation myth is particularly prominent in this scenes. A halo of mystical fog surrounds the ancient plane, which is stored in a separate hangar as a museum item. On the wall hang pictures of the pilots who flew in it and died. A long flashback scene describe the plane's last flight. The plane was kept intact thanks to its pilot, who became a "sacrificing savior". The film was a huge success and was recommended by the Nazi critics.

"Bombers Wing Lutzau" (1941) is a Nazi war and propaganda film by Bertram. The film is popular sequel to "D III 88", with the same participants. The plot deals with life long airplanes crews career, during the First World War, the Spanish Civil War and their experiences in a time of peace. They have to prove themselves during the attack on Poland and then the wing performs missions on the Western Front and against England.

During 1941, Hans Bertram's fighter airplane was shot down in Libya. He was captured and sent, apparently, to a POW camp in Australia.

In all, Bertram wrote the screenplays for 10 films completed between 1938 and 1985 and directed six films. In the early 1950s he set up an aerial photography company in Germany. He died in 1993 in Munich.

Superheroes and pilots in the Nazi film industry

Given the large number of aviation films, it is surprising that the connection between "cinema, aviation, nationalism and myth" has been so little explored. The connections between them exist from the first films made in the early twentieth century. Hollywood has made more movies in this genre than in any other country. Similar processes have taken place around the world. They created an icon of the "Knighty Fighter Pilot", a stereotype that influences popular culture to this day. Early genre films described aviation as a golden age of progress and the pilot as a romantic and chivalrous character.

During World War I, some fighter pilots, who were the most successful, were soon promoted and became media icons of heroism, warriors who swept the national spirit in war. This phenomenon was particularly prominent in Germany, in the form of the pilots of the "Flying Circus" and their commander Richthofen. They have become a national symbol, with a presence in cinema and print and in all circles of society. 

The memory of the First World War was constructed through the myth of their war experience. They created legitimacy to change the picture of true deadly reality. The main image engraved in the collective memory of this war, to this day, was largely created through motion pictures about them.

The cinema between the two wars took advantage of the fears of an aerial bombardment in the next great war. At the same time, cinema during this period used the pilot and the aircraft for nationalist propaganda, which showed achievements in the subject as the spearhead of the national technological initiative. Across the world, record-breaking flights have made pilots celebrities. Across the world and in Nazi Germany in particular, the aviation industry has become a major economic, military and social component, which has found wide and varied expression in cinema as well.

Aviation propaganda films were more important in countries where national pride was hit as a result of the war, and they were defeated or furious. Technological progress was seen as proof of recovery and superiority. In Germany, the heroic status of the air crew, the rapid expansion of gliding and flight ventures, the growth of commercial aviation and the success of the national company Lufthansa, all testified to the popularity and public support on the subject.

Aviation and cinema were integrated into the popular culture that influenced the Weimar Republic. Films such as "The Money" (1928) and "Woman on the Moon" (1929) combine in their plots the atmosphere of prosperity created by the new aviation records and the pursuit of money, which was typical of the period before the Great Depression.

During the 1920s, the rapid development of airplanes began to gradually offer more practical insights than other kinds of aircraft. 

Flight and pilot were significant metaphors for the mythical modernity of Italian fascism and German Nazism. The biographies of Gabriel D'Anoncio and Herman Goering established the connection between the war experience and the hyper-masculine culture of the 1920s and 1930s. They had supreme feelings of racism, similar to those of right-wing groups at the time.

The linguistic symbols and metaphors associated with aviation discourse, its perception and interpretation, are many and the sources that can be relied on in this context are numerous. They include important cultural events, artwork, books, magazines, propaganda products and more. It was not the aviation itself, but the connections, not the pilot per se, but the concepts involved, that were the focus of attention. The manifestations of aviation in the regime were not only direct. They were also indirect. They served as a means of revolutionary liberation from the burden of the past.

The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes and through the vision of the new man that fascism has tried to make a reality through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes that citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives. The norms and values ​​that the media published, as embodied in those heroes, permeated the social reality. The world was understood according to their register.

The whole of Nazi Germany served as a backdrop for the regime of air consciousness. During the 1930s, well-timed aerial displays attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators each. Many streets were named after aviation heroes from the First World War, such as Richthofen, Bolke and Emelman. Many radio programs included content on the subject. Schools had compulsory education on the subject and aviation served as an educational lever in many fields.

Hermann Goering, Hitler's deputy who was formerly the successor to Richthofen and became Germany's most popular politician, declared: "We must be a pilots nation''. He declared his commitment not only to training of many military pilots, but also to assimilate and nurture the moral values ​​of aviation, which were self-sacrifice and service to the national community. Through a special ministry, the Nazis took full control of all activities on the subject and began the establishment of the Luftwaffe.

In Nazi Germany, fictional superheroes, such as in the American Comics books, were not popular. Its cinematic superheroes historical and military figures like Frederick the Great, Bismarck and Richthofen, together with figures from German pagan mythology, like the protagonists of Wagner's operas.

The fighter pilot as a superhero in Nazi cinema was part of the social system created by the regime. He was not endowed with superpowers, but was able to perform with his comrades national missions that included self-sacrifice. His character was defined by the Nazi philosopher Ernest Junger as a popular warrior forged at the front and returned to citizenship, in order to instill in it the purifying values ​​of war. 

In Nazi Germany, three fighter pilots who turned to the film industry stood out:

Ernest Udet from "The Flying Circus", who became a stunt pilot and in some filmsin the early 1930s, where he played the character of the daring pilot who rescues survivors trapped in the snow. He became the protégé of Herman Goering and a senior general in the new aviation industry.

Karl Ritter, a fighter pilot and flight instructor of Udet's generation, who belonged to the inner circle of Nazi fanatics. He became the senior and most prolific filmmaker in Nazi Germany, specializing in the creation of aviation and propaganda films.

Hans Bertram was a famous adventurer who wrote a bestseller about survival. He was also a fighter pilot and filmmaker, who made aviation films, especially at the beginning of World War II.

Beginning in the early 1940s, Following the Luftwaffe's chain of failures, Germany focused on developing a new generation of revolutionary aerial weapons, such as the jet airplane and the ballistic missile. At the same time UFA, the nationalized Nazi film industry led by Goebbels, began the production of wide-screen epic and colorful films, which were in line with technological developments in this industry.

This is how the colored movie "Baron Munchausen" was created. It was the only one whose protagonist is similar to the protagonists of the comics books. Munchausen in this movie is a serious and photogenic superhero. His imaginative flying experience is central to the plot: he flies on a cannon ball, reaches the moon in a hot air balloon, passes through time dimentions and more. 

The film was a huge production and had great success. It was released in March 1943, as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the UFA. It was, by coincidence, about a month after the German defeat at Stalingrad. As part of the conspiracy of silence that surrounded German society, in which many issues were not discussed in public, it also became an allusion to the existence of "wonder weapons".

The ''Star Wars'' series and the character of the pilot as a superhero

Aviation was identified from its earliest days with spiritual flight and similarly became an archetypal symbol of human spirit and freedom. At the same time, due to its military and practical importance, it is at the center of national interest and action. It has become a top-notch public attention center. That is why there is a close connection between it and cinema.

Between the two world wars of the twentieth century, the golden age of aviation coincided with the golden age of cinema. Cinema has evolved just as rapidly and dramatically as flight. Both soon established themselves as the most exciting and popular form of leisure and activity and in the process became an incredibly effective channel for disseminating ideas.

The focal point of the film viewer's identification is not the plot or the actors, but the point of view of the camera and its movement. When this movement is combined with aviation scenes, the dichotomy that separates in consciousness between the pre-stage and the symbolic stage in the process of identification can be overcome. Gravity is eliminated in the imagination and the viewer is allowed to recreate the pleasure of forming the initial identity.

The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes combined with the vision of the supreme man that fascism has tried to realize through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes, whom the citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives.

Aviation films in Germany immortalized, for propaganda purposes, the figure of the pilot as a national hero even during the First World War. During the Weimar Republic, the genre of "mountain films" was common. It was exclusive to Germany and in them the alpine climbing activity was presented as a forging, with the character of a cult, which over the years became more symbolic and nationalistic. In the later films of the series, the fascist context is created through the combination of the famous stunt pilot Ernest Udet as a daring pilot rescuing trapped climbers in the snow. Fghter pilot Karl Ritter, of Udet's generation, became a senior filmmaker in Nazi Germany, specializing in making feature-length feature films that showcased the photogenicity of the aircraft, the heroism of the popular pilot and the social complex of aviation.

Hans Bertram was also a fighter pilot and filmmaker in the Nazi regime, following his predecessors, especially during World War II. Before becoming a Nazi, Bertram made a journey, which became a best-selling book he wrote. The journey took place after his plane, trying to circumnavigate the globe, accidentally landed in a remote part of northern Australia and its survival story made headlines in the world press. The campaign took place during the year the Nazis came to power and Hitler turned Germany into a dictatorship, with Hermann Goering as his deputy.

In Nazi Germany, the character of the pilot in cinema was fixed in the national context. In the United States, the pilot aura developed as an individual hero, in the spirit of the Western man. One of the manifestations of the youth protests in the United States in the 1960s was independent cinema, which was created outside the framework of Hollywood studios, which at the time were producing content-poor commercial films. A new generation of creators aspired to create films that would express their world. Their skills brought them to the studios. Young artists, including George Lucas, were given relative freedom of action to create their original works, which became popular and profitable.

George Lucas was greatly inspired by the air battles films of World War II. For years he watched these films and collected the air battles in them. After his first successes in Hollywood he turned to fulfilling his dream and creating an aviation fiction film based on these excerpts. The film became the ''Star Wars'' film series, which is the most successful in the history of cinema and has a great influence on popular culture. An analysis of the ''Star Wars'' films shows that they are aviation films, both in terms of the multiplicity of aviation scenes and in terms of their importance to the plot.

There are three main factors, in addition to the aviation component, that contributed to the initial success of the "Star Wars" series:

A. The structure of the narrative. George Lucas and his co-creators of the series have been influenced by many sources of inspiration. Prominent among them was Joseph Campbell and his book on the theory of monomyth - the unity of myths in different cultures.

B. The order of magnitude of the epic. Today we are inundated with similar, high-budget science fiction films and blockbusters. At the time of the production of the first trilogy in the "Star Wars" series, no similar productions had yet been made.

third. "Star Wars" was a product of its time, in the mid-1970s, and it resonated with the spirit of the time. It touched on the anxieties and tensions of the public consciousness at that time and in particular on the issues of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

The ''Star Wars'' series is based on the pattern of superheroes in mythology stories. Adventure heroes have over the generations provided frameworks for coping and embracing change, reinforced by the concepts of heroism. As reality became more complex, the need for mythical archetypes became more important. In the development process, the popular American protagonist went from the traditional Western protagonist to the cheap press adventurer, to the superhero of comic books and to the cinematic superhero.

As part of this film series, nine sequels have been released, which constitute the canon of the series as a film epic. The first film in the series, "New Hope", was released in 1977. The last film, "The Rise of Skywalker", was released in late 2019. The series gained unprecedented popularity. The importance of the series was so great at the time that the National Museum of Aviation and Space in Washington dedicated a special exhibition to it, which presented the mythical message of Luke Skywalker's "Hero's Journey."

Lucas has set up a special company, ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), to deal with the issue of special visual effects. Following the success of "New Hope", ILM became one of the most successful companies in the industry. All the films of the ''Star Wars'' saga were filmed in it and in addition the special visual effects of many other successful film series were filmed in it.

In the transition from one generation to the next, there were many children who inherited the series from their parents and for them the episodes trilogy 1,2,3 was also created. But the younger generation could have also opted for films that mimicked the series, with more precise adjustments for them. The most important of these films were "Lord of the Rings", "Spider-Man", "Batman" and "The Avengers" series.

Because in the twentieth century the character of the superhero was identified with the pioneers of flying in airplanes and spaceships, a very important secondary superhero in the ''Star Wars'' series is Han Solo, the pilot who is a loyal friend of Luke Skywalker the main superhero. The pilot character was played in the series by superstar Harrison Ford.

The importance of Solo's character is great, as aviation is related in the series to the superhero skills as the best pilot and also because Ben Solo, Han's rebellious son, is the main character in the series starting with episode 7. Ben is Ray's partner, the Jedi knight who makes a female "hero journey" in the last trilogy and she brings back Ben to the good side.

In the few aviation films created in the State of Israel, the pilot icon gradually became subject to criticism. The State of Israel depends on aviation for its internaional transporation and on the Air Force for deterrence and defense from enemy threats. As a result, the "best air force in the world" saga developed in it. The Israeli Air Force gradually intensified until the Six Day War in 1967. During this war, the Israeli Air Force defeated the air forces of the Arab armies within hours and was a key factor in the victory. The myth of the fighter pilot as a superhero reached its peak after the war, thanks in part to documentaries and feature films about the war, which were integrated into the atmosphere of victory.

In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the Air Force managed to maintain a clean sky and air superiority, but its pilots also became a "sacrificing savior" and the erosion of their image as superheroes was great. The rehabilitation of the pilot image was done following a few lone operations such as the attack on the atomic reactor in Iraq, which were well documented in the media. Despite this, the Israeli pilot icon continued to gradually erode, as the army is no longer a top value in Israeli society and is allowed to be criticized.

Compared to the extensive place that aviation has in society and the media in Israel, there have been few feature films on the subject over the years. The first perpetuate the fighter pilot myth as a local superhero and the last criticize it. In the middle stands out the film "Every Bastard is a King", which is unique in that it de-constructs the character of the pilot as a national hero and turns him into a personal character.

Nowadays unmanned aerial vehicles take up space very quickly and the sky become as dense as the ground. Moreover, the UAVs made the ground war unnecessary in the eyes of many. Therefore, the great importance of the myth of aviation and of the character of the pilot as a superhero in popular culture, remains. This is an essential part of the dialogue between man and technology, which become more complicated as automation takes over our lives.

The ability to present, in this dialogue, human figures with stages of human development according to a psychological-mythological formula, is unique to the "Star Wars" series. The Disney company, which owns the franchise for the series, is thus fortifying its position as the leading creator in the world of aviation films and of the pilot figure in popular culture.

The importance of the film "Pour Le Merite"

Several films, adapted to guide viewers on certain topics, were commissioned by the Nazi state before the outbreak of the war. The most important in this category was the "Zeitfilm" style aviation film created by Carl Ritter: "Pour Le Merite" (1938), [Pour Le Merite - for excellence], named after the highest decoration of heroism in Imperial Germany.

"Pour Le Merite" was a founding cultural event, in which, as a matter of fact, all of German history was rewritten, from the end of the First World War until Hitler came to power, in a manner consistent with Nazi ideology. The film deals with a group of former fighter pilots, who according to prominent biographical characteristics are from the flying circus, headed by the commander of the Squadron, whose character is modeled on the biography of Herman Goering.

Goering' name in the film is Frank. He leads his men after the war to revolt against the ruling regime of Democrat Weimar, whom he publicly despises. Out of the hardships of existence the pilots join the small Nazi party. Their struggle is successful, Hitler comes to power, and at the end they see the new German Air Force, which they command.

The film depicts "civil politics as a continuation of the war in other ways" and scenes of violations of the law are presented in it as inevitable, due to the rule of the corrupt left.

The film was described as "the purest Nazi film". At its premiere in Berlin in December 1938, Hitler watched with Carl Ritter by his side, Goering and Goebbels, and outside the cinema hall stood a guard of honor of veterans. Apart from the great box office success, the film was also recommended for viewing by young people, and was watched by millions of teenagers as part of the compulsory screenings held for "Hitler Youth".

Carl Ritter was Adolf Hitler's personal favorite. He congratulated him publicly, describing the film as "a great success, the best film in history so far." The commander of the SS Heinrich Himmler congratulated Carl Ritter on his achievements in the film with warm words. He complimented him on his ability to portray living and believable figures and on reenacting the period before the Nazis came to power, in which Germany was humiliated.

Even outside of Germany, "Pour Le Merite" was considered a great success. An American film critic noted that although non-Nazi audiences would be more interested in the first half, "it is exceptionally made."

The film is based in part on the true experiences of the "Flying Circus" pilots at the end of World War I and after. It begins in the last months of the war in 1918 and in the first half include exciting aerial battle scenes. The euphoria is at its peak and is displayed, among other things, in the festive hospitality of a captive British pilot, who escapes because he is not guarded. 

Later, in preparation for the surrender of Germany, the feelings of disintegration, failure, disappointment and anger are expanded. After the ceasefire, the commander and some of the pilots, all with the prestigious Medal, refuse to hand over their planes to the Allies and burn them, in the midst of the end-of-war celebrations, in a series of dramatic scenes that take place in the middle of the film.

The second half begins with the failed attempts of the squadron commander, Frank, to integrate into the capitalist economy of the Weimar Republic, which is controlled by the occupation authorities. The British pilot who escaped is one of the new regime's heads, where military skills are of no value. This section includes long scenes of Frank's meetings with various businessmen in restaurants and offices, each time his business initiative fails more and he is less suited to the economic reality. Various attempts to rehabilitate German aviation through the gliding sport have been only partially successful, given the obstacles posed by the government. The group continues to meet during the Weimar period and the veterans' fraternity is preserved. They become members of the Nazi party.

The pilots gather at a lone farmhouse of one of them, around a single fighter plane hidden in a barn. The plane is discovered and communist militia forces are sent to take it. In the ensuing battle some of them are killed. The pilots are arrested and on trial. Squadron Commander Frank tells the judge, in a central scene: ''I'm not interested in this country, because I hate democracy like a plague. Whatever you want to do I will avoid, as much as I could. We must establish Germany on its feet, a Germany that will meet the demands of the combatant soldiers."

In the last part of the film, Frank escapes from prison through his friends and escapes abroad. He returns after the Nazis come to power, meets on the harbor wharf his old friends, who have already received senior military ranks. At he end, he is welcomed with royal honor, in front of an endless line of fighter planes. In fact the scene recreates the return of Hermann Goering to Germany, having fled from it to Sweden following the failed putsch in the beer cellar. The scene is combined with a 1935 documentary-like segment: Nazi flags are hoisted in the streets, and the crowd hears over the loudspeaker the re-armament speech of Germany. Later, the crowd gathers in the square at the foot of the monument in memory of the soldiers who fell in the war. The picture is replaced by a dramatic announcement by a veteran pilot, standing on the wing of a plane at an airfield, about the re-establishment of the Luftwaffe.

This last scene in the film is the most cinematically impressive. The scene is initially constructed from a preliminary abstract avant-garde, in which the protagonist is seen up close against the backdrop of the body of the ship that unloads him in port. There he is received by his only friends, who take him to the squadron, over which he receives re-command. In the process, the cinematic image develops and becomes broad, rich in details, realistic and even symbolic. At its peak there is a display of dozens of fighter planes in a straight line to the horizon. At the same time, this lengthy scene incorporates footage of the enthusiastic crowd in the streets.

Ernest Udet, whose public status was far more prominent than that of Herman Goering during the Weimar Republic, appears in an important supporting role. His name in the film is Fabian, and comedic romantic scenes starring him make up the first quarter of the film. In other sections, in the middle of the film, he represents the one who managed to get by in spite of everything, and sets up a small aircraft factory. At the end of the film he happily integrates into the new regime. All excerpts are based on details from his familiar biography, thus further establishing the film's authentic value.

"Pour Le Merite" presents the Luftwaffe as the legitimate successor of the Imperial Air Force, leaning on the heroic status of the air heroes of the First World War, They are founders of the new and powerful Air Force, which was established despite the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. The gneral symbolic value of the airplane and the pilot is demonstrated from the opening exposition scene to the very last moment. 

The film attacks the Jews, but does so in a moderate way, in a short segment that shows Frank's failure in business. The Communists are greater enemies, and a considerable part is of confrontations with them. The greatest enemy is the new German democracy, which has ignored the needs of war veterans. The film highlights the warrior hero, not as a mythical archetype but as a modern flesh-and-blood folk character, whose embodiment as a superhero involves the achievements of the entire nation.

Nazi cinema in "Zeitfilm" style

Joseph Goebbels' call to create revolutionary films with an artistic touch, rather than blatant propaganda, was not understood in the early years. Nevertheless, three "Potumkin"-style films were made, about the period of the struggle for power. The best known of these is the "Hitler's Youth Quacks" (1935), which had a huge success and influence. After the removal of the "brown shirts" from the party, these "Savior Victim" films became irrelevant. The familiar and cumbersome "popular cinema" was not a solution either. It was obligatory to invent something new.

In the professional press, a discussion was held in 1936 on the subject, in which "cinematic avant-garde" was not a derogatory word, in contrast to the other branches of art. The German filmmakers in this abstract style, who were inspired by Futurism and Dada, won great and sympathetic articles. The first sequel was Karl Junghans' documentary about the Winter Olympics in Germany in 1936. It was an avant-garde style film, which was supported by Junghans in an article in which he presented it as representing the "new and modern time". He argued that the clear cinematic language of "Potumkin", with its montages and cutting-edge camera, should be distinguished from the amorphous content presented by faceless masses. Goebbels' demand thus became a criterion. The avant-garde has transformed from art to its name into a modernist tool in the service of murderous rule.

The question now was how to assimilate the artistic criteria of the cinematic avant-garde, having been detached from Soviet bluntness, into National Socialist content. Here Lenny Riefenstahl first provided the creative answer. In her documentary films about the Nazi regime's shows, she combined camera, music, and montage as key and original elements. Riefenstahl preferred sharp shooting angles inspired by "mountain movies". She did "creative research" on the characters using many cameras. She created a dramatic edit and attached all of these to dramatic music. In this way she was able to present mass experiences in a creative way, in the totalitarian regime where every work of art had to have a purpose. This created an original German style, which became known as the "Heroic Reportage". This style was adopted for widespread use in Nazi Germany thanks to its modernity, surprising ability, and visual totality.

The shortage of original feature films, those that portrayed the life of the German laborer as dynamic and satisfying, was even more pronounced. Airman Carl Ritter was the first to fill in the blanks, in a style he called "Zeitfilm". This was in fact Riefenstahl's style, with a plot-propaganda content, inspired by a well-developed artistic sense and strict order, which were his artistic hallmark. Ritter has created feature films in various genres, which have given him the opportunity to systematically shape his modernist artistic message, while at the same time extensively developing the nationalist and propaganda message.

During World War II, the "Zeitfilm" films came to fruition. They presented daily life in Nazi society, but were almost absent from its outward signs, such as salutes. They were also meant for export, and prominent symbols in the background were an obstacle to that. The typical "Zeit [period] film" was certainly required to be used as an alternative to entertainment cinema, but not with the aim of completely replacing it or causing a revolution. It served as an ideological self-affirmation, one that would prove that National Socialism could achieve the same results achieved by Soviet cinema.

Carl Ritter explained the meaning of the term in the lecture "Zeitfilm and Contemporary History", which he gave in Hamburg in September 1936. At the beginning of his speech he sought to give the art of cinema the respect it deserved and to stop treating it as cheap entertainment. The state has already taken this step, when it has organized and nationalized the entire field. He came out as a buffer against the "realist" studio films that were typical of the Weimar period, which were detached from reality, because they superficially characterized the characters, plots, and backdrops. He took an example from Soviet cinema, which managed through real realism to absorb the spirit of the period and excite the audience, because it managed to express a very wide range of human realms. The "Zeitfilm" is mainly a film that makes a cross-section of this time, which create a cinematic report. But there is no need to present criminals in it, but the positive and beautiful, using examples from the classic German street. Cinema in Nazi Germany is a national venture, and is suitable for "Zeitfilm" because it is capable of presenting a quality cross-section of the entire population, culture, and history. Ritter wanted to further create light-hearted entertainment films, which are the bread and butter of the industry, but asked that one in ten films be serious. He claimed that despite their seriousness, the Zeitfilms could be the art of cinema at its best, citing the example of his "Traitor".

"Poetic cinema" is a comprehensive definition, involving the essence of poetry, with many challenges involved. It stands out in its position in relation to the common commercial-entertainment film and characterizes films with a significant statement, created by "Authors". As a rule, the artistic film does not stand in binary contrast to Hollywood cinema, but is placed in a different place across the continuum. An important question is whether "Zeitfilm" is close to poetic cinema. The answer is that the main characteristic of poetic cinema is the ability to understand something from something. In poetic cinema, lyrical expression is a challenge to viewers, existing in the tension between the two basic modes of cinema: realism and formalism, in which all cinema films are located. On one side of the continuum are the documentary and neo-realistic cinema, which are easy for average viewers to understand, as they has no visual surprises that stop the full narrative move. On the other side of this sequence is expressionist, artistic and surrealist cinema, also known as "formal" or "poetic", which uses "open images" that can be interpreted and are intended for elite audience. At the center of the sequence is the "classic" cinema, in which all the elements are intended to serve the plot, with the clear aim of not attracting the viewer's attention to anything else. The "Zeitsfilm" cinema lacks open images and all the elements in it are intended to serve the ideological purpose. It is a classic cinema, designed for a wide audience and all the elements in it, like directing, photography, music, acting, editing, set design and the like, serve the plot narrative.