Teaching Totalitarianism Profilo continuo del Duce (Continuous profile of Mussolini) Sculpture by Renato Bertelli Dr Marco Duranti Department of History University of Sydney
Totalitarianism Totalitarianism and Total War Totalitarianism and the Cold War communism + fascism = totalitarian as a term of abuse Comparison over space and time fascism : Mussolini, Hitler, and.? similarities vs differences Ideology of regime vs popular responses to regime The choice of nonconformity and resistance vs participation and conformity Different appeal to different groups (age, gender, profession, etc.) Image of regime vs reality of regime Perception of totalitarianism in popular culture, documentaries Production of propaganda vs reception of propaganda An alternate universe? Comparison with political frustrations, economic conditions, prejudices, fears in 2018
Germany Lives! 3
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (1830)
Augustus of Prima Porta (450-44 BCE)
Yes! Führer, we follow you! 6
Friedrich II (Fredrick the Great) of Prussia (1712-86)
Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II
Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II
Yes! Führer, we follow you! 10
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Richard Wagner (1813-83)
Lohengrin
Bavarian-Central-Agricultural Festival: Exhibitions: Agriculture, Crafts, Fisheries 14
German Farmer s Day (1936)
German WW1 propaganda: War bonds: Help the guardians of your happiness
We build body and soul
The NSDAP secures the Volksgemeinschaft: Comrades need your advice and help, so find your way into the town groups.
A people of brethren!
The Action of the Community serves the Organization
Karl May
Luis Trenker, Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (1936)
German Cinema and Total War (Quotation from Fritz Hippler of Ministry of Propaganda) Total war, a consequence of immense technical and sociological developments in our time, has forced us to reconsider our notions of weapons and soldiers. Weapons are no longer just the means by which we physically combat our enemies, and soldiers are no longer merely the uniformed and organized bearers of weapons.
German Cinema and Total War (Quotation from Fritz Hippler of Ministry of Propaganda) In total war, nations in their entirety confront each other, and all expressions of national life become weapons of war regardless of whether they seek to weaken the enemy s morale or to strengthen one s own, that is to say, to afford diversion, concentration or recreation.
ADDENDUM: NAZI CINEMA BEYOND TRIUMPH OF THE WILL See Eric Rentschler s Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife (Harvard University Press). Hitler Youth Quex (1933) is about a German boy who begins in a communist gang of youth before being drawn to the Nazi youth and eventually meets his death at the hands of the communists. The film acknowledges the reasons why poor desperate Germans would be drawn to the Left, before contrasting the moral purity and discipline of the Nazis with the depravity and lawlessness of the communist youth. Joseph Goebbels apparently hated Leni Riefenstahl s Triumph of the Will (1935) because it would not appeal beyond Nazi party faithful. Still, there is of course a lot there in terms of Nazi aesthetics (e.g., mass ornament ) and ideology (and partying). I take it Olympia is also already shown at NSW high schools. Fritz Hippler s documentary The Eternal Jew (1940), while a disturbing example of Nazi genocidal anti- Semitism, made little money at the German box office. The big box office hits during WW2 were The Jew Süss (1940), about a cunning Jewish advisor to an 18 th - century duke who seizes power and instigates a reign of terror before meeting his demise, and Münchhausen (1943), a whimsical fantasy adventure about a comical baron making use of magical devices in his travels, which became a German classic. Goebbels had a hidden but important role in the production of these films and the same actor (Fernand Marion) plays Süss and the illusionist Cagliostro.