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Article about the films “Hitler’s Children” (1943) and “Education for Death” (1943) from Life Magazine

Object | Accession Number: 2018.590.89

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    Article about the films “Hitler’s Children” (1943) and “Education for Death” (1943) from Life Magazine

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Article from the February 1, 1943 issue of “Life” Magazine, featuring photos and text relating to the films, “Hitler’s Children” and “Education for Death.” Both films were adapted from Gregor Ziemer’s novel, “Education For Death,” which was based on the author’s experiences and observations as the former headmaster of Berlin’s American Colony School. “Hitler’s Children” focused on a young American woman in Germany, who denounced Nazi ideology and the state-sanctioned treatment of women as vessels for procreation, was forced into a labor camp, subjected to public flogging, and eventually executed. The film, “Education for Death,” was an animated short by Walt Disney Productions, and centered on a young German boy who is indoctrinated with Nazi ideology, and becomes a mindless soldier devoted to Adolf Hitler. It was one of 32 propaganda shorts Disney produced under a contract for the United States government. In addition to propaganda, the Disney studios also produced a series of instructional films for government and military personnel. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
    Date
    Cinematic Release:  1943 January
    publication:  1943 February 01
    Geography
    creation: United States
    distribution: United States
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
    Markings
    front, left column, top image, printed, white : “Hitler’s / Children” / (continued)

    front, left column, top caption, printed, black ink : While on a picnic with Karl (Tim Holt) from the Nazi school, Anna (Bonita Granville), an / American, finds a 10-year-old Nazi boy tied to four stakes on the ground with his mouth / gagged. Karl explains that the boy wants to be punished, that it is a test of endurance.

    front, right column, top caption, printed, black ink : Placed in a Nazi labor camp because she was born in Germany, Anna first feigns enthusiasm / for Nazi doctrines, then recants. Karl, now a lieutenant, knows that she will be punished. At a / dance he asks her to have a child by him for the State to prove her loyalty to her superiors.

    front, left column, center caption, printed, black ink : Inspecting the Nazi educational system Professor Nichols (Kent Smith), from the American / School, discovers Anna pretending belief in the New Order. Nichols talks to a pregnant Ger-/ man girl who tells him that it is nobler to have a baby for the Führer than for a husband.

    front, right column, center caption, printed, black ink : A sterilization clinic (Frauen Klinik) at work is part of Professor Nichols’ tour. Here with / mass-production surgery, women who are “unfit” to have children are sterilized by Nazi doc- / tors for reasons which vary from hereditary color blindness to dangerous political thinking.

    front, left column, bottom caption, printed, black ink :Taking sanctuary in a church after running away from Karl and the labor camp, Anna, in a / black cape, hides from the Nazi soldiers who invade the church during the morning ser-/ vices. Finding comfort in the bishop’s sermon which decries the Nazis, she gives herself up.

    front, right column, bottom caption, printed, black ink : Whipped publicly for running away, Anna is tied to the flagpole in sight of all the girls who / have formed a square to watch the ceremony. Karl, one of the officers in charge, rushes for- / ward and stops the lashing. Later Karl denounces the Nazis and both he and Anna are shot.

    Front, right column, bottom right, printed, black ink : CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 39

    back, top left, printed, black ink : Movies (continued) / EDUCATION FOR DEATH / Book about Nazi youth is also basis for Disney short

    back, bottom right, beneath bottom image, printed, black ink : COPYRIGHT WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS

    back, bottom left, printed, black ink : 40

    back, bottom right, caption, printed, black ink : Walt Disney short, Education for Death, traces the making of a Nazi from a young boy, / through his early days of Sieg Heiling the Führer to a goose-stepping Nazi soldier. In last / picture he is part of the Nazi machine complete with muzzle, blinders and chained yoke.
    Contributor
    Compiler: Ken Sutak
    Production Company: Walt Disney Productions
    Distributor: Walt Disney Productions
    Biography
    The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records.

    Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Classification
    Information Forms
    Physical Description
    Double-sided, black-and-white page removed from a magazine containing images from two movies, removed from a magazine that originally contained a larger photographic spread. The front of the page features six photographs, each with a caption below, arranged in two columns of three. The photographs are scene stills from the film, “Hitler’s Children,” most of which feature the protagonist a young, blonde woman. The back of the page features excerpts from the book the film was adapted from, and four animation cels , from another film adaptation, “Education for Death.” Both are arranged in columns, the text on the left and the cels on the right. The left edge wavers slightly where it was cut from the magazine.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) | Width: 10.250 inches (26.035 cm)
    Materials
    overall : paper, ink

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Geographic Name
    Germany. United States.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The advertisement was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
    Record last modified:
    2023-09-05 09:28:01
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn693084

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