Bearing the shining example of Walt Disney in mind, the Third Reich launched the animated film industry in Germany. It should have become better and bigger than Disney, but this turned out to be illusory. Too little were the experiences of the past. It is true there were already successful animation movies, at the head the silhouette films by Lotte Reiniger, but an animation industry as in the USA didn't exist.
Still the German animation film in those time was able to set a fresh impetus.
Not least because of the enthusiasm of Hitler for the animation film, the new developing trickfilm industry could profit from generous aid at the beginning of the Nazi time.
A diary mark of Goebbels makes Hitler's enthusiasm clear:
“I have given twelve Mickey-Mouse-movies as a present for the Führer at Christmas! He is being pleased about it. He is absolute happy about this treasure". (20.12.1937).
The impetus of the trickfilm began when Hitler asked himself one day why the German Reich shouldn't be able to produces movies like Disney too.
Till then there wasn't a real trickfilm industry in Germany, rather there were produced decent movies in small companies. Movies with a real story, that was out of the question.
Together with the realization of the industry it was inevitable that this market was also used for propaganda but the main part made up the pure entertainment film which had to divert from the hard times.
A lot of animation artists were ordered in whole Germany from the Goebbelsschen propaganda machinery in the 30's and made them create a German Walt Disney pendant in order to face up to the overpowerful "US factory" squarely. They studied the techniques of Diseny and looked for new ways at the same time.
The technique of the Disney studios were already partial copied before the assumption of power happened. Already in 1931 the German animation artists drew their figures - analogous to Walt Disney - with four instead of five fingers, which involved an important saving of time while producing the figures.
Along with the outbreak of World War II the movies were increasingly included for the propaganda too. The animated film "Der Störenfried - The Troublemaker" (40) by Hans Held shows, how all animals of the forest hold together in order to drive the troublemaker - a fox - away. The hedgehogs with Wehrmacht helmets and the wasps mobilized.
But Goebbels wasn't very enthusiastic about the still clumsy looking animations. He and Hitler continued to dream of Disney movies in the quality of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
A Berlin-Dahlem based animation production on a small scale was founded in 1941 by the propaganda ministry. The leader was Luis Sehl who was especially summoned from Rio to Germany to take on this job. The scope of duties of this company was the production of an animation film about the mountain ghost "Rübezahl". However this plan failed because of the insufficient organisation and the inability of the leadership.
After this failed effort Goebbels launched the "Deutsche Zeichenfilm GmbH" in 1942. The art direction went to Dr. Kruse. A rough draft in those days demonstrated what kind of stuff they planned to produce in the next few years, among others it was planned to realise the first full-length film for the year 1947.
At the beginning of the professional animation film production the theater critic Friedrich Luft and the animators Horst von Möllendorft, E.O. Plauen (real name Erich Ohser) and Manfred Schmidt - who became famous with his figure Nick Knatterton - were recruited.
The production of the first trickfilm with the title "Armer Hansi" was allocated to five working groups (studios), which had to do a complex of the planned animation film in a team work with independent responsibility.
The production society even possessed an animation school and had the ambitious plan to catch up on a lead of twenty years of the American film industry, and this in the middle of the war.
After the conscription of Dr. Kruse for the military service, the dramaturge Frank Leberecht took over the art direction.
Because there was a need of a large number of drawers to make all the countless pictures, a lot of Poles, Frenchmen and exile Russians were taken on for payment.
The 17-minute-movie “Armer Hansi” swallowed up two years of work and set new standards, not only concerning the pictures but also because of the use of electronic music. Oskar Sala (1909) war responsible for the music, later he became famous with his filmmusic for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".
Goebbels wrote into his diary:
“It is true, that the first animation film which was presented from his (Frank Leberecht) production has a lot of weaknesses, but it represents a good start”.
Because of the war terms the working groups were transfered to Munich an Vienna in 1943, where they concerned with preparations for further movies. But there weren't created more productions till the liquidation of the "Deutsche Zeichenfilm GmbH" in October 1944, so that it stopped with only one produced movie.
When Goebbels wanted to initiate the first full-length movie with the title "Schnuff, der Niesser", 500 draftsmen worked for it. But for Goebbels the production got on too slowly and he included a second company - the Fischerkoesen. Later Goebbels shifted the production also abroad, among others to Holland and Czechoslovakia.
Hans Fischerkoesen was able to make a name before this order as a imaginative animation film maker. He didn't try to copy Disney but was in the habit of doing his own style. He surprised with technical innovations, among others he built in first three dimensional models into animated films.
Fischerkoesen's “Der Schneemann - The Snowman” was one of the highlights during the time of the National Socialists and narrated the story of a snowman who absolute wanted to see the summer. The movie is visible at the moment on youtube. Therefore he spend the winter in a refrigerator.
Fischerkoesen realised the film "Das dumme Gänslein - The Dumb Goose" (44/45) in the last phase of the war.
The movies of Fischerkoesen have something in common, they did without speech, only music and background sound was audible. The reason was in the first place that they wanted to sell the movies in foreign countries too without expensive synchronization.
With the end of World War II the new German animation film came also to a stop. But the draftsmen could continue their profession after the war. The animation industry was destroyed but they found occupation for the booming promotion film which especially were at its height in the 50's and 60s.
The occupation of a trickfilm drawer was very hard. They had often to work six days a week for bad pay and they often took home some work on Sunday to draw drafts. It wasn't unusual that overtime was unpaid. Because most of the artists stayed in the anonymity and only a few of them were mentioned by name they fought sometimes with the gloves off. Each was acquainted with the other and they always knew to tell something about them.
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