When did you first come across the subject of the film?
You could say fifty years ago. At thirteen I read a book about the concentration camp system. I couldn’t believe what happened a few years before my birth, I was born fifteen years after World War II. Basically, ever since I read that book, I’ve been wondering how humanity’s greatest crimes could have happened. I also wonder why most Germans supported or followed the Nazis on their way to them.
Photo: Repro Das Filmfest/Stephan Pick
Director Joachim A. Lang
Have you ever asked your parents what they did during World War II?
Of course. It was a really big topic for me in my youth, I often talked about it with everyone at home. My father had to enlist at eighteen whether he wanted to or not. He was sent to the East, which was a lifelong trauma for him. And mom? Look for her fate in Czechoslovakia as well.
She came from the Sudetenland, from the village of Slup near Znojmo (Zulb in German – editor’s note). They had a farm there. They were expelled from it after the war. She then met her father in Germany. Among other things, they were united by the fact that they were great opponents of any kind of nationalism and wars. That’s why they were willing to talk to me about everything I used. Unfortunately, they are no longer alive, but this topic is still extremely important. Those of us who were born later were very lucky.
Goebbels is heading to Czech cinemas
Film
This brings us to the junction with Czechoslovakia. In your film Goebbels, Goebbels’ affair with the actress Lída Baarová is also mentioned. You got to know him thoroughly thanks to archival materials. What were his cultural tastes?
It suited his nature. He was an absolute unscrupulous opportunist and anti-Semite who wanted to make a dizzying career and did everything for it. Before the Nazis, he offered his services to an American newspaper…
He didn’t care who he worked for, as long as he could be seen. His character is seriously very interesting. He was actually the complete opposite of Adolf Hitler, in whose service he fanatically put himself. Even though he graduated from a Jew, he found in Vůdec the one he wanted to serve and completely submitted to him.
However, it could serve any other regime just as well. I think he could have easily served Stalin if it came to that.
Photo: Reproduction from the book Hitler’s Alpine Refuge
A studio shot of the Goebbels family from 1942. Above, Magda’s son from her first marriage, 20-year-old Luftwaffe lieutenant Harald Quandt.
What attracted him to Hitler?
Urine. He admired him for being radical and persuasive. Both complemented each other. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in the 1930s, Goebbels got it right what ordinary people wanted, which he continued to do during the war.
The 18th edition of Das Filmfest
- It offers a selection of critically and audience-awarded films by leading directors and up-and-coming filmmakers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- In Prague, it will take place from October 16 to 20 at the Lucerna and Edison Filmhub cinemas, from October 22 to 26 at the Art cinema in Brno, and from November 1 to 5 it will head to the newly renovated Central cinema in Olomouc.
- More information at www.dasfilmfest.cz.
Are we talking about culture? About the cultural taste of the masses?
Not only about her. But if I relate everything to culture, look at what films Goebbels had made. He claimed that people mainly want to have fun. That’s why there were a lot of comedies. On the contrary, the dogmatic “documentary” The Eternal Jew (Der ewige Jude, 1940), which reflected his approach, speaks volumes about Hitler’s taste. It is pure anti-Semitic propaganda, which Goebbels was also behind…
However, Hitler was aware that his propaganda chief understood everything better. He preferred to leave these things to him.
Even to Lída Baarová. Do you understand why she got together with him?
Sure. Goebbels had a charm for certain ladies, which he used extensively. It was not for nothing that he was called Bock von Babelsberg, the Goat of Babelsberg. He was actively interested in actresses in this direction. It was known that if she rejected him, she was risking her career.
Baar did not suffer from “prejudice”. She loved, like Goebbels, the feeling of power, of importance. Therefore, their relationship suited both of them. Which I can say based on studying a lot of archival material.
Photo: Aerofilms
Lída Baarová (Destruction through beauty)
Hitler himself broke that relationship, didn’t he?
Yes, for two reasons. On the one hand, he was very close to Magda Goebbels, on the other hand, he did not want it to become widely known that his chief propagandist had a lover. Of course, it was kind of known, but there was still time to solve everything. So Goebbels was ordered to break up with Baar. As we know, he obeyed Hitler.
Hitler didn’t trust women very much. Why did he like Magda Goebbels?
Personal sympathy played a role there, including that they represented the “holy family” of the Third Reich to the Goebbels. Which has been widely used by propaganda practically since the rise of the Nazis in Germany.
Your film covers six years full of historical milestones. How did you choose the ones you will (not) include?
I tried to choose the ones that explained to the audience what happened then. I sketched my characters on them. A kind of connecting link of my picture is also dining together, dinner. It is these that usually form togetherness, including family. They evoke feelings of well-being, normality, home comfort. At the same time, somewhere outside, a giant conflict is raging, people are fighting for their lives… This contrast is fundamental to understanding the times.
Will contemporaries understand it?
I think so. It keeps repeating itself. Among other things, my film tries to answer the question of how the Nazis could so easily sway people to the side of evil. It shows what resources they used. Of course, I filmed it also with the aim of pointing out the fact that the same/similar things are still used by demagogues today. I want the audience to at least think about them.
Goebbels begins with the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria in 1938, which preceded World War II.
Yes, the picture shows the annexation of Austria to the Reich in March 1938. This is of course the beginning of the huge conflict that followed. It is the beginning of Hitler’s power. This was followed by the annexation of the Czechoslovak Sudetenland in September 1938, and Kristallnacht in November of the same year, in which Jews who were the targets of atrocities in Germany and who Hitler used to intensify his hatred towards them died. This beginning of the slide is important. So much happened, but no one intervened…
Lída Baarová still fascinates
Your messages
Then came World War 2. Among other things, the film mentions its beginning, of course, then the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union… However, in these settings, the almost continuous murder of inconvenient people, systematic executions…
Nevertheless, people trust the government, the Nazis. From the point of view of propaganda, a demonstration of how it works, Hitler’s speech in the Berlin Sports Palace in September 1938 is very important, among others.
It was directed precisely against Czechoslovakia.
And it is important for understanding how propaganda works. It is a perfect, extremely well-thought-out multimedia event attended only by Hitler’s admirers. Newspapers also supported her. Leaflets were distributed in the streets. Footage appeared in film weeklies. Radios provided a live broadcast of the speech. The Germans took a direct hit, no matter where they were. The Nazis did not neglect anything to get the propaganda everywhere.
For example, by almost “giving away” so-called people’s receivers (Volksempfänger). Propaganda newsreels were filmed on a large scale. This is exactly how demagogues work. We should learn from looking back. We just have to focus on social networks, on all those Facebooks, TikToks…
Similar political lobbying is connected with the fact that a person is not, does not want to be seen. Why did Goebbels want to be both the director and actor of his shows?
This “artistic” approach was peculiar to the Nazis. But it was a little different with Goebbels. He knew what he was doing. First, he was extremely vain, always trying to build into the lights of the ramps. Although he was a non-Aryan type, small, thin, limping, he did not doubt himself. Which we know, for example, thanks to his diaries, in which he honestly wrote his observations for half an hour every day.
Photo: Donart film
The main role is played by Robert Stadlober.
And secondly, the Nazis bet on the way of self-presentation, they were its instruments. For propaganda purposes, they also put children, happy people in it…
This is captured, among other things, in the scene in my film, when a cute little girl rehearses a “spontaneous” handing of a flower to Hitler driving in a car… And to Goebbels, he was smart, he was able to estimate the power of partial means of propaganda. That is why he loved and supported cinematography.
He was fascinated by her. Which you can see for yourself. In 1930, the Social Democrats won the elections in our country. At that time, the film was starting to take off in full swing, so there was no lack of cameras even at the Reichstag when anything was happening there. The footage was also used for film diaries. In one of them, you will see how politicians get out, enter the building, pass the cameras unnoticed. The only one who stands up to them is Goebbels. He also starts talking and smiling.
Your film was successful in Germany. But does everyone really understand him now? After all, Germany is multicultural, some Germans do not have a “classic” German past.
Yes, the film was successful in Germany, there was also criticism. You know, we have this long-standing concept that Hitler and other Nazis were demons, monsters. It is very convenient because we do not have to identify with them…
At the same time, we cultivate a culture of memories, a memory that is ossified. This is not only said by me, but also by the witnesses of the time with whom I spoke.
However, we all agree that it is necessary to talk about evil. In short, the Nazis were people like me or you. At first glance, they looked normal, almost likeable, just like some AfD (Alternative for Germany – editor’s note) politicians.
So is your film mainly for Germans?
It’s for everyone, as I can tell from the audience’s reactions. He had great success in the Netherlands, for example. Its launch in a number of countries is still to come, including the US. Populism is on the rise. It doesn’t matter where you live, you can’t avoid it. And I feel that you, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, should understand him well. After all, from the beginning you were a state that had to defend itself against Hitler.
The Road to Munich: How Goebbels’ Lies Became Truth
History
Goebbels’ secretary died, she was 106 years old
Europe
Oh dear, folks! Grab your popcorn—or perhaps a box of tissues—because we’re diving deep into the murky waters of history with the finesse of a toddler on a tricycle. Today’s topic? The dark labyrinth of World War II, Goebbels’ cringe-worthy cultural critiques, and how one’s love life can go monumentally wrong when your boyfriend’s a dictator.
So, let’s start at the beginning. Our director, Joachim A. Lang, has more questions than a toddler dumped in a room full of diplomatic debates. He read about concentration camps at thirteen. Yes, thirteen! Most kids are still grappling with how to tie their shoelaces, while he’s dealing with treachery on a world scale. And why oh why, did most Germans jump aboard the Nazi train when it was clearly going off the tracks?
Cue fun conversation with parents that felt more like an interrogation. You know, the usual, “What did you do during the war, Dad?” “Oh, I just enlisted because they told me to. You know how it is.” And Mom’s tale—ah, classic—of farming and being “expelled.” Let’s just add a sprinkle of family trauma to that cake, shall we?
Now, onto our main man, Joseph Goebbels. This chap had about as much charm as a wet sock, but upwards he climbed! Opportunism, baby! Who needs morals when you have a fascist regime that’ll take you places? He could’ve been just as happy peddling propaganda for Stalin; it wasn’t about the side, it was about the spotlight! A true showbiz enthusiast, really.
But let’s not forget Goebbels’ ability to woo women. Yes, ladies, you heard me right! He had an affair with actress Lída Baarová. If you thought dating was tough, imagine navigating a relationship with a propagandist while the world goes to hell! But could Lída resist that power? No! Because who doesn’t want a complex man with severe psychological issues to add excitement to their lives?
And speaking of excitement, let’s not gloss over the entertainment Goebbels provided. His movies—mostly comedies—were designed for a good laugh. Because who doesn’t want to chuckle in the midst of totalitarianism? But then there’s that “documentary,” The Eternal Jew, which is about as fun as stepping on a Lego in the dark.
Now, as if that isn’t enough of a juxtaposition, let’s talk propaganda. Goebbels was the king of multimedia manipulation, using every tool to get his message out, from film to radios. So, what’s the takeaway here? Social media could’ve used a bit of Goebbels’ finesse! Imagine TikTok dancing in Nazi rallies—it could’ve gone viral.
Lang’s film highlights the absurdity that while families dine in their homes, outside rages a war. It’s like enjoying a nice steak while the neighbors are having a barbecue… with bombs! A delicious image, isn’t it?
Finally, the realization hits—Goebbels was a human being. What a concept! He was just like you and me, well, except for wanting an entire race obliterated. But let’s not let that minor detail cloud our judgment, shall we?
The film’s success in Germany proves that we’ve all got to face that uncomfortable truth about our past. After all, who better to understand totalitarian lunacy than countries that’ve navigated the seas of both fascism and communism?
Remember, folks, history is a funny old thing, a bit like a bad stand-up routine—if we don’t acknowledge the cringe, we risk repeating the punchlines. So, next time you find yourself nibbling on popcorn at a screening, think about what’s in the history books. It’s way more riveting than a rom-com, and trust me, it’s also infinitely more educational!
In conclusion, humanity’s failures can be both tragic and oddly humorous, but the main lesson here—never date a man who’s got a thing for propaganda and world domination. Now that’s wisdom for the ages!
