Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 654, 17 March 1943

1. Germany.

 

Construction of military factories and workshops.

 

– Huge production and assembly halls are being built using the latest construction technology. A view of the workshops under construction.

 

– Construction work.

 

– Women on their way to the factory.

 

– Women in the design office.

 

– Women working on the manufacture of precision radio equipment.

 

– Women at the machine tools.

 

– In the workshops of the locomotive factory.

 

2. The Atlantic.

 

France, Atlantic coast.

 

– Soldiers from the RAD (Imperial Labour Service) and the Todt Organisation erecting fortifications along the Atlantic Wall.

 

– Soldiers are erecting barbed-wire barriers, driving wooden piles into the ground, and digging trenches reinforced with sandbags.

 

– Construction of bunkers.

 

– Anti-tank ditches and barriers on the road.

 

– German coastal artillery, guns in their emplacements.

 

– A gun on a railway platform.

 

– A sentry on duty.

 

German patrol boats and a destroyer on duty at sea.

 

– The destroyer’s guns firing at British floating mines.

 

– Various vessels at sea.

 

– An observer.

 

– The appearance of British bombers.

 

– Alarm on board the ship.

 

A German ‘Messerschmitt 109’ fighter in low-level flight.

 

– An aerial battle, resulting in the burning wreckage of a British aircraft falling into the sea.

 

3. The central sector of the Eastern Front.

 

On the Smolensk–Orel–Kursk line.

 

– A view of snow-covered terrain; a German airfield.

 

– Repair work is underway there, including the replacement of engines, landing gear and other components.

 

– A ‘Focke-Wulf 189’ reconnaissance aircraft returns from a mission.

 

– A container of film delivered by the aircraft is being examined at headquarters.

 

– Staff officers are analysing aerial photographs.

 

Police battalions and the Waffen-SS are sent on a combat mission to capture partisans who are attacking railway lines and destroying bridges.

 

– They are in a village, talking to a local woman.

 

– Soldiers on horse-drawn sleighs.

 

– A light German tank is driving past.

 

– The partisan camp is surrounded.

 

– Captured partisans.

 

– One of them is providing information.

 

– A destroyed partisan camp.

 

– The destruction of partisan weapons and ammunition.

 

– Killed partisans.

 

– A ‘Storch’ light aircraft lands; valuable captured documents are being sent to the German command on board.

 

Military operations in the area of Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga.

 

– Roads are being cleared of snow; a snowplough is at work.

 

– Soldiers with shovels are clearing snow.

 

– Signalmen, under enemy fire, are laying communication lines from a remote observation post.

 

– Observer.

 

– Shelling of Soviet positions.

 

– German anti-aircraft guns are firing.

 

– A downed Soviet aircraft crashes to the ground.

 

– German soldiers in a trench.

 

– Scenes of a firefight.

 

– Alarm.

 

– Preparations to repel a Soviet attack.

 

– A German anti-tank gun is firing.

 

– The gun crew at their post.

 

German ‘Junkers’ in the air.

 

– German aircraft attacking Soviet tanks.

 

A company of infantrymen preparing for an attack.

 

– First aid being administered to a wounded soldier.

 

– German soldiers firing.

 

– Killed Soviet soldiers.

 

– A Soviet soldier emerges from a bunker.

 

– Destroyed Soviet tanks.

 

Lieutenant General of Artillery Johann Zinnhuber, commander of the 28th Infantry Division, awards soldiers the Iron Cross.

 

Gerardus Mooyman – gun commander of the 14th Company of the SS ‘Nordland’ Volunteer Legion – the first Dutch volunteer to be awarded the Knight’s Cross; the general congratulates the 19-year-old hero.

 

– He destroyed 13 enemy tanks in a single day.

 

4. The southern sector of the Eastern Front.

 

Fighting between the Dnieper and the Donets.

 

– German troops, tanks and vehicles are advancing eastwards.

 

– Tanks are moving along the motorway.

 

– A tank crewman stands on the hatch cover, scanning the surroundings through binoculars.

 

– A soldier fires a machine gun.

 

– Close-up of Max Wünsche, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment of the SS Division ‘Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler’, recipient of the Knight’s Cross and SS Sturmbannführer.

 

– Tank attack.

 

– A destroyed Soviet tank.

 

– Soviet soldiers surrender.

 

– A burning windmill collapses to the ground as it burns out.

 

– Fighting for the settlement.

 

– Destroyed Soviet tanks in the streets of the village, wrecked Soviet military vehicles, ruins, and the remains of motor vehicles.

 

– Sepp Dietrich, commander of the ‘Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler’ Division, awards Iron Crosses to distinguished soldiers.

 

A military airfield.

 

– Bombs being loaded onto aircraft.

 

– German aircraft, together with Hungarian and Slovak forces, bomb Soviet positions.

 

– Footage shot from an aircraft.

Beauty Under the Sign of the SS Runes

Source: SS Leitheft No. 2a, 1941

 

Allach, tasks and purpose

 

No people lives longer than the documents of its culture!

 

The Führer’s words are a point of reference for all cultural matters concerning the German people and they govern the spirit of the Allach Porcelain Factory in Munich.

 

Many people will ask why the SS produces porcelain. The explanation is simple. The Reichsführer had already planned for a long time to intensify the SS spirit of cultural work, which was not really possible until after he took power. In 1935, he therefore founded the Allach Porcelain Factory in Munich, the main instrument of his will in this field.

 

For the Reichsführer, it was not a question of founding a new porcelain factory with the aim of producing economic value – i.e. to make money. From the outset, Allach’s primary task was to use the most attractive material available, porcelain, to create artistic works of art and objects for everyday use that would reflect the spirit of the times and bear witness to the artistic feeling and creative will of our time for generations to come.

 

Each era produces its own forms of expression and adapts them to its cultural style. The same applies to our own. With the Führer’s large-scale constructions, we are witnessing the birth of a new style – our style – whose decorative art also includes the development of new ceramic forms.

 

In this spirit, the Reichsführer SS charged Allach with setting an example in artistic creation, in the quality of the material, in execution and workmanship, and in pricing.

 

A retrospective can show what the spirit of porcelain production was: In the past, almost all porcelain factories were founded by princes (Berlin by Frederick the Great, Meißen by Augustus the Strong, Sevres by the Marquise de Pompadour, to name but a few). With a few exceptions, their mission was to produce noble porcelain of great artistic value for the glory of their founders, disregarding any economic benefits. Great artists were hired and were able to carry out their projects in peace and seclusion, free from all material worries. The result was wonderful porcelain that reflected the spirit of the age, the Rococo and the Empire – artistic works that have always retained their value and deserve the greatest admiration because they express the artistic feeling of their creators.

 

Single copies and mass-produced items

 

But times change. For almost all porcelain factories (note the significant name “manufacture” [manu= with the hand], whose work still today requires the artistic hand of man), financial and economic issues became increasingly important. Soon profit was the decisive factor. Patrons of the arts and princely commission agents gave way to merchants. All too often, art was considered to be of little value. In this period of artistic decline, a few renowned manufactures managed to remain true to their spirit.

 

 

Aryanity as a representative of a certain type of values becomes the absolute reference in art. Porcelain from the SS factory in Allach.

 

 

Different porcelains from Allach: At the top is a vase with protohistoric motifs. Below that is a candlestick that was given to every child born to SS families.

 

Amazon.

 

First, there is sculpture. It often gave rise to domestic horrors due to a lack of artistic spirit or sloppy workmanship. Allach therefore saw his first task as helping to bring the true national artistic sense to life. To be honest, this was not easy and not all projects could yet be realised. First of all, artists had to be found and hired who would create artistic works with their inspirational genius and creative talent.

 

But the Reichsführer said: Art must be present in every house, but above all in the house of my SSI Every table must be furnished with elegant dishes, not only in the living quarters but also – and primarily – in the canteens, so that the German worker and the combatant can draw new strength from the harmony of their surroundings in their hours of rest. There is no doubt that the simplest dish in a beautiful dish tastes better than the most expensive roast in a canteen! Allach wants to serve the Reichsführer’s plan as well as possible.

 

In the few years since the Allach factory was founded, it has acquired a privileged position in the field of porcelain production. Figures of heroic young men from the Wehrmacht or party associations, astonishingly authentic peasant folk figures and, above all, noble animal sculptures which show the animal in all its beauty, were produced with our present-day sensitivity. These are works that must be seen as evidence of a naturally strong artistic feeling and a creative will aware of its duty.

 

Ceramics, jugs, vases, candlesticks contain a beauty that benefits every German household. Thus, the Reichsführer SS’s aim that every utilitarian object – even the simplest water jug – should be of impeccable beauty was magnificently achieved. The great cultural treasures discovered in numerous excavations provided inspiration for design and decoration translated into the style of our time. A bridge was thus built, linking the natural creations of our ancestors with the artistic feeling of today.

 

Utilitarian objects were created – and will be created – which already sweep away all criticism by their beauty and utility. In the course of time, all the ugly and unsuitable forms will have to be eliminated and replaced by beautiful and utilitarian tableware.

 

Aware of the fact that the environment has an enormous influence on human well-being and attitude, the Reichsführer ordered his porcelain factory in Allach to act in this spirit. The home of every SS man, or simply of every German, should contain only artistic objects and tableware of the best taste. In this way, Allach offers the man working in his daily environment the beauty that regenerates him and makes him worthy of the great tasks given to him by our heroic age. 

W.

Artist and Soldier

Source: SS Leitheft No. 1, 1943

 

by Hans Klöcker

 

Each SS booklet is governed by a specific guiding idea. In this we have a clear intention.

 

Our aim is not only to make the notebooks interesting. Those who seek only entertainment will not find it in the SS Journals. The easy way out, i.e. to win the approval of everyone by writing articles that are easy to digest, would also be much easier and more enjoyable. But there are other books and notebooks for this purpose.

 

In the SS Notebooks we do not want to disperse and distract the reader, but rather to concentrate his best forces and make him reflect on himself, i.e. on his true substance. Only in this way can we help the comrades to realise themselves and to fulfil their mission within the clan community of the SS and the people. When we see the same sentence appearing again and again in letters in similar formulas: “For me the SS notebooks are a comfort before every new battle”, or when a young artist writes to us: “... This article made me feel for the first time what I still have to find within myself to become an artist”, such examples clearly indicate the path we are following.

 

This booklet is governed by the guiding principle of ‘Toughness’. The soldier knows how much toughness is needed to hold on in battle and to endure setbacks. And he also feels that it is toughness that makes any job possible.

 

But it does not occur to him that in order to understand art, one must also cross the threshold of harshness.

 

Some take as art everything that pleases them at first sight. They think that they have already entered the sanctuary and often refer to the words of the great master: “Serious is life and joyful is art”. They do not know that joyful art was often the result of a difficult struggle, such as that which Mozart gave us.

 

Others say, “I don’t understand it,” when it comes to art. Before they can learn the enrichment that art could bring to their lives, they close the door to its strengths. Instead, they settle for ersatz, more easily digestible food, insipid and superficial works of no value. They prefer a photograph to a work of art whose depth is not apparent at first glance. They swallow three-penny books by the dozen, while they supposedly have no time to read a valuable book. This cannot be our position.

 

He who took part in the harsh war in the East also knows that there are times of recollection when, precisely, one seeks simplicity in art and draws hidden forces from it.

 

Yet many say: “How can we compare our sense of combat and our artistic sense! Combat is work, fatigue, pain and sacrifice. But from art, we expect relaxation and distraction.

 

You say “relaxation and distraction”? Why are you so modest, you who can demand the greatest from it? Why do you ask so little of art? Why do you not demand from it creative force, eternal life and divine joy? Don’t you know that art can give all this? But perhaps you do not know the true meaning of art. For too long it has lost its rightful place in life. It was, like religion, only a nice accessory for a party night and Sunday. It was a colourful bird, a luxury that could be dispensed with in times of need.

 

But what is true art? It is the purest embodiment of the apprehension of the world. By the gift of art, God has granted men the ability to represent His law.

 

An example: Through the observance of the racial laws we can, by the right choice of marriage, bring our race closer to the image that corresponds to the divine will. In sport we can work the body into the proper form for its predestined purpose. In art, however, genius can fashion an ideal human body in accordance with the natural law.

 

Another example: Originally, landscapes only roughly reflect the imprint of the Creator. Those modelled by pure breeds come close. However, to reflect the image of this landscape in all its splendour, it is to the artist that God has granted this gift, that is to say, to this artist (another does not deserve the name) who, himself, obliges the Creator to manifest himself to him.

 

The decisive fact is that the artist only manages to feel God by extreme work on himself. He restores His image in the human body or in the landscape he represents. Capturing this image in stone or on canvas is still a difficult task.

 

It is not possible to judge in the usual way how difficult it is for a creator to accomplish his great mission. Let us read the biographies of a Rembrandt, an Andreas Schlüter, a Tilman Riemenschneider, a Schiller, Mozart, Beethoven. They had to fight against themselves in order to get rid of all obstacles, all external or internal hindrances, in order to free the work, so that only the creative soul remained free to perceive and carry out the divine mission. There is only one comparison that can be made, and that is the toughness of the soldier who consciously risks his life.

 

In this field, soldier and artist are related in the success achieved through hard work.

 

In extreme danger, when all weaknesses are overcome, haven’t many of you felt that moment when, suddenly, previously unknown forces are released? It is as if an envelope in which you have always been enclosed is bursting open. You burst out of it and feel like a god or a child. There is no longer any hesitation, reflection, doubt or consideration. One acts freely and justly, and can do whatever, in the moment, must be done. This is the feeling that Schiller spoke of when he wrote: “He who can look death in the face, the soldier alone is the free man”.

 

A young poet of our time must have felt particularly clearly this creative kinship between the soldier and the artist. He wrote to us recently, in the midst of the fiercest fighting on the Eastern Front: "I cannot say what joy and pride I feel. I would like to tell a legend where a whole people would be born, would live for generations. I know that one day I will be able to express what my heart holds in this warlike hour. I want to become a gold digger in my own heart, to pass on all that I live and enrich all men.

 

Of course, toughness alone cannot bring knowledge to either the soldier or the artist. Other virtues and gifts are needed. Toughness is, however, a significant factor.

 

And this is the subject of my article. It is precisely this knowledge of the common character existing between artists and soldiers that must enable you, comrades, to enter into a new relationship with true art, which alone is worthy of you. The path is not easy. But who could achieve it if not you who have overcome the hardest fighting and the superiority of the Bolshevists? Understanding art is of course not what many of you still imagine. But it is not in conflict with the experience you had as soldiers and fighters. On the contrary, it is closely related.

 

In spite of everything, you got there more easily than the artists themselves. They precede you on the path; they look for the steep slope and point it out to you. But they themselves must follow it. It costs sweat and perseverance.

 

In return, the divine reward beckons you from the highest peak.

 

You will certainly find it because it is within you. Some people have already succeeded “by chance”. Having exhausted everything, they have had to resort to reading ‘serious stuff out of desperation, first reluctantly, then enthusiastically. In the end, they realised that you can’t swallow classical poetry like a Kolbenheyer novel, but that a real work of poetry can give you more strength and joie de vivre than a bunch of superficial literature. He who has been aware of this in a moment of clarity must also find the strength to emphasise the higher principles.

 

He will one day reap the fruitful fruits after having lived through the difficult moments when he was trying to understand great art, which are comparable to the most dangerous moments of combat. He will find treasures which he did not suspect until then and in front of which he passed blindly.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony No. 1 in E major, K. 16

Conductor: Karl Böhm

Performance: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Year of recording: 09-17 May 1978

 

I. Molto allegro

II. Andante

III. Presto

 

Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 653, 10 March 1943

1. Germany.

 

A military training film on dealing with incendiary bombs.

 

– An instructor in a bomb shelter explains what incendiary devices are and how to extinguish them.

 

– A burning flat.

 

– Firefighters extinguish the source of the fire.

 

– Burning furniture.

 

– The instructor answers questions from members of the public.

 

2. China.

 

Announcement by the government of National China (the territories of mainland China occupied by the Japanese) on 9 January 1943 declaring war on the USA and Britain.

 

– Wang Jingwei – head of the Chinese government – signs the declaration of war.

 

– Map of the territory of National China.

 

– A demonstration by the population in support of the government.

 

– Southern China, Yunnan Province.

 

– Operations by Japanese troops on the border.

 

– The Japanese are advancing.

 

– The population welcomes the liberators.

 

– Zhuang Province: Japanese troops on the march, firing on the enemy.

 

– Japanese soldiers with the national flag.

 

– Shanxi Province.

 

– Operations by Japanese troops against the communist bandits.

 

– Japanese soldiers on the march.

 

– Scenes of a firefight; a battle in the mountains.

 

3. Africa.

 

A German tank regiment in reserve; the daily life of tank crews.

 

– Germans amongst cactus thickets.

 

– They are shaving, looking at photographs, cleaning their weapons.

 

Field Marshal Rommel (marking the second anniversary of his time in Africa).

 

– He greets the officers.

 

– Erwin Rommel and Albert Kesselring amongst the soldiers.

 

The German offensive in western Tunisia, in the Atlas Mountains.

 

– German tanks travelling through the desert.

 

– Soldiers levelling the ground for the tanks with spades.

 

– German military vehicles on the motorway.

 

– Infantrymen on the march.

 

– Tank battle near Sidi Bou Zid.

 

– Tanks firing.

 

– Burning British and American tanks.

 

– Prisoners of war.

 

– Interrogation of prisoners.

 

– Field Marshal Rommel walks through a cactus field, inspecting damaged American tanks and other military vehicles.

 

4. USSR. The southern sector of the Eastern Front near Novorossiysk.

 

German artillery fires on Soviet ships in the area of Tsemesskaya Bay.

 

– German infantry in the streets of a settlement.

 

– The same troops in the forest.

 

– The site where a Soviet amphibious landing was repelled.

 

– The bodies of Soviet paratroopers on the seashore.

 

– A Soviet barge, loaded with tanks and put out of action.

 

– Destroyed military vehicles.

 

– Half-sunken ships.

 

5. USSR. The Donets region.

 

Repelling Soviet attacks.

 

– German troops with artillery advancing along a snow-covered road; motorised units in a burning village.

 

– Soldiers leading prisoners out of huts.

 

– Soldiers in camouflage uniforms running between houses.

 

– Destroyed Soviet military equipment.

 

– A German soldier against the backdrop of a fire.

 

– SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer, commander of the reconnaissance unit of the tank reconnaissance battalion of the SS Division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”, walks along the road wearing a white sheepskin coat and a helmet.

 

– German soldiers on leave.

 

– A German soldier carrying a chicken; soldiers drinking schnapps.

 

– Meyer amongst the soldiers.

 

– Infantry and SS troops continue their march; tanks on the steppe.

 

The Donets River, frozen over.

 

– A newsreader reporting on the advance of German troops towards the Donets.

 

– A meeting of officers