For years, intense mass propaganda in Germany took the form of music, literature, and film which nursed a sense of racial superiority which was buttressed by national successes in technological development, exploration of outer space, and most especially victories in war. Film quite prominently was at the forefront of the methods of social manipulation and propaganda embraced by the National Socialist Movement, and between the 1950s and mid-1970s had grown into a Europe-wide extravaganza of repeated tropes, bloated budgets, and overt propaganda. Movies like
Eine Nacht in Paris (One Night in Paris, 1959),
Wüstenfuchs (Desert Fox, 1962), and
Adler des Ostens (Eagles of the East, 1965) were some of the most popular and well-received pro-war products of this 'golden age' of German war film; all featuring the hallmarks of the myriad movies of its type - German triumphalism, the onscreen inhumanity of the enemy, and the invincibility of the German 'folk community'.
This type of movie died with end of the Iran War (1973-81).
In light of the numerous economic issues plaguing the country and a tiring of the constant barrage of war propaganda during the late-70s, German filmgoers moved away from the 'heroics' of their on-screen soldiers, and sought out escapism in the form of comedies, musicals, and light dramas. This exodus away from what had once again become quite real to German civilians (war) only increased after the withdrawal of the German Army from Iran in December 1980, and the collapse of the Shah's fascist regime in October 1981. These events, coupled with the ongoing economic crisis in Europe (which saw unemployment rates in the Reich reached an estimated 20%) only deepened the resentment many Germans held towards the NS regime and its never ending barrage of intellectually lacking and spiritually demoralizing propaganda.
To combat the social crisis and renew 'big' cinema releases (an industry which had been stagnant since 1975), the incoming German Leader Adolf Koch (1940-1991) commissioned in 1982 the largest and most expensive film project seen until this date; a project which would move away from the dramatic fascist retellings of ancient and recent history, and instead posit a different kind of war movie - one which would play into the inbuilt fears of the German population, remind them of their victories (and failures), and perhaps renew a sense of nationalist pride. The project was
Dämmerung (Twilight), a name which immediately recalled the epic musical dramas of
Richard Wagner and conjured images of gods, war, flames and chaos, and the end of things; and all these themes must - by order of the Leader himself - be found in this film.
Alwin Eichinger (1932-2004) on the set of Dämmerung
The director sought to renew German cinema in his own image
Hiring the renowned Alwin Eichinger - famed for his
Östliche Ritter (Eastern Knights, 1966-73) trilogy - to direct,
Dämmerung would depict Germany in the near future, surrounded and weakened by external forces and internal degeneration. This Germany would come under direct invasion by a 'Confederation of People's Republics', and with much of the nation destroyed, its capital burnt to the ground, and its people reduced under the boot of the a fictional UN/USA/USSR stand-in, it would be up to two young German teachers (played by the unknown Lutz Diettrich and Karolina Peltzer) and their students to rally the remaining resistance in Hannover to defeat the invaders.
Dämmerung was to the domestic audience the perfect balance of escapism and acceptable propaganda; it did what no other German release had until 1983 by depicting a fictional war, fought by a Germany which was clearly on the back foot, and revelled in the intrigues and drama of its main cast as they fought valiantly against the multiracial band of invaders. Director Alwin Eichinger, his complete vision hamstrung by government interreference, nevertheless managed to include elements of comedy and commentary (largely directed at the Iran War) which were staples of his earlier works and resonated with an audience that had only recently seen 120,000 of their national comrades die in battle. The hitherto unseen promotion of the everyday characters (in 'lowly' teaching positions) to the prestige of onscreen soldiers only furthering this sense of closeness, as the director insisted on reframing large German film productions around normal, everyday civilians. Further, the frank depictions of war deaths, destruction, and general misery broke away from the 'polish' of the Reich's earlier war films (including
Östliche Ritter), with the near-heretical portrayal of German in ruins only enhancing the filmgoing public's fascination with
Dämmerung.
Karolina Peltzer (b. 1961)
The star of 80s German cinema received her first major role in Dämmerung
To foreign audiences,
Dämmerung was just another in a long line of blatant, mind-numbing German propaganda films.
From the outset, the film - produced by the state-owned UFA and commissioned by the Leader himself - did not shirk away from its soldierly worship or disdain for 'weak, degenerate, and foreign' characters. Whilst Eichinger had sought to tone-down the most overt and familiar displays of nationalism and xenophobia, his 'masterpiece' nevertheless included old tropes found in all the other war films of the 'golden age', including a good selection of 'inspiring monologues' and Jewish villains (who now commanded battalions of multiracial marauders). The fictional flag of the film's clear UN-USA-USSR amalgam featured prominently the world in grasp of a red Star of David, and whilst the politics and history of the 'Confederation of People's Republics' is not discussed at length in the movie (let alone how and why the invasion occurred), the unnamed characters from the CPR had characteristics of both American and Soviet peoples.
Further, what was a clear breath of fresh air for German filmgoers was just a continuation of the Reich's unrefined toxic exhaust for those foreigners who saw
Dämmerung. Germans found nuanced takes and interesting twists on old tropes when the film was released (a leading female military hero, non-soldiers in starring roles, a weakened Germany, etc), whereas non-Europeans largely saw the same-old propaganda carrot. And despite the mix of a flashy budget with a grit-and-grunge hitherto unseen in a UFA production, most have largely waved away Eichinger's most prominent work as just another in the endless catalogue of German war film 'where the valiant Aryan defeated the endless hordes of foreign subhumans'.
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Fictional Flag of the 'Confederation of People's Republics'
Featuring blatant Jewish and United Nations imagery
Ultimately,
Dämmerung would serve the purpose it was made for; it was the highest grossing German film of 1983 (and the third highest of the decade), and saw millions of Germans return to the cinemas to watch what was - to an outsider at least - a transparent piece of National Socialist propaganda. The new methods of filming and integration of special effects (borrowed, some say, from recent American productions) introduced a more modern style of visual storytelling, with the set-piece battle scenes (culminating in the massacre and rescue in Hannover at the climax of the film) reinvigorating the war genre in the Reich, with less scripted, naturalistic dialogue seeing the small-time leads Diettrich and Peltzer going on to become some of Europe's biggest and most well recognized stars by the end of the decade. Whilst now seen as old fashioned and much more overt than modern German films (of the blatant propaganda type), the work of Alwin Eichinger still remains a nostalgic crowd pleaser, especially for those of a more 'National Socialist outlook'.
Outside of Europe, you don't typically hear about
Dämmerung unless you're a part of some film interest group and surf the web in search of fascist propaganda films; however, despite what we largely view as hammy acting and typical German racism can nevertheless be seen through the lens of a historic work of fiction. Following the through-line of extremely hammy and racist German products of the 50s and 60s, to the far-less but still-noticeably hammy and racist productions of today, we find
Dämmerung; a movie which connected these two eras, renewed a near-dead industry and, for its intended audience, made war acceptable again.
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Author of this article: Andrew L. Joyce
Date of this article: January 18, 2014
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