HIST 342: Cinema in Hitler's Germany: Movies, Propaganda, Politics in Weimar & Nazi Germany 1919-1945

This course explores the history of German cinema between 1919 and 1945. The first half of the course will focus on the films of the Weimar Republic - a time of bold artistic experimentation when Germany's film industry was second only to Hollywood in worldwide influence. The second half of the semester will be devoted to the cinema produced in Germany during the Nazi dictatorship, when movies were no longer simply entertainment, but also served as an important form of propaganda. The films of both of these periods will be analyzed as historical sources that illuminate the society that produced them.