This video explores why German national identity remains so fragile and why this issue can no longer be ignored.
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Why Germany Struggles with National Identity
Mar 22, 2026 | Nationalism in Germany carries a weight it doesn’t in many other countries.
This video explores why German national identity remains so fragile and why this issue can no longer be ignored.
This video explores why German national identity remains so fragile and why this issue can no longer be ignored.
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Live: Germany Refuses to Join Iran War – Merz Explains Why in Address to Parliament | DW News
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Berlin, 1933: Hitler’s Rise Through the Eyes of Diplomats I Pure WW2
Mar 10, 2026 | On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Within weeks, the Nazi regime began transforming the state from within. While the world watched with curiosity and uncertainty, foreign diplomats stationed in Berlin witnessed the rise of National Socialism first-hand.
Through private reports, personal notebooks and confidential communications, these diplomats tried to understand the rapidly changing political landscape. They observed how the Nazis seized control of institutions while carefully navigating elite social circles that still included aristocrats and influential figures. High-society receptions became strange stages where Nazi leaders such as Hermann Göring, Rudolf Diels and Ernst Hanfstaengel mingled with diplomats and journalists.
Behind the elegance of Berlin’s salons, however, the signs of persecution and dictatorship were already emerging.
Title: Ambassadors in Berlin
Direction: Pierre-Olivier François
Production: APC & BluePrint Gmbh for France Télévisions (2020)
WIKIPEDIA: Vossische Zeitung »
Through private reports, personal notebooks and confidential communications, these diplomats tried to understand the rapidly changing political landscape. They observed how the Nazis seized control of institutions while carefully navigating elite social circles that still included aristocrats and influential figures. High-society receptions became strange stages where Nazi leaders such as Hermann Göring, Rudolf Diels and Ernst Hanfstaengel mingled with diplomats and journalists.
Behind the elegance of Berlin’s salons, however, the signs of persecution and dictatorship were already emerging.
Title: Ambassadors in Berlin
Direction: Pierre-Olivier François
Production: APC & BluePrint Gmbh for France Télévisions (2020)
WIKIPEDIA: Vossische Zeitung »
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Why Germany Runs on Systems & Britain Runs on Stories
Feb 22, 2026 | Germany is a country shaped by systems: rules, procedures, institutions, and structures designed to hold society together.
Britain, by contrast, runs on stories: tradition, class, symbolism, and narrative continuity, geography played a defining role in how these societies organised themselves by setting the constraints.
This video explores how those foundations shape everything from work and politics to identity and belonging, and why misunderstanding this difference leads to so much confusion about Europe today.
Britain, by contrast, runs on stories: tradition, class, symbolism, and narrative continuity, geography played a defining role in how these societies organised themselves by setting the constraints.
This video explores how those foundations shape everything from work and politics to identity and belonging, and why misunderstanding this difference leads to so much confusion about Europe today.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Germany’s Leader Delivers a Blunt Warning to China on Trade
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Chancellor Friedrich Merz laid out his complaints in a frank message to his hosts on a trip to Beijing that China had designed to showcase their relationship.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany arrived in China on Wednesday with an outstretched hand and a list of complaints for his hosts, asking for closer diplomatic ties but also relief from economic policies that he said were impeding “fair competition.”
Mr. Merz, who took pains before the trip to say he would not be “lecturing” Beijing, laid out his critiques in a speech at a meeting of the Advisory Council of German-Chinese Business, to an audience that included Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest ranking official.
The chancellor was more blunt and more specific in his criticism than other western leaders, including the prime ministers of Britain and Canada, who have recently trekked to Beijing to reset relations with China amid the turmoil caused by President Trump.
Mr. Merz called on China to reduce subsidies for its domestic manufacturers, to allow the value of its currency, the renminbi, to strengthen, and to ensure continued exports of raw materials, such as critical minerals — all of which would benefit German industry. Doing so, he said, would allow Germany and China to forge a tighter bond.
“In view of the uncertainties caused by customs policy that we see around the world,” Mr. Merz said, addressing Mr. Li directly, “we can now set a different example in our bilateral relations, through the reliability and security of the economic relations between our two countries.” » | David Pierson and Jim Tankersley | David Pierson reported from Hong Kong, and Jim Tankersley from Berlin. | Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany arrived in China on Wednesday with an outstretched hand and a list of complaints for his hosts, asking for closer diplomatic ties but also relief from economic policies that he said were impeding “fair competition.”
Mr. Merz, who took pains before the trip to say he would not be “lecturing” Beijing, laid out his critiques in a speech at a meeting of the Advisory Council of German-Chinese Business, to an audience that included Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest ranking official.
The chancellor was more blunt and more specific in his criticism than other western leaders, including the prime ministers of Britain and Canada, who have recently trekked to Beijing to reset relations with China amid the turmoil caused by President Trump.
Mr. Merz called on China to reduce subsidies for its domestic manufacturers, to allow the value of its currency, the renminbi, to strengthen, and to ensure continued exports of raw materials, such as critical minerals — all of which would benefit German industry. Doing so, he said, would allow Germany and China to forge a tighter bond.
“In view of the uncertainties caused by customs policy that we see around the world,” Mr. Merz said, addressing Mr. Li directly, “we can now set a different example in our bilateral relations, through the reliability and security of the economic relations between our two countries.” » | David Pierson and Jim Tankersley | David Pierson reported from Hong Kong, and Jim Tankersley from Berlin. | Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Monday, February 16, 2026
'Can't Go Alone': Germany Defence Minister Fires Back At Rubio, Shows Mirror to Trump over Greenland
Sunday, February 01, 2026
Germany 1933: The Rise of Hitler and the Persecution of the Jewish People | SLICE | Full Documentary
Feb 5, 2025 | Germany, 1933. Adolf Hitler, at the head of the Nazi Party, has just become Chancellor and is faced with leading a republic in the throes of economic crisis and rampant inflation. He used the cult of personality nurtured by his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, who spread the Nazi’s xenophobic and anti-Semitic ideology which Hitler had been touting since the First World War and which he reiterated in Mein Kampf: the Jews, he claimed, were part of an international conspiracy against Germany.
He would use the power of the German state, which had become the Third Reich in 1934, to progressively exclude the 600,000 German citizens of Jewish origin from society, first by forcing them to emigrate, then annihilating them.
Physical violence against Jews became widespread from the summer of 1935, the growing number of exactions leaving German society largely indifferent. Meanwhile, in the interior ministry, Nazis lawyers defined what it meant to be Jewish, thereby identifying who should be excluded. The Nuremberg laws of September 1935 notably withdrew German nationality from the country’s Jews.
On 12 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria without encountering any opposition, and without the slightest reaction on the part of Western democracies. Eichmann set up a central bureau to force Austria’s 100,000 Jews to emigrate, leaving behind all their possessions which were seized by the Reich.
But Western democracies were not prepared to welcome the refugees, and the Evian conference, initiated in July 1938 by US president Franklin Roosevelt, was doomed to failure. As a neutral country bordering Germany, Switzerland called for the passports of Jews fleeing the Reich to be stamped with a “J”, so it could refuse them entry for fear of them wishing to stay in the country.
Documentary: Annihilation EP1 : The End of Illusions (2016)
Director: William Karel & Blanche Finger
Production: ZADIG PRODUCTIONS
He would use the power of the German state, which had become the Third Reich in 1934, to progressively exclude the 600,000 German citizens of Jewish origin from society, first by forcing them to emigrate, then annihilating them.
Physical violence against Jews became widespread from the summer of 1935, the growing number of exactions leaving German society largely indifferent. Meanwhile, in the interior ministry, Nazis lawyers defined what it meant to be Jewish, thereby identifying who should be excluded. The Nuremberg laws of September 1935 notably withdrew German nationality from the country’s Jews.
On 12 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria without encountering any opposition, and without the slightest reaction on the part of Western democracies. Eichmann set up a central bureau to force Austria’s 100,000 Jews to emigrate, leaving behind all their possessions which were seized by the Reich.
But Western democracies were not prepared to welcome the refugees, and the Evian conference, initiated in July 1938 by US president Franklin Roosevelt, was doomed to failure. As a neutral country bordering Germany, Switzerland called for the passports of Jews fleeing the Reich to be stamped with a “J”, so it could refuse them entry for fear of them wishing to stay in the country.
Documentary: Annihilation EP1 : The End of Illusions (2016)
Director: William Karel & Blanche Finger
Production: ZADIG PRODUCTIONS
Friday, January 30, 2026
Auschwitz: Lessons for Today's US America + Germany | Berlin Briefing Podcast
Related video here.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
American Jews Reclaim German Citizenship | DW News
Jan 29, 2026 | Once unthinkable: At 103, Holocaust survivor Ruth Gruenthal has reclaimed the German citizenship the Nazi regime stripped from her because she was Jewish. After surviving Nazi persecution and rebuilding her life in the U.S., Ruth became a psychotherapist and raised a family spanning four generations — many of whom have now also reclaimed German citizenship.
Born in Hamburg in 1922, imprisoned in France, and forced to flee Nazi persecution as a teenager, Ruth rebuilt her life in the United States, where she lived for decades. But recent political developments, rising antisemitism, and fears of growing authoritarianism in the U.S. have shaken her sense of security.
Ruth is not alone. An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship — not necessarily to leave, but to have a safeguard: the option to move to Germany should conditions in the United States deteriorate further.
Germany allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to reclaim citizenship that was deliberately taken from them. In New York alone, applications have more than doubled in recent years.
Born in Hamburg in 1922, imprisoned in France, and forced to flee Nazi persecution as a teenager, Ruth rebuilt her life in the United States, where she lived for decades. But recent political developments, rising antisemitism, and fears of growing authoritarianism in the U.S. have shaken her sense of security.
Ruth is not alone. An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship — not necessarily to leave, but to have a safeguard: the option to move to Germany should conditions in the United States deteriorate further.
Germany allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to reclaim citizenship that was deliberately taken from them. In New York alone, applications have more than doubled in recent years.
Horrific Human Experiments of the Holocaust
It’s only a small step from MaGGA (Make Germany Great Again) to MAGA (Make America Great Again). And Hiter’s calls to make Germans a “pure race” again immediately remind one of Trump’s multiple utterances about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of America, for by implication, if Americans’ blood has been poisoned, it is no longer pure. What went on in Hitler’s Germany is so reminiscent of what is going on in Trump’s America. It truly is alarming. — © Mark Alexander
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
The Brutal Fate of Homosexuals during Nazi Germany
Aug 17, 2024 | WARNING: This documentary is under an educational and historical context, We do NOT tolerate or promote hatred towards any group of people, we do NOT promote violence. We condemn these events so that they do not happen again. NEVER AGAIN. All photos have been censored according to YouTube's advertiser policies.
Explore the harrowing history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany in this eye-opening video, detailing the persecution, resilience, and untold stories of LGBTQ+ individuals under the Third Reich. Beginning in 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, the Nazi regime intensified its efforts to eradicate homosexuality, which they deemed incompatible with their vision of a racially pure and morally strict society. This dark chapter in history saw the enforcement of Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexual acts, which led to the arrest and conviction of approximately 100,000 men. The video delves into the infamous raids of gay clubs and bars in Berlin, once a haven for LGBTQ+ individuals during the liberal Weimar Republic. Names like Magnus Hirschfeld, a pioneering sexologist and gay rights advocate, emerge as tragic figures whose work was destroyed in the notorious book burnings of 1933. Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was ransacked, and his extensive research on sexuality was lost forever.
Viewers will learn about the brutal conditions in concentration camps like Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald, where an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned. The pink triangle, a symbol of shame and stigma, was forcibly worn by these men, marking them for severe mistreatment, forced labor, and often, death. Heart-wrenching personal accounts, like that of Pierre Seel, a Frenchman deported to Schirmeck-Vorbruck concentration camp, highlight the human cost of this persecution. Seel's later memoirs provide a rare, firsthand account of the horrors faced by gay men during this period.
The video also touches on the post-war period, revealing how the suffering of homosexuals was largely ignored or forgotten. Unlike other victims of the Holocaust, gay men were not immediately liberated but often re-imprisoned under the same Paragraph 175. It wasn't until 1969 that homosexuality was decriminalized in East Germany, and 1994 in reunified Germany.
This video is a crucial reminder of the resilience and courage of those who suffered under Nazi tyranny. It underscores the importance of remembering and honouring their stories to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. Join us as we uncover the forgotten history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany, shedding light on a dark past to educate and inspire future generations.
Explore the harrowing history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany in this eye-opening video, detailing the persecution, resilience, and untold stories of LGBTQ+ individuals under the Third Reich. Beginning in 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, the Nazi regime intensified its efforts to eradicate homosexuality, which they deemed incompatible with their vision of a racially pure and morally strict society. This dark chapter in history saw the enforcement of Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexual acts, which led to the arrest and conviction of approximately 100,000 men. The video delves into the infamous raids of gay clubs and bars in Berlin, once a haven for LGBTQ+ individuals during the liberal Weimar Republic. Names like Magnus Hirschfeld, a pioneering sexologist and gay rights advocate, emerge as tragic figures whose work was destroyed in the notorious book burnings of 1933. Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was ransacked, and his extensive research on sexuality was lost forever.
Viewers will learn about the brutal conditions in concentration camps like Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald, where an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned. The pink triangle, a symbol of shame and stigma, was forcibly worn by these men, marking them for severe mistreatment, forced labor, and often, death. Heart-wrenching personal accounts, like that of Pierre Seel, a Frenchman deported to Schirmeck-Vorbruck concentration camp, highlight the human cost of this persecution. Seel's later memoirs provide a rare, firsthand account of the horrors faced by gay men during this period.
The video also touches on the post-war period, revealing how the suffering of homosexuals was largely ignored or forgotten. Unlike other victims of the Holocaust, gay men were not immediately liberated but often re-imprisoned under the same Paragraph 175. It wasn't until 1969 that homosexuality was decriminalized in East Germany, and 1994 in reunified Germany.
This video is a crucial reminder of the resilience and courage of those who suffered under Nazi tyranny. It underscores the importance of remembering and honouring their stories to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. Join us as we uncover the forgotten history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany, shedding light on a dark past to educate and inspire future generations.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
How Hitler Built a War Economy on Debt and Plunder | SLICE | Full Documentary
Jan 23, 2026 | As soon as he came to power in 1933, Hitler wanted to go to war. Warfare was central to Nazi ideology; the strong had to crush the weak. To go to war, he needed weapons and an army, but Germany had neither. A far cry from the fake images of prosperity, years of adversity had worn the country down. It was a medium-size power like Iran or South Africa today.
The Nazis launched themselves into an extraordinary operation of financial manipulation and managed to revive the economy by producing enormous quantities of weapons. That was the Nazi economic miracle of the 1935-1936 period: an overheated economy that needed a war to continue its mad race. In 1939, Hitler embarked on a war financed on credit, enormous credit using spoliation and upcoming appropriation as collateral.
Documentary: Blood Money Inside the Nazi Economy
EP1 : A World War on Credit
Directed by Gil Rabier
Production: GoGoGo Films (2021)
WIKIPEDIA: Hjalmar Schacht’s Mefo bills »
The Nazis launched themselves into an extraordinary operation of financial manipulation and managed to revive the economy by producing enormous quantities of weapons. That was the Nazi economic miracle of the 1935-1936 period: an overheated economy that needed a war to continue its mad race. In 1939, Hitler embarked on a war financed on credit, enormous credit using spoliation and upcoming appropriation as collateral.
Documentary: Blood Money Inside the Nazi Economy
EP1 : A World War on Credit
Directed by Gil Rabier
Production: GoGoGo Films (2021)
WIKIPEDIA: Hjalmar Schacht’s Mefo bills »
Inside the Gestapo: Fear, Power and the Nazi State I SLICE History | Full Documentary
Jan 18, 2026 | Behind the name synonymous with sinister memories are notably Göring, the founder, Himmler, the Head of all the Nazi Polices, and above all Heydrich, who has shaped so efficiently the Gestapo until his death. He and his faithful Müller were at the helm of the polymorphic institution that comprised dozens of thousands of agents.
How did Hitler’s small militia become such a relentless and efficient state apparatus in just a few years? How did it manage to create a climate of fear and doubt by adapting to the various times and countries? Why was the Gestapo put in charge of the Final Solution and death camps, becoming the ultimate extermination tool?
From the modest beginning of the militia to the flight of its members, you’re about to relive the story of this chilling institution, the cruel know-how of which scarred all of Europe while inspiring ominous imitations in several other dictatorships.
Based on impressive archival work, interviews with the best experts, and reenacted scenes in order to immerse the viewer in the feverish atmosphere of this dark period, this documentary will reveal the secrets behind the organization and its reign of terror.
Documentary: Gestapo: Hitler’s Secret Police
Directed by Nicolas Bozino
Production: RMC Production (2021)
How did Hitler’s small militia become such a relentless and efficient state apparatus in just a few years? How did it manage to create a climate of fear and doubt by adapting to the various times and countries? Why was the Gestapo put in charge of the Final Solution and death camps, becoming the ultimate extermination tool?
From the modest beginning of the militia to the flight of its members, you’re about to relive the story of this chilling institution, the cruel know-how of which scarred all of Europe while inspiring ominous imitations in several other dictatorships.
Based on impressive archival work, interviews with the best experts, and reenacted scenes in order to immerse the viewer in the feverish atmosphere of this dark period, this documentary will reveal the secrets behind the organization and its reign of terror.
Documentary: Gestapo: Hitler’s Secret Police
Directed by Nicolas Bozino
Production: RMC Production (2021)
Saturday, January 24, 2026
‘Repatriate the Gold’: German Economists Advise Withdrawal from US Vaults
THE GUARDIAN: Shift in relations and unpredictability of Donald Trump make it ‘risky to store so much gold in the US’, say experts
Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.
Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York.
Emanuel Mönch, a leading economist and former head of research at Germany’s federal bank, the Bundesbank, called for the gold to be brought home, saying it was too “risky” for it to be kept in the US under the current administration. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Saturday, January 24, 2026
HANDELSBLATT: Druckmittel für Trump? Bundesbank gerät in Zwickmühle: Wie sicher ist das Bundesbank-Gold in New York? Die Bundesbank schließt einen Abzug aus. Doch aus dem Umfeld der Notenbank und dem Bundestag kommen Forderungen, diese Haltung zu überdenken. »
Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.
Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York.
Emanuel Mönch, a leading economist and former head of research at Germany’s federal bank, the Bundesbank, called for the gold to be brought home, saying it was too “risky” for it to be kept in the US under the current administration. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Saturday, January 24, 2026
HANDELSBLATT: Druckmittel für Trump? Bundesbank gerät in Zwickmühle: Wie sicher ist das Bundesbank-Gold in New York? Die Bundesbank schließt einen Abzug aus. Doch aus dem Umfeld der Notenbank und dem Bundestag kommen Forderungen, diese Haltung zu überdenken. »
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
What’s Driving Europe’s Military Build-up in Greenland? | DW News
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
The Nazi Persecution of Gay People | Reupload
What's behind Germany's Strategic Pivot toward the Global South? | DW News
Monday, January 12, 2026
Scenes from Different from the Others / Anders als die Andern (1919)
1 Jun 2019 | Excerpts from Different From the Others (Anders als die Andern) (Germany, 1919), which was preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. Funding provided by The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation and the members of Outfest.
Synopsis
The concert violinist Paul Koerner takes a student under his wing, much to the worry of the boy’s parents. Koerner is meanwhile being blackmailed by a former lover, since in Germany any homosexual relations at that time were punishable under the law, codified in Article 175, which was not removed from the books until the 1960s. The German film, Different From the Others is, as far as we know, the first fiction feature film to address a specifically gay audience. Fortunately, even though more than 90% of all German silent films have disappeared, this film exists today in at least half its original length. When the film was first shown in 1919, gay and lesbian audiences must have been amazed that a mainstream fiction feature film would portray their situation as a fact of nature, rather than a perversion. Today, this film celebrates the brief opening of that door, before it slammed shut for another 50 years.
The film was produced and directed by Richard Oswald, at that time one of Germany’s most prolific independents, who made films cheaply and premiered them in a Berlin cinema he owned, where his wife would often handle the office box. Oswald had earned a fortune in 1917/18 with a number of “educational” feature films about sexually transmitted diseases, which were approved by the censorship authorities, simply because syphilis was rampant in the trenches. Oswald would continue to produce controversial films, like his acknowledged masterpiece, The Captain from Koepenick (1931) based on Carl Zuckmayer’s anti-authoritarian play. The Nazis never forgave Oswald for Anders als die Andern or Koepenick, forcing Oswald into exile and eventually to Hollywood, where he directed several films and television shows. Although long underappreciated in Germany, recent critical reappraisals have valued his in-your-face aesthetic and modern subject matter.
Only a severely truncated version of the film has survived, with Ukrainian titles, as Gosfilmofond in Russia. It was restored previously to a semblance of the original 1919 release by the Munich Film Museum. The UCLA restoration is based on that Munich reconstruction, with some changes and additions made.
Credits
Richard-Oswald-Produktion. Screenwriters: Magnus Hirschfeld and Richard Oswald. Cinematographer: Max Fassbender. With: Conrad Veidt, Leo Connard, Ilse von Tasso-Lind, Alexandra Willegh, Ernst Pittschau, Fritz Schulz.
WIKIPEDIA: Magnus Hirschfeld »
Synopsis
The concert violinist Paul Koerner takes a student under his wing, much to the worry of the boy’s parents. Koerner is meanwhile being blackmailed by a former lover, since in Germany any homosexual relations at that time were punishable under the law, codified in Article 175, which was not removed from the books until the 1960s. The German film, Different From the Others is, as far as we know, the first fiction feature film to address a specifically gay audience. Fortunately, even though more than 90% of all German silent films have disappeared, this film exists today in at least half its original length. When the film was first shown in 1919, gay and lesbian audiences must have been amazed that a mainstream fiction feature film would portray their situation as a fact of nature, rather than a perversion. Today, this film celebrates the brief opening of that door, before it slammed shut for another 50 years.
The film was produced and directed by Richard Oswald, at that time one of Germany’s most prolific independents, who made films cheaply and premiered them in a Berlin cinema he owned, where his wife would often handle the office box. Oswald had earned a fortune in 1917/18 with a number of “educational” feature films about sexually transmitted diseases, which were approved by the censorship authorities, simply because syphilis was rampant in the trenches. Oswald would continue to produce controversial films, like his acknowledged masterpiece, The Captain from Koepenick (1931) based on Carl Zuckmayer’s anti-authoritarian play. The Nazis never forgave Oswald for Anders als die Andern or Koepenick, forcing Oswald into exile and eventually to Hollywood, where he directed several films and television shows. Although long underappreciated in Germany, recent critical reappraisals have valued his in-your-face aesthetic and modern subject matter.
Only a severely truncated version of the film has survived, with Ukrainian titles, as Gosfilmofond in Russia. It was restored previously to a semblance of the original 1919 release by the Munich Film Museum. The UCLA restoration is based on that Munich reconstruction, with some changes and additions made.
Credits
Richard-Oswald-Produktion. Screenwriters: Magnus Hirschfeld and Richard Oswald. Cinematographer: Max Fassbender. With: Conrad Veidt, Leo Connard, Ilse von Tasso-Lind, Alexandra Willegh, Ernst Pittschau, Fritz Schulz.
WIKIPEDIA: Magnus Hirschfeld »
Sunday, January 11, 2026
The Ordinary People Who Hid Their Jewish Neighbours from the Nazis
The Secret Lives of Gay Officers in WW2 Germany
24 Nov 2025 | During WW2 in Nazi Germany, gay officers and soldiers lived under constant fear, secrecy, and persecution. Their stories were hidden for decades, erased from official records, and silenced by a regime that criminalized their very existence. This video explores the reality they faced — from strict military laws to the brutal punishment under Paragraph 175, which targeted gay men across the country.
Many of these officers served bravely while hiding a part of themselves that could lead to imprisonment or worse. Their lives were marked by coded communication, secret relationships, and the ever-present danger of being exposed. After the war, survivors continued to face discrimination, and only much later did the world begin to recognize their suffering.
One of the strongest symbols tied to this history is the pink triangle, originally used by the Nazis to mark gay prisoners in concentration camps. Today, it stands as a powerful emblem of remembrance, resilience, and LGBTQ+ rights.
This video aims to educate, honour, and bring visibility to the lives that were hidden for so long.
Many of these officers served bravely while hiding a part of themselves that could lead to imprisonment or worse. Their lives were marked by coded communication, secret relationships, and the ever-present danger of being exposed. After the war, survivors continued to face discrimination, and only much later did the world begin to recognize their suffering.
One of the strongest symbols tied to this history is the pink triangle, originally used by the Nazis to mark gay prisoners in concentration camps. Today, it stands as a powerful emblem of remembrance, resilience, and LGBTQ+ rights.
This video aims to educate, honour, and bring visibility to the lives that were hidden for so long.
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