Ich klage an
Ich klage an | |
---|---|
Directed by | Wolfgang Liebeneiner |
Produced by | Heinrich Jonen |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Friedl Behn-Grund |
Edited by | Walter von Bonhorst |
Music by | Norbert Schultze |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 125 min |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Language | German |
Ich klage an ([ˈʔɪç ˈklaːɡə ʔan]; English: I Accuse) is a 1941 Nazi German pro-euthanasia propaganda film directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner[1] and produced by Heinrich Jonen and Ewald von Demandowsky.
It was banned by Allied powers after the war.[2]
Plot[edit]
Hanna, a beautiful and talented young pianist, is diagnosed with late stage multiple sclerosis. Unable to pursue her career as a concert pianist, losing all her motor functions, and in constant agonizing pain, she begs her doctors to end her suffering permanently.[3] Hanna's husband Thomas, a successful doctor himself, reluctantly gives her a fatal overdose of barbiturates and is charged with murder. During an extended trial scene, arguments are put forth for and against euthanasia, heavily implying that prolonging a terminally ill patient's life is sometimes contrary to nature, and that death is a patient's right as well as a doctor's moral duty.[4] The closing scene, Thomas lashes out at the judge and prosecutor, telling them they have no right to condemn him when they weren't the ones forced to helplessly watch a loved one suffer in pain. He accuses the lawmakers of cruelty for failing to prevent patients' suffering through necessary euthanasia.[5]
Cast[edit]
- Paul Hartmann as Professor Thomas Heyt
- Heidemarie Hatheyer as Hanna Heyt
- Mathias Wieman as Bernhard Lang
- Margarete Haagen as Berta Link
- Charlotte Thiele as Barbara Burckhardt
- Christian Kayßler as Judge Kriebelmeyer
- Harald Paulsen as Eduard Stretter
- Albert Florath as Prof. Schlüter
- Ilse Fürstenberg as Marie Günther
- Karin Evans as Erna Balg
- Hans Nielsen as Dr. Höfer
- Franz Schafheitlin as Straten
- Erich Ponto as Prof. Werther
- Otto Graf as Prosecutor Engel
- Leopold von Ledebur as Magistrate Knevels
- Hansi Arnstaedt as Mrs Klapper
- Just Scheu as Doctor Scheu
- Paul Rehkopf as Court Officer
- Karl Haubenreißer as Schönbrunn
Propaganda elements[edit]
This film was commissioned by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels at the suggestion of Dr. Karl Brandt, to make the public more supportive of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program.[6] Key scenes from the film were personally inserted by Victor Brack, one of the prominent organisers of the program and later a convicted war criminal. The actual victims of T4 were in fact killed without their consent, or that of their families.[7] Indeed, one cinema goer is alleged to have compared the film to the program and naively asked how abuses could be prevented from creeping into it.[8]
The SS reported that the churches were uniformly negative about the movie, with Catholics expressing it more strongly but Protestants being equally negative.[9] Opinions in medical circles were positive, though there were doubts, especially though not exclusively in cases where patients thought to be incurable had recovered.[10] Legal professions were anxious that it be placed on a legal footing, and in the few polls that were commissioned, the general population were said to be supportive.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ "The New York Times: Ich Klage An (1941)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ^ Romani, p. 108.
- ^ Leiser, p. 70.
- ^ Leiser, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Hertzstein, p. 308.
- ^ Ayçoberry, p. 11.
- ^ Leiser, p. 69.
- ^ Grunberger, p. 385.
- ^ Leiser, pp. 146–147.
- ^ Leiser, p. 147.
- ^ Leiser, p. 148.
Bibliography[edit]
- Ayçoberry, Pierre (1981). The Nazi Question: An Essay on the Interpretations of National Socialism (1922–1975). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-74841-2.
- Grunberger, Richard (1971). The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany, 1933–1945. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-076435-6.
- Hertzstein, Robert Edwin (1978). The War That Hitler Won. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-11845-6.
- Leiser, Erwin (1975). Nazi Cinema. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-570230-1.
- Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
External links[edit]
- 1941 films
- Aktion T4
- Nazi propaganda films
- Films of Nazi Germany
- Films about euthanasia
- 1940s German-language films
- Censored films
- German black-and-white films
- German drama films
- 1941 drama films
- Films about multiple sclerosis
- German courtroom films
- 1940s German films
- Films scored by Norbert Schultze
- 1940s German film stubs