Hollywood mit Hitler / Hollywood with Hitler

Hollywood is not widely thought of as providing much support to Hitler's regime, instead producing a wealth of anti-Nazi films during the Second World War, ranging from Casablanca to The Great Dictator.

But now a young historian says that in the years before the war, Tinseltown was marching to a very different tune. Ben Urwand, 35 has written a book, The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler, in which he cites documents that prove, he says, US studios acquiesced to Nazi censorship of their films actively cooperated with the regime's world propaganda effort.

“Hollywood is not just collaborating with Nazi Germany,” Urwand told the New York Times. “It’s also collaborating with Adolf Hitler, the person and human being.”

Urwand, reportedly a folk musician from Australia who has become a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard, said his interest was first aroused as a student in California when he read an interview with the screenwriter Budd Schulberg referring to meetings between the MGM boss Louis Mayer and a representative of the Nazi regime to discuss cuts to his studio's films.

The book describes many Jewish studio bosses not only censoring films to suit the regime, but also producing material that could be inserted into German propaganda films and even financing German weapons manufacturing. The collaboration of Hollywood with the regime began in 1930, says Urwand, when Carl Laemmle Jr of Universal Studios agreed major cuts to the First World War film All Quiet On The Western Front after riots in Germany instigated by the Nazi party.

“I would say there were a few shocking moments, probably starting with the document I discovered in the National Archives in Washington which explained how MGM was insulating its profits,” Urwand told the Times of London.

“There was a law in Germany that foreign businesses couldn't export currency. They made an exception for MGM because they were financing the production of German armaments.”

After Hitler came to power, the book details regular studio visits by representatives of the regime, including Georg Gyssling, the special consul assigned to monitor Hollywood, who watched films and dictated scene-by-scene requests for cuts. In June 1939 MGM gave 10 Nazi newspaper editors a tour of its studio in Los Angeles, and during the 1930s hardly any Jewish characters appeared in Hollywood films.

Despite some raised eyebrows from other academics over the book's title, Urwand is unequivocal about it:

“Collaboration is what the studios were doing, and how they describe it.”>


June 28, 2013: Hollywood collaborating with Hitler's regime for cuts and film productions financing Hitler's weapon industry Book: Ben Urwand: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler			28.6.2013: Hollywood kollaborierte mit dem Hitler-Regime und schnitt die Filme nach deren Anweisungen - und finanzierte Hitlers Waffenindustrie Buch: Ben Urwand: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler

from / aus: The Independent: Hollywood helped Adolf Hitler with Nazi propaganda drive, academic claims; Übersetzung von Michael Palomino; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hollywood-helped-adolf-hitler-with-nazi-propaganda-drive-academic-claims-8679322.html
<Historian Ben Urwand says he has cache of documents that prove Tinseltown enthusiastically cooperated with Nazis' global propaganda effort. Hollywood is not widely thought of as providing much support to Hitler's regime, instead producing a wealth of anti-Nazi films during the Second World War, ranging from Casablanca to The Great Dictator. But now a young historian says that in the years before the war, Tinseltown was marching to a very different tune. Ben Urwand, 35 has written a book, The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler, in which he cites documents that prove, he says, US studios acquiesced to Nazi censorship of their films actively cooperated with the regime's world propaganda effort. “Hollywood is not just collaborating with Nazi Germany,” Urwand told the New York Times. “It’s also collaborating with Adolf Hitler, the person and human being.” Urwand, reportedly a folk musician from Australia who has become a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard, said his interest was first aroused as a student in California when he read an interview with the screenwriter Budd Schulberg referring to meetings between the MGM boss Louis Mayer and a representative of the Nazi regime to discuss cuts to his studio's films. The book describes many Jewish studio bosses not only censoring films to suit the regime, but also producing material that could be inserted into German propaganda films and even financing German weapons manufacturing. The collaboration of Hollywood with the regime began in 1930, says Urwand, when Carl Laemmle Jr of Universal Studios agreed major cuts to the First World War film All Quiet On The Western Front after riots in Germany instigated by the Nazi party. “I would say there were a few shocking moments, probably starting with the document I discovered in the National Archives in Washington which explained how MGM was insulating its profits,” Urwand told the Times of London. “There was a law in Germany that foreign businesses couldn't export currency. They made an exception for MGM because they were financing the production of German armaments.” After Hitler came to power, the book details regular studio visits by representatives of the regime, including Georg Gyssling, the special consul assigned to monitor Hollywood, who watched films and dictated scene-by-scene requests for cuts. In June 1939 MGM gave 10 Nazi newspaper editors a tour of its studio in Los Angeles, and during the 1930s hardly any Jewish characters appeared in Hollywood films. Despite some raised eyebrows from other academics over the book's title, Urwand is unequivocal about it: “Collaboration is what the studios were doing, and how they describe it.”>			<Historiker Ben Urwand meint, er habe ein ganzes Lager voller Dokumente mit dem Beweis, dass Tinseltown mit dem weltweiten Propagandaerfolg enthusiastisch zusammengearbeitet hat. Hollywood wird bis heute nicht so eingeschätzt, dass sie das Hitler-Regime unterstützt hätten, sondern die Standard-Meinung ist, dass sie während des Zweiten Weltkriegs nur Anti-Nazi-Filme gedreht hätten, von Casablanca bis zum Grossen Diktator. Aber nun hat ein junger Historiker herausgefunden, dass in den Jahren vor dem Krieg Tinseltown eine ganz andere Leitlinie hatte. Ben Urwand, 35 Jahre alt, hat ein Buch geschrieben: Die Kollaboration: Hollywoods Pakt mit Hitler. Darin werden Dokumente gezeigt die beweisen, dass die US-Studios die Nazi-Zensur hingenommen ihrer Filme haben und mit dem weltweiten Propagandaerfolg zusammengearbeitet haben. "Hollywood hat nicht nur mit Nazi-Deutschland kollaboriert", sagte Urwand in der New York Times. "Sie haben auch mit Adolf Hitler selbst zusammengearbeitet." Urwand ist gemäss offiziellen Angaben ein Volksmusiker aus Australien, der sich bis zur Gesellschaft der Harvard-Jünger hochgearbeitet hat. Er sagte, sein Interesse war erweckt, als er in Kalifornien Student war. Er las da ein Interview mit dem Drehbuchautor Budd Schulberg in Bezug auf Treffen zwischen dem MGM-Boss Louis Mayer and einem Vertreter des Nazi-Regimes, wo es um Schnitte in seinem Studiofilm ging. Das Buch beschreibt viele jüdische Studioleiter, die da nicht nur Filme zensieren, um dem Regime zu entsprechen, sondern sie produzieren auch Matrial, das in deutsche Propagandafilme integriert werden kann und sogar die deutsche Waffenfabrikation finanziert. Die Kollaboration von Hollywood mit dem Regime begann im Jahre 1930, sagte Urwand, als Carl Laemmle Junior von den Universal Studios grösseren Schnitten im Film über den Ersten Weltkrieg "Im Westen nichts Neues" zustimmte, nachdem es in Deutschland durch die Nazi-Partei zu Ausschreitungen gekommen war. "Ich würde sagen, dass da ein paar schockierende Momente waren. Wahrscheinlich begann es mit dem Dokument, das ich da im Nationalarchiv in Washington entdeckt habe, das erklärte, wie MGM seine Profite geschützt hat", sagte Urwand der Times in London. "In Deutschland gab es ein Gesetz, dass ausländische Geschäftsleute Desiven exportieren durften. Sie machen für MGM eine Ausnahme, weil sie die Produktion der deutschen Rüstung finanzierten." Für die Zeit nach Hitlers Machtübernahme schildert das Buch regelmässige Besuche von Vertretern des Nazi-Regimes, darunter auch Georg Gyssling, der Ausserordentliche Konsul, der für Holliwood abgtestellt worden war, der Filme begutachtete und Szene für Szene auf Zensur überprüfte und Anweisungen für die SChnitte gab. Im Juni 1939 machte MGM mit 10 Vertretern von Nazi-Zeitungen eine Besichtigungstour der Studios in Los Angeles, und während der 1930er Jahre kam fast jeder jüdische Charakter in Hollywood-Filmen vor. Trotz einiger erhobener Augenbrauen anderer Akademiker über den Buchtitel bleibt Urwand unmissverständlich dabei: "Kollaboration ist etwas, was die Studios getan haben, und wie sie es auch beschreiben.">