Der Augenzeuge (The Eyewitness) was the newsreel in the Soviet Occupation Zone and in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and was produced by the state film company DEFA.
All issues of Der Augenzeuge are made accessible and licensable as part of DEFA's entire film heritage via the PROGRESS archive platform.
[1] Newsreels had been released in Germany since 1914 and were regularly shown in cinemas before the main films.
After World War II, the National Socialist newsreel Die Deutsche Wochenschau produced by UFA was cancelled by the Grand Alliance and replaced by new newsreels in the three German occupation zones.
After the East German uprising of 1953, the editorial paternalism was reduced and Der Augenzeuge became more cosmopolitan again.