Deutsche Zeichentrickfilme GmbH
[1] It was set up as an alternative to Disney, attempting to rival films such as Mickey Mouse, while spreading the Nazi ideology and propaganda through a less aggressive entertainment source.
Goebbels believed, unlike Hitler, that art and propaganda should intermingle; leading to the creation of the Deutsche Zeichentrickfilme GmbH, with the hope that entertainment could be used to carry a political message.
[4] Goebbels entrusted the creation of the company to Cautio Treuhand as he provided a large amount of investment, meaning there was little economic worry for the organisation.
The politics of the DZF were entrusted to Oberregierungsrat Neumann who had no prior experience with animation and Dr Werner Kruse was hired as technical head, who had applied merely to avoid being drafted.
[8] In addition, he trapped employees in a contract which made them unable to quit, making sure the best animators in Germany worked for the DZF.
He was removed from the DZF, but continued to work for the Ufa, which demonstrates how important animators were to the regime, propaganda and the war effort.
[13] Animated folk tales, such as Armer Hansi, stood at the forefront of the Deutsche Zeichentrickfilme GmbH, with the aim of glorifying peasant life.
This idea of sticking to the ‘status-quo’ fits in with the Nazi ideology, but the standards that the DZF held, meant that often these scripts were bought for their rights then never made or rejected altogether.
After the idea was submitted by Hermann Krause in October 1941, work was set on modifying the plot to fit the Nazi ideology perfectly.
[17] This, like other Nazi propaganda, reinforces the idea that German's should not try and strive for adventure and individual pursuits, but to sacrifice and put their efforts to furthering the Volksgemineschaft.
However he was still not happy with the quality, as seen in his diaries, ‘The first character of film, which is presented to me from his production, still shows a lot of weaknesses, but he is still a good start’.
Work did start on a second animation, Schnuff der Nieser, starring puppies, however this was completed after the war by DEFA, the East German state film studio, due to the DZF’s fall in 1944.
This can therefore explain why their animations were so successful with the public, as propaganda was meant more to reinforce existing values, rather than to convert the population to a new way of thinking.
Goebbels’s wrote in his diaries on 22 December 1937, "I give the leader 12 Mickey Mouse films for Christmas… He is very excited and quite happy about this treasure.
"[30] The DZF were determined to rival Disney, due to the high quality and clear entertainment value of the films that gripped the population.
By continuing to advance their technology, and push their superiority through propaganda, the Nazis managed to rival the main animation distributor, whether they were even within reach of Disney's standards is something that is still debated today.
Claudio Ravenstein argued that the similarities were shocking; not only due to the copied techniques, but in that Goebbels was extremely impressed with Walt Disney propaganda.
[32] However, on a business level, historians, such as Ralf Forster and Jeanpaul Goergen have stated that the company was so inefficient that it is unable to redeem claims that it was even a remote rival to Disney.
[33] Although this is accurate due to the lack of profit and erratic spending by the DZF, it has to be questioned as to whether this meant they failed, seen as their main purpose was to deliver propaganda, which they did to a high standard.
As the Germans conquered more territory they hired talent from European countries, including France, where they recruited Robert Salvagnac, who had already been offered a job at Disney.
Nevertheless, as the war progressed, and due to the large amount of able bodied workers at the DZF, employees needed to be drafted and were no longer seen as "indispensable", indicating that animation propaganda took a back seat.
