Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras.
Nearly four hundred films were made at Johannistal during the silent period.
[1] The first production was the 1920 silent Verkommen starring Maria Zelenka.
Although the first postwar German film The Murderers Are Among Us was shot at Johannisthal, they were used less than the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam.
[citation needed] Following the fall of the Berlin Wall the studios were acquired by the Kirch Group, but were largely demolished by 1995.