Stereotypical Characters
Named after the character Werner Holt the hero of East German Joachim Kunert's The Adventures of Werner Holt. (1964) (Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt). Holt is a character who is a simple soldier who starts the war supporting the Nazis. By the end of the war and having been abused and left to die by his leaders he rejects the Nazis. He represents the great majority of ordinary Germans.This image shows Werner Holt at the end of the film running away from the German army when he has realised that he is fighting for a corrupt and evil regime.
Again named after a character in Joachim Kunert's The Adventures of Werner Holt. He is a war monger and fights to the last bullet, dying with the Führer's name on his lips. This image shows Gilbert Wolzow leading Holt and his troop in to the final pointless battle.
The Piano Player
He is a gentle soul an artist and hates the war. He represents the destruction of German culture. The piano player is usually a friend of the Holt character. Unfortunately the piano player invariably dies and if you see a piano player you know that they won't survive until the last scene of the film. You will see the piano player in The Adventures of Werner Holt, West German Frank Wisbar's Dogs do you want to live for ever? (1959) (Hunde wollt ihr ewig leben) and again in West German Paul May's The revenge of Corporal Asch PtII. (1954) (08/15 Teil II). This image shows Werner Holt's friend Peter who is a delicate Piano player and is desperate to join the army with Werner. He is killed at the end of the film.
The backbone of every army unit is its Non Commissioned Officers, NCO's. This character knows how to get food for his troops what ever the situation. He is tough but deep down he has a soft spot for the Holt character. This image shows NCO Hauptwachmeister Schulz from The revenge of Corporal Asch who will terrorise the men, including Asch, under his command but actually has a soft spot for all his soldiers.
This is one stock character that is missing from German war films. In fact the enemy is conspicuous by his absence. The Americans and British might appear as contrails in the sky as they fly over Germany to bomb Germany's cities to destruction, however they rarely appear as soldiers on the battle field. The Soviet forces are occasionally shown, however in the East German films they appear as liberators and in the films of West Germany and the united Germany they appear as rapists, murderers and a nation who should be feared. This fear of the Soviets appears in West German Wisbar's Night Fell Over Gottenhafen (1959) Nacht fiel über Gottenhafen, the Oscar© winning film by Volker Schlöndorff The Tin Drum (1979) Die Blechtrommel and it is even hinted at in Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall (2004) Der Untergang. This image, taken from the Tin Drum, shows a Soviet soldier suggesting sex to Oskar's step mother.
Until the broadcast of the American TV series Holocaust on German television in 1979 this was a stereotype and subject that was missing from West German film making. After 1979 it becomes a major subject in West German and then German film making. East German film making, by contrast, had been dealing with the Holocaust since 1947 with Kurt Maetzig's film Marriage in the Shadows (1947) (Ehe im Schatten). An East German film which dealt with the Holocaust was the only film from East Germany to be nominated for an Oscar©. This film made by Frank Beyer Jakob the Liar (1974) (Jakob der Lügner) was remade in 1999 by Hollywood with Robin Williams in the lead role. This image shows the Jews lining up in Maetzig's Marriage in the Shadows.
Stereotypical Situations
The great defeat of the 6th Army at Stalingrad in January 1943 and the loss of 150,000 casualties and nearly 100,000 German soldiers taken prisoner has stained the soul of German war films. It is almost as if it has become a character in its own right. The battle is the centre piece of Dog do you want to live for ever, and West German Geza von Radvanyi's The Doctor of Stalingrad (1957) Der Artzt von Stalingrad. In addition to that it is referenced in Werner Holt in the 1960's and the story made in to a film after unification in the 1990's in Joseph Vilsmaiers film Stalingrad. This image shows Hitler contemplating the surrounding of Stalingrad in Dogs do you want to live for ever.
A love affair in a war film is not so unusual, however there is a stock situation that occurs again and again in West German war films, which is a love affair between a German soldier and an enemy woman. In this situation the German soldier redeems himself and the Wehrmacht by showing a human face that was capable of being loved, even his most hated enemy. Unfortunately for the soldier this love affair will usually end in the death of the soldier. This situation occurs in Dogs do you want to live for ever, Falk Harnack's Uncomfortable Night (1958) Unruhige Nacht and The Doctor of Stalingrad. This picture shows the hero of Uncomfortable Night in the arms of his Russian lover. He will eventually be shot for desertion. He deserted to be with his lover.
In the German school system the Gymnasium or Grammar system is very well regarded. Its pupils are felt to be cultured and refined. As a symbol it is one of gilded youth who will lead the nation in to the future. In the German war film the death and destruction of the Gymnasium class is a symbol for Germany losing her cultured youth and losing its leaders of the future. This image shows a scene in Holt where his Gymnasium class in being lectured by the fascist teacher.
(Note all images are either links or taken from the DVD's of the films they refer to)
