Die Deutsche Wochenschau is the title of the unified newsreel series released in the cinemas of Nazi Germany from June 1940 until the end of World War II, with the final edition issued on 22 March 1945. The co-ordinated newsreel production was set up as a vital instrument for the mass distribution of Nazi propaganda at war.
In this Die Deutsche Wochenschau video:
00:57 Egon Agtha (1918-1945) was a German bomb disposal specialist in Berlin during WWII. Initially an artillery soldier, he was trained as a bomb disposal specialist from 1939-1941. He was severely wounded by the explosion of a British unexploded ordinance in 1942. He returned to active duty two years later and was made the leader of the 1st Bomb Disposal Unit of the Air Force in Berlin sometimes in 1944. He was awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross on February 3rd, 1945, and promoted to Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant) by Hitler personally on the same day. He was further awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross on March 12th, 1945, and was again promoted by Hitler personally on the same day, this time to Hauptmann (Captain). He died during fighting with Soviet troops in Berlin on May 2nd, 1945.
01:07 The sign on the wall reads “Bomb Disposal Unit of the Air Force Berlin”
01:40 This soldier is not Agtha, he is an Unteroffizier (Sergeant), the lowest NCO rank.
02:05 The Panzerfaust was a cheap, single use man-portable AT-Gun, which used a high explosive anti-tank warhead. Over 8 million were produced. Especially late in the war, it was often the only weapon available and was widely distributed to Volkssturm militia.
02:11 This sign reads: “Now its getting serious- to the live shooting range”
02:38 Arthur Axmann (1913-1996) was a German politician and leader of the Hitler Youth from 1940 to 1945. He joined the NSDAP in 1931 and was made Chief of the Social Office of the Reich Youth Leadership in 1933. He was then promoted to Hitler Youth chief in Berlin in 1934. He was made deputy Hitler Youth leader on May 1st, 1940, and leader on 8th August 1940. He fought in WWII and lost his arm during fighting on the Eastern Front in 1941. In 1943, Axmann proposed the idea of a Hitler Youth division, which resulted in the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitler Youth”. During the Battle of Berlin, Axmann was present in the Führerbunker and was part of the group that left the Bunker on May 1st. He managed to avoid capture and lived under a fake name for a few years. He was arrested in December 1945 in Lübeck by the Americans when he tried to organize a Nazi underground movement. He was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in Prison. After that, he worked as a businessman and died in October 1996 in Berlin.
02:41 This is the last known video footage of Hitler. It was initially believed that it was taken on the 20th of April, Hitlers Birthday, and many reputable sources reported that, however, this Newsweek issue confirms that it was indeed taken before March 22nd, 1945.
03:02 This boy holds the rank of Oberscharführer, a rank of the Hitler Youth comparable to Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant Major).
03:06 The Bannführer is a rank in the Hitler Youth, comparable to a Colonel.
03:14 Hindenburg and Gleiwitz were German cities in Upper Silesia.
03:41 This boy also holds the rank of Oberscharführer.
03:48 Hitler Youth boys were often used as couriers to transport messages, as many German officers were reluctant to use them in combat roles.
03:57 This is Wilhelm “Willi” Hübner (1928-2010), a Hitler Youth boy who was one of the youngest Iron Cross recipients, which he received for his participation in the Battle of Lauban. He was awarded the Iron Cross originally by Goebbels in Lauban, and there is a famous photo of Goebbels shaking his hand, and later was also present in the reception at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, shown here. Because of his small size and very young appearance, he is often shown as alleged “child soldier”, despite him being already 16 years old.
03:59 Lauban was a German city in Upper Lusatia.
04:28 Ernst Tiburzy (1911-2004) was a battalion leader of the Volkssturm and the first Volkssturm soldier to be awarded with the Knights Cross. He destroyed 5 or 9 Soviet tanks (sources vary) during the Battle of Königsberg on February 10th, 1945, preventing a breakthrough into the city and was awarded for that. He was one of only four or five Volkssturm soldiers who received the Knights Cross.
04:45 Breslau, the capital city of Silesia, was surrounded by the Red Army on February 13th, 1945, but strong German resistance prevented a quick capture of the city, and instead long and fierce street fighting ensued, the Red Army bombed the city to ruins. Breslau only capitulated on May 6th, 1945, after almost three months of fighting, one of the longest battle in the last phase of the war.
04:51 Karl Hanke (1903-1045) was a German politician of the NSDAP and Gauleiter (governor) of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945. He joined the NSDAP in November 1928 and was active in Berlin under Goebbels during the early 1930s. Hitler liked him, which helped him advance his career quickly, he became Goebbels private secretary in 1933 and state secretary in 1938. However, his affair with Goebbels wife Magda led to an abrupt halt of his political career in July 1939. Hanke then fought during WWII on the western front with the 7th Panzer Division, where he became aquinted with Erwin Rommel. He was made Gauleiter of Lower Silesia in January 1941. During the last months of WWII, he led German troops during the Siege of Breslau and managed to hold the city for 82 days. He was known for his fanatism, which impressed Hitler, who made him leader of the SS in his testament. Hanke fled Breslau on May 5th, flying to Prague, where he got captured by Czech partisans on May 6th and was killed during an escape attempt on June 8th, 1945.
05:13 This wreck is a Soviet heavy assault gun, either an SU-152 or an SU-122.
05:22 Königsberg, the capital city of East Prussia, was surrounded by the Soviets in late January 1945 and besieged, although the seaside was still open and usable by the Germans. Since the frontline quickly moved further west in February , the capture of the city was of low priority to the Soviets, and so the Soviet attack on the city only started on April 6th, and on April 9th, with the Soviets already in the city, the German defenders capitulated.
05:24 Otto Lasch (1893-1971) was a German General dring WWII, leading German troops to the capture of Riga in June 1941, and commander of the 217. Infantry Division in 1942/43. He led German troops in Alsace from August to November 1944, and was then made commander of Königsberg. After the Soviets encircled the city in late January 1945, he was made city commander. He tried to persuade Gauleiter Koch to surrender several times, which he always rejected. After the Soviets attacked the city on April 6th, Lasch surrender the city on April 9th and was sentenced to death in absentia by Hitler for this. He was a POW until 1955, when he returned to Germany.
05:27 Erich Koch (1896-1986) was a German Nazi Party official. He fought in WWI from 1915 to 1918, and later as a Freikorps member in Upper Silesia. He joined the German Railway, but was fired for anti-republic activities in 1926. He joined the Nazi party in 1922, where he worked in various positions, and became deputy Gauleiter in the Ruhr Gau in 1927, before becoming Gauleiter in East Prussia in October 1928, a position he would hold until April 1945. During WWII, he was best known for being Reich Commissioner for Ukraine, controlling the Police and Gestapo in Ukraine. He was known for being brutal and considering Ukrainians and other Slavic people as being inferior to Germans. He caused famines by excessively seizing food for the Wehrmacht, was responsible for the Holocaust in Ukraine, and for massive use of Ukrainians for forced labor. At the end of the war, he went into hiding, but was arrested in May 1949, and extradited to Poland. He was sentenced to death for war crimes in March 1959, but the sentence was not carried out and changed to life imprisonment. He died in Polish prison in November 1986.
06:23 Several hundred thousand people were evacuated by German Navy transports from East and West Prussia in 1945.
06:59 These guns are 15cm sFH 18, the standard heavy artillery gun used by the Wehrmacht.
07:03 This is an Sd. Kfz. 7, a half-tracked tractor used by the Germans during WWII. 12,187 were built between 1938 and 1944, and used mostly to tow 8,8cm FlaK 36 or 15cm sFH 18 heavy artillery.
07:05 This gun is a10.5 cm leFH 18, the standard German light field gun of WWII. 11,848 produced between 1935 and 1943, with a further 10,265 produced of its successor, the 10.5cm leFH 18/40,
from 1943-1945.
07:35 Since the Soviets had almost no naval units in the Baltic Sea, apart from a few U-Boats, German destroyers and cruisers were able to give effective support fire to German troops fighting near the coastline in the Baltics and in East and West Prussia until the end of the war.
08:06 The tanks on the train here are Panzer IV/70 (A), which were tank destroyers on Panzer IV chassis. They were built as interim solution to fit the longer 7,5cm L/70 gun on a Panzer IV chassis, before this could be done on the standard Jagdpanzer IV. As you can see in this footage, these tanks have a quite high silhouette, which was a disadvantage compared to the flat, small Jagdpanzer IV. 277 were built between August 1944 and March 1945.
08:08 The gun in the foreground is a Vierlingsflak 38, a quadruple 20mm AA-gun.
08:11 These tanks are Panther medium tanks. Armed with a 7,5cm KwK 42/L70 and armored with up to 80mm front armor, angled at 55 degrees, and up to 100mm turret armor, it was a very good medium tank, considered by many to be one of, or even the best, medium tank of WWII. Around 6,000 were built from January 1943 to April 1945.
Source :
https://archive.org/details/last-german-newsweek-no.-755-22-march-1945-2
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/5155/702246
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxWY4rFhTg
