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:
It shows a large variety of different footage, including harvest in Germany, building of new Autobahn sections, a visit of SA-chief Viktor Lutze in occupied Poland, an exercise of German troops in occupied France and German fighter and bomber squadrons, including a bombing raid of Heinkel He-111 bombers on England, among other things. This issue also shows footage of Italian troops in North Africa and from Japanese bombers allegedly bombing the Burma Strait.
Remarks :
02:44 Construction of the bridge in Kasern started in 1938, but was stopped due to the war in 1941, and the bridge was only finished in 1950. It was refurbished between 2009 and 2012.
02:56 The German Labor Front, created in May 1933, was the national labor organization in Nazi Germany after the ban of independent trade unions. All working Germans had to be a member of the Labor Front, and it was a tool of the Nazi government to control the workers and to expose them to Nazi propaganda. The Labor Front also employed people, as shown here, most of these people were unemployed before and drafted into construction work.
03:51 KdF is an abbreviation standing for Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) and was a Nazi leisure organization, part of the Labor Front. Its main goal was to organize holidays for workers and to improve their working environment, but like all Nazi organization, its main goal was to promote Nazism among its members.
04:30 On Spitzerberg mountain, a 302m high mountain in Lower Austria, a simple airstrip was created for gliders already in 1929, and in 1936, a hangar and buildings were added. In late 1939, a proper flying school for gliders was constructed, this was inaugurated on October 19th, 1940. It is still used as a flying school today.
04:34 Hugo Jury (1887-1945) was an Austrian doctor and Nazi politician. He studied Medicine between 1905 and 1911, and joined the Austrian Nazi Party in February 1931, where he was a local councilmember for the NSDAP. After the Nazi Party was banned in Austria in June 1933, he continued working for it illegally, for which he was arrested several times. After the German annexation of Austria, he became Gauleiter for Niederdonau and served in various other high-ranking positions. He killed himself after Germanys surrender on the night of May 8th/9th 1945.
04:42 Claus von Bohlen (1910-1940) was a German fighter pilot during WWII. He was part of the 2nd Group of JG 54, and on January 10th, 1940, he tested a new oxygen mask, which failed and caused him to become unconscious, crashing his plane and dying.
04:47 I was sadly not able to find any information about who Curt Opolski or Emmerich Sikorka were.
05:33 Viktor Lutze (1890-1943) was an SA-General and Nazi politician. He initially worked as a post clerk, before joining the Army in 1912 and fighting in WWI, being wounded four times. He left the Army as an officer in 1919 and was a co-owner of a small foundry from 1921 to 1925. In 1922, he joined the NSDAP and in 1923 the SA; he became the regional SA-Leader for the Ruhr Area in 1926. In 1931, he became SA-Leader for North Germany. After the Röhm purge in July 1934, Lutze became new leader of the SA, which had lost a lot of power by then and was basically little more than an organization providing pre-military training for its member. He was responsible for the terror against Jewish people and business in the November pogroms in 1938. Lutze had a serious car crash on May 1st, 1943, and died of the wounds sustained in the accident the next day.
05:38 The Marienburg Castle in Western Prussia is a 13th century castle built by the Teutonic Knights. When it was finished in 1406, it was the world’s largest brick castle. It was heavily damaged in WWII but was restored from 1962 to 2016 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
05:50 Joachim Meyer-Quade (1897-1939) was a German politician and SA-General. He fought in WWI from January 1915, but became a French POW in November 1916. Released in January 1920, he worked as a farmer and farm inspector afterwards. He joined the NSDAP in June 1925 and the SA in July 1927, becoming leader of the SA-Group Schleswig in 1932. After the Nazis took power, he became Police Commissioner in Kiel, and led the SA-Group Nordmark since September 1935. In 1939, he took part in the invasion of Poland as a Lieutenant and infantry company commander, but was killed during fighting on September 10th, 1939. He was one of the first higher ranking Nazis to be killed in combat in WWII, and several units and places were named in his honor.
05:51 The Polish city of Lodz was re-named Litzmannstadt in April 1940, in honor of the German General and NSDAP politician Karl Litzmann (1850-1936).
06:16 I believe that “Freedom Day” refers to the invasion of Poland in Nazi Propaganda, but I’m not 100% sure of that.
06:19 The SA-Standard 6 was given the honorary name “Hans von Manteuffel”, in remembrance of Hans von Manteuffel-Szoege (1894-1919) a Baltic-German officer who died as leader of the Baltic Territorial Army in fighting against the Soviet Russia Army in Riga in 1919.
06:50 The General Government was the name of the occupied Polish territories that were not incorporated into Germany.
06:57 Hans Frank (1900-1946) as a German Nazi politician. He already joined the DAP, the predecessor of the NSDAP in 1919. He studied law and economy from 1919 to 1923, achieving his PhD in 1924. He joined the SA in September 1923, and the NSDAP in October 1923, he took part in the failed coup attempt in November that year. He continued his career in the NSDAP, becoming Hitlers personal lawyer, defending him in over 40 trials, becoming a close friend of Hitler. After the Nazis took power, he became Justice Minister in Bavaria from March 1933 to December 1934, and he founded the Academy of German Law, an important tool in giving a legal basis to Nazi terror and atrocities. His most famous office was that of General Governor in Poland, which he held from October 1939 to the end of the war. Nicknamed “The Butcher of Poland”, he was responsible for the killing and forced labor of millions of Polish civilians, the suppression of Polish culture and the looting and stealing of valuable goods. He fled in January 1945 from the advancing Red Army but was arrested in May in Bavaria and tried in the Nuremberg trials. He was convicted to death and executed on October 16th, 1946.
07:20 The Main Square in Krakow was renamed “Adolf-Hitler-Square” during the German occupation.
08:10 To replace male personnel, over half a million women were employed by the Wehrmacht during WWII. Especially in the early war most of them served, as shown here, as telephone or telegraph operators, but from 1943 onwards, they were also used to operate AA-searchlights, listening devices and sometimes even on the guns themselves.
08:52 The Lightning Bolt was a symbol of the German Signal Corps. Because it was printed on the tie and or the sleeve of the uniforms of these female auxiliars, they were nicknamed “Lighting Girls”.
10:06 The vehicle on the right in this shot is a Panhard 178, a French reconnaissance armored car produced between February 1937 and April 1940. It had a 25mm main gun; 729 vehicle built, with a further 414 B-versions built after WWII. As for the vehicle on the left, I am not sure what exactly this is, it looks like an early, 1920s style armored car.
10:10 This is a British Matilda II infantry tank. Designed in 1937, 2,987 were built between 1937 and 1943. It had strong frontal armor, up to 78mm, and was equipped with a 40mm gun, but only had a maximum speed of 24kmh on road and 14kmh off-road. A few dozens of these were used by British troops during the Invasion of France, and subsequentially some of them were captured by the Germans.
10:15 This is a Renault UE Chenillette, a smal tracked armored carrier and artillery mover, built between 1932 and March 1941. Around 5,100 were built, and the Germans captured around 3,000 of them, using them in various roles, as tractor, but also putting guns or rocket artillery launchers on them.
10:18 This tank is a Somua S 35, medium tank, armed with a 47mm gun and up to 47mm of armor. Around 440 were built between 1935 and June 1940, many of these were later re-used by the Germans.
14:08 Herms Niel (1888-1954) was a German composer and one of the most influential composer of military music during the Nazi era. He trained as a musician and joined the Guards Regiment in Potsdam as a Trombonist in 1906, staying in the army until 1918. After WWI, he worked as a tax officer until 1927, when he co-founded an Orchestra. He joined the Nazi party in May 1933 and became the conductor of the Orchestra of the Reich Labor Service. During WWII, he composed many marching songs which were widely distributed by the regime. He was made a Professor in April 1941 by Hitler.
14:55 This is referring to a small Italian offensive into Egypt in early September 1940, where Italian forces captured the city of Sollun on September 13th and the important port of Sidi Barrani on September 16th, 1940. These cities were soon recaptured during the British Operation Compass in December 1940.
16:16 This plane is a Mitsubishi G3M medium bomber. The G3M was introduced in 1935 and produced until 1943, with 1,048 planes made. The G3M, much like its predecessor, the more well-known G4M, was designed as a long range bomber, and in August 1937, a group of G3M, coming from Taiwan, bombed Shanghai- a distance of over 2000km. G3M also took part in the sinking of British battleships HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the sinking of heavy American cruiser USS Chicago in January 1943. The focus on range meant that the G3M had no protective armor and was thus an easy target for Allied fighters. It was used as bomber, torpedo bomber and also transport plane. This particular plane is marked “報國 -339 (興亜號)”, and planes marked with “報國 (Hokoku, literally “Service to the Fatherland)“ were planes donated by indivuals and private companies to the Imperial Japanese Navy. This was a program set up in the 1930s, where companies could “buy” a plane for the Japanese Army or Navy. This particular plane was donated by Tairiku Shinpo, a Shanghai-based Japanese Newspaper, in October 1938.
16:27 The Burma Road, a road in Burma used to supply China during the Sino-Japanese war, was indeed closed by the British in April or July 1940 (sources vary) due to Japanese pressure but was reopened in October 1940. However, I couldn’t find any information that the Japanese actually bombed the road, at least not on British territory. They probably bombed it in Chinese territory, as they did regularly during the war.
17:43 Joachim Schepke (1912-1941) was a German U-Boat commander. He joined the German Navy in April 1930, transferring to the U-Boat force in October 1935, and becoming commander of the U-Boat U-3 when the war broke out. In May 1940, he took over command of U-100. He was portrayed in Nazi propaganda as a successful U-Boat commander, and a book written and illustrated by him in 1940 became a best-seller, he held a speech in berlin in February 1941 in front of thousands of school children about the U-Boat war. On his sixth mission with U-100 on March 17th, 1941, his boat was damaged by depth charges from British destroyers and then rammed and sunk by one. Schepke got trapped between the periscope and the bridge and died, only 6 of his crew survived. His death made public by a speech of Winston Churchill in British parliament. In his career, Schepke destroyed 36 ships with 155,882 tons and damaged four more, despite German records giving a total number of 233,971 tons.
17:53 Günther Prien (1908-1941) was a German Navy U-Boat commander. He got his captains patent in 1931, but was unable to find a job, out of anger for not finding a job, he joined the NSDAP in 1931. In January 1933, he joined the German Navy, and in 1935, switched to the U-Boat force. Initially serving as an officer on U-26, in December 1938, he was made commander of U-47. His most famous mission was the attack on Scapa Flow. This was basically a suicide attack, as Scapa Flow, a British Navy base, was heavily secured, and due to strong currents, couldn’t be entered submerged. But Prien managed to successfully enter and sink the British battleship HMS Royal Oak. He was awarded the Knights Cross for that and was stylized a Hero by the NS-Propaganda. Prien was most likely killed on the night from 7th to 8th March 1941, when his boat was sunk by British depth charges. His death was made public in late May 1941, and had a negative impact on German morale. In total, Prien sunk 32 ships with 211,393 tons.
18:10 Otto Kretschmer (1912-1998) was a German Navy U-Boat commander. He joined the Navy in April 1930 and was transferred to the U-Boat force in January 1936; he became commander of U-23. In April 1940 he took over U-99. During his final mission, in the early morning of March 17th, 1940, he was attacked by British destroyers and had to give up. He was taken prisoner and sent to a POW camp in Canada in 1942, where he stayed until he was released in 1947. He joined the post-war German Navy in 1957, retiring as Admiral in 1970. Despite his rather short career, he was the most successful German U-Boat commander, sinking 47 ships with 272,282 tons and damaging five more with 37,965 tons.
18:47 Helmut Wick (1915-1940) was a German fighter ace during WWII. He did his mandatory service in the RAD in January 1936, and joined the Air Force in April 1936, finishing Flying School as a Lieutenant in January 1939. Wick fought, as part of JG2 “Richthofen”, in Poland and over the Western Border, where he achieved his first kill, a French Curtiss Hawk 75, on November 22nd, 1939. He was awarded the Knights Cross on August 29th, 1940, after his 25th kill, and on October 8th, after 41 kills, the Oak Leaves. He was promoted to Major and made commodore of JG2, but with only 25 years, he proved far too young to lead an entire squadron, which led to bad morale among his men. On November 28th, he attacked with his group a British RAF unit. During this dogfight, he achieved his 56th kill, but was shot down and killed. Wick was made a hero by NS propaganda and described as the ideal young German pilot.
18:51 The Fighter Wing 2 “Richthofen” was a German fighter wing, set up in May 1939 and named after the famous WWI fighter ace “Manfred von Richthofen”. It used both the Bf-109 and later the Fw-190 fighters. Initially stationed on the German border in 1939, it took part in the invasion of Belgium and France and was then stationed on the English Channel until September 1944 (although some groups were used in North Africa) and afterwards on the Western Front, where it took part in the Ardennes Offensive. JG2 destroyed around 2,700 enemy planes and lost around 700 pilots during the war.
19:23 The Heavy Fighter WING ZG 26 “Horst Wessel” was a German Air Force unit during WWII, set up in May 1939 and named after the SA officer Horst Wessel (1907-1930) who was killed by communists and turned into a Nazi martyr. The unit was equipped with heavy Bf-110 fighter planes, later also Me-410, and used during the Invasion of France, on the Eastern Front, over Africa and in the Mediterranean. The unit was reorganized in September 1944 to a regular fighter wing, equipped with Bf-109.
19:43 Oswald Boelcke (1891-1916) was a German WWI flying ace and one of the first pilots to lay down tactical ground rules for pilots. His book about air combat, Dicta Boelcke, still forms the basis for modern air combat tactic manuals. Boelcke initially joined the German Army as a signal officer in 1911, later joining the newly formed Flying Corps in May 1914. He achieved his first kill in September 1915, and already in January 1916, after his eight kill, he was achieved the Pour le Merite, the highest German war medal at that time, by Emperor Wilhelm personally. Boelcke was known to be a good-hearted man, in August 1915, he jumped into a canal to save the life of a French boy who was drowning. After Max Immelmann, another famous German WWI fighter pilot, died in a crash in June 1916, Boelcke was banned from flying, as his knowledge about aerial combat was deemed too valuable. In August 1916, he became commander of the newly formed Fighter Wing 2, for which he personally picked his pilots. He returned to active flying in September 1916. In October 1916, during a dogfight, his plane touched another German plane, and Boelcke lost control and died. In total, Boelcke shot down 40 enemy planes during WWI. He was greatly honored, and many barracks and units were named after him. Even nowadays, the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing of the modern day German Air Force is named “Boelcke” after him.
19:58 The Bombing Wing 27 “Boelcke” was one of two units of the German Air Force during WWII named after Boelcke, the other being Bomber Wing 154. Bomber Wing 27 was raised in May 1939, equipped with Heinkel He-111 bombers. It took part in the Invasion of Poland, Battle of Britain and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, usually flying tactical attacks on airfields, ports and military installations. But it also took part on attacks on civilian targets in England, such as the infamous Bombing of Coventry in November 1940. In November 1944, the unit was re-equipped with Bf109 and FW 190 fighter planes, and it became a regular fighter wing. It was active until German surrender in May 1945.
20:03 Boelcke was buried in Dessau, and a memorial was erected on his grave in 1921, which still stands today.
20:36 These planes are Heinkel He-111 medium bombers, the standard German bomber plane of WWII.
Source :
https://archive.org/details/die-deutsche-wochenschau-berita-mingguan-jerman-no.-531-6-november-1940-teks-indonesia
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/7115/684320
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV4lG5Or2Zc
