The collaboration : Hollywood's pact with Hitler
AuthorsBen Urwand 1977-(Author)
Print Book2013
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Back of dust jacket."To
continue doing business in Germany after Hitler's ascent to power,
Hollywood studios agreed not to make films that attacked the Nazis
or condemned Germany's persecution of Jews. Ben Urwand reveals this
bargain for the first time--a 'collaboration' (Zusammenarbeit) that drew
in a cast of characters ranging from notorious German political leaders
such as Goebbels to Hollywood icons such as Louis B. Mayer. At the
center of Urwand's story is Hitler himself, who was obsessed with movies
and recognized their power to shape public opinion. In December 1930,
his Party rioted against the Berlin screening of All Quiet on the
Western Front, which led to a chain of unfortunate events and decisions.
Fearful of losing access to the German market, all of the Hollywood
studios started making concessions to the German government, and when
Hitler came to power in January 1933, the studios--many of which were
headed by Jews--began dealing with his representatives directly. Urwand
shows that the arrangement remained in place through the 1930s, as
Hollywood studios met regularly with the German consul in Los Angeles
and changed or canceled movies according to his wishes. Paramount and
Fox invested profits made from the German market in German newsreels,
while MGM financed the production of German armaments. Painstakingly
marshaling previously unexamined archival evidence, The Collaboration
raises the curtain on a hidden episode in Hollywood--and
American--history."--Jacket.
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