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21371
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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Peter Zimmermann (ed.). Geschichte des Dokumentarischen Films in Deutschland, 3 Voll., Reclam, Stuttgart 2005
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https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie
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Selected by
2007-10-01
2023-10-09
2007-10-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
Irmbert Schenk
2007/10/01
2036-461X
9
en
Peter Zimmermann (ed.). Geschichte des Dokumentarischen Films in Deutschland, 3 Voll., Reclam, Stuttgart 2005
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/21371/18977
7
                                                                                        SELECTED BY


SELECTED BY: IRMBERT SCHENK                        a highly factographical argumentation. This
                                                   leads to the statement that the term "documen-
PETER ZIMMERMANN (ED.). GESCHICHTE                 tary film" cannot be used for the period before
DES DOKUMENTARISCHEN FILMS IN                      1918 and "non-fictional" should be applied
DEUTSCHLAND, 3 VOLL., RECLAM,                      instead. Adequately, the introduction argues
STUTTGART 2005                                     that hitherto existing ideas about early film are
Vol. 1: Uli Jung. Martin Loiperdinger (eds.).      incorrect, as they derive from a teleology that
Kaiserreich, 1895-1918                             draws its terminology for the years before the
Vol. 2: Klaus Kreimeier, Antje Ehrmann,end of World War I from later and "very dif-
                                        ferent periods in the development of the
Jeanpaul Goergen (eds.). Weimarer Republik,
1918-1933                               medium. This statement is questionable bott
Vol. 3: Peter Zimmermann, Kay Hoffmann (eds.).      from a historical and a theoretical point o
Drittes Reich, 1933-1945
                                                    view but, on the other hand, the advantages o
                                                    such a tightly corded argumentation are obvi
                                                    ous: the reader is allowed to access an impres
  The edition of Geschichte des dokumen-sive   amount of detailed information on the
tarischen Films in Deutschland, edited by development of documentary film in the peri
Peter Zimmermann on behalf of the Haus des od under examination (which is subdivide
Dokumentarfilms in Stuttgart, is one of the
                                          according to the emergence of different pla
most significant achievements in German pub-of presentation, such as mobile cinema anc
lishing in the field of film history. This can becinematographical theatres). The text offers a
said even in the international context, as it is     extensive display of the current state o
difficult to think of any other country whose research, an overview of the medium's techn
history of documentary film has been explored cal and economical history, and an exemplary
as thoroughly as in this case. The edition com- examination of some documentary "genres'
prises three volumes with 2.000 pages alto-and their         programme schedules in cinema.
gether and has emanated from a DFG-raised this point, the most important distinctive fea
research project of the universities of Siegen        ture is the transition from the cinema of show-
and Trier and the Haus des Dokumentarfilms,           ing, the views of the "cinema of attractions,"
which were practically cooperating with the      to the development of the genres of documen
German Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv in Berlin. A      tary film and the emergence of feature film
total of 45 authors worked on the three vol-around 1911/12. The final chapter of this vol-
umes, the particular editors being the main con- ume presents a detailed description of film
tributors. The division into three volumes cor-policy (that also provided the basis of the
responds to political caesura: 1895-1918, development of feature film) and documentary
 1918-1933, 1933-1945. It is the editors' explic-film work during World War I.
it intention to work with a broad determination          Volumes 2 and 3 focus on a general historical
of what documentary film is, and to illustrate         contextualization of film history in the discus-
its evolution by transcending the borders of           sion of the modern age and the modernization
film history towards media-historical and cul-         of society in particular periods. This principle
tural-historical contexts. Astonishingly, both         of argumentation, made explicit in the opening
aims are followed to a great extent, although chapters, is followed by most of the other
the individual volumes differ considerably in authors, too. This fact attests to the editors' out-
methodology and contexts.                             standing ability to coordinate the various con-
 For example, already in its introduction the         tributions, and to a certain extent, the same can
first volume (1895-1918) reveals a predomi-           also be said for volume 1. A large part of vol-
nantly film- and media-historical approach and        ume 2 (1918-1933) is dedicated to the exami-

CINEMA & CIE, no. 9, Fall 2007                                                                   179
  IRMBERT SCHENK


  nation of the special documentary phenomenon         nuanced analysis of the continuity of film pro.
 of the Weimar Republic, the Kulturfilm, its           duction from the Weimar Republic to the Third
 institutional establishment and division into         Reich, allowing it to obtain a certain discrete.
 numerous genres that range from urban film to         ness and ambiguity towards the demands of the
 animal and wildlife documentaries, expedition         state and the governing party. Film politics,
 films, mission and artist films. The theoretical      institutionalization and censorship are depicted
 debates of the Weimar age, such as the ones           in a separate chapter, followed by an examina-
 regarding censorship or educational film, are         tion of individual genres of Kulturfilm and
 portrayed adequately. The distinction between         newsreels of the 1930s (with the latter also
 Kulturfilm and documentary film may have a            being an experimental ground for innovations
 heuristic cause, for Kulturfilm was attached to a     in the field of film technology). One chapter is
  broader field of subjects, and "documentary          dedicated to the documentary depictions of
 film" is examined here in the form of newsreel,       industrial modernization, starting with
  advertising film, industrial film and architecture   Ruttmann through industrial and advertising
  film. One chapter is devoted to "border-cross-       film, films on motorsports and Autobahn to the
  ing" personalities - Walter Ruttmann, Wilfried       inception of television during the Olympic
 Basse, Heinrich Hauser and Arnold Fanck are           Games of 1936. With numerous other genres
 filed under this label. Leftist film work in the      being examined, it is true for all of them that
 Weimar Republic, cross-section film and the           the argumentation focuses on the connection
 relations of documentary film with avant-garde        between backward-looking blood and soil ide.
 are also examined in their own right. The final       ology and the modernization fraction that make
 chapter deals with the function of documentary        up the overall picture of Nazi propaganda. This
 black and white film images from the 1920s as         also applies in a narrow sense to the Nazi prop.
 they are being used in colour television doc-         aganda films, which are dealt with separately.
 mentaries of today - a topic that is explored in      The examination of the function of these films
 even greater detail at the end of volume 3,           during the war and of wartime newsreels com
 where it is examined with reference to the for-       pletes the impressive range of topics in this
 mation of present views of Third Reich history        volume.
via the use of contemporary documentary mate-             All the volumes are equipped with large bib
rial in numerous television documentaries.             liographies and lists of films (3700 titles alto
   Being the thickest of the three books, volume       gether, multiple mentions included), with the
 3 (1933-1945) takes to a further level the prin-      film indices fortunately containing up-to-date
ciple of contextualization beyond film and             archival reference. Additionally, the last vol-
media history. Different phases of the process         ume provides 90 short biographies of selected
through which the historians came to terms             filmmakers. A filmographic database is avail
with the Third Reich after 1945 are surveyed.          able via the website of the Haus des
Some of the main criteria include the percep-          Dokumentarfilms, www.hdf.de.
tion of modernization and the critical analysis          Alas, the editors' wish for a continuation o
of long-standing popular totalitarianism theo-         the project in the form of annotated DVD edi-
ries as well as the inclusion of social history        tions of as many films as possible remains
and the history of everyday life respectively.         unfulfilled for financial reasons. This idea
This exploration then leads to a very critical         would also have satisfied the needs of many
discussion of film-historical literature on the        film historians who encounter severe problems
Third Reich, which - in Germany - is still             when trying to have access to these films, many
mainly bound to the scheme of totalitarianism of which are either rare or in a bad state. But
and a corresponding understanding of propa-hope springs eternal... More realistic, however,
ganda. It also contains a plea for a more is the hope for a sequel to Geschichte des doku-

180
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mentarischen Films in Deutschland, whose           everybody concerned with German film histo-
effort for German film historiography cannot       ry, and this does not exclusively mean the his-
be overestimated, for the period after 1945. The   tory of documentary film, but German film his-
reading of this epochal approach is a must for     tory in general.




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