Our Flags Lead Us Forward
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Our Flags Lead Us Forward (originally Hitlerjunge Quex: Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend or Hitlerjunge Quex) is a 1933 German film directed by Hans Steinhoff
.
The film is also known as Hitler Youth Quex (American alternative spelling).
The Hitler Youth are working together to make fires and cook a hot dinner. They sing patriotic songs, listen to speeches, and shout in unison their support for an "awakened Germany." There is no smoking or drinking. In the morning they awake early and run to the lake for a before-breakfast communal swim. Health, cleanliness, teamwork and patriotic nationalism is the image projected.
When Quex returns to his home singing one the Hitler youth songs, his father, an ardent Communist, beats him and signs him up to become a member of the Communist Party. However, Quex informs the Hitler Youth that the Young Communists are planning to ambush them during a march using guns and dynamite. He becomes a pariah to the Communists, and a hero to the Hitler Youth. His distraught mother tries to kill her son and herself by extinguishing the pilot light and leaving the gas on in their one room apartment at night. She is killed. Quex survives. His father, crushed by what happens, begins to wonder whether his son isn't right—National Socialism may be better for Germany than Communism.
A recurring character in the film is the Communist street performer. His theme is that "for some people things work out well...but for George they never do." The message is that life in Germany may improve for everyone else, but for the workingman, George, life won't be good unless he joins the Communist Party. It is eventually the Communist street performer who corners Quex in the streets of Berlin at night, and stabs him to death. Quex posthumously becomes a hero to the Nazi movement.
Heini Völker's antagonist is the communist youth leader Wilde, "a Nazi version of the incarnation of the 'Jewish-Bolshevik' will to destruction". The movie's message is characterized by its final words, "The flag means more than death".
(Ufa) studios. The plot was written by Bobby E. Lüthge and Karl Aloys Schenzinger, the author of the novel. Produced by Karl Ritter, the movie was supported by the Nazi leadership and produced for 320,000 reichsmarks under the aegis of Baldur von Schirach
. The latter also wrote the lyrics for the Hitler Youth song "Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran
", based on an existing melody by Hans-Otto Borgmann
, who was also responsible for the music. The director was Hans Steinhoff
. For the movie, the novel's title was amended with the subtitle Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend ("A film about the sacrificial spirit of German youth"). The movie has a length of 95 minutes (2,605 meters) and was premiered on 11 September 1933 in Ufa-Phoebus Palace, Munich
, and on 19 September in Ufa-Palast am Zoo, Berlin
. It was one of three movies about Nazi martyrs in 1933, the other two being SA-Mann Brand
and Hans Westmar, and by January 1934 had been viewed by a million people.
The film is now rated "Vorbehaltsfilm" in Germany
, meaning it is illegal to show the movie outside of closed educational events guided by an expert.
, Rudolf Hess
, Joseph Goebbels
and other high Nazi functionaries attended the first premiere in Munich. Goebbels reflected on the movie as follows: "If Hitler Youth Quex represents the first large-scale attempt to depict the ideas and world of National Socialism with the art of cinema, than one must say that this attempt, given the possibilities of modern technology, is a full-fledged success."
Hans Steinhoff
Hans Steinhoff was a German film director, best known for the films he made in the Nazi era. His most notable film was Ohm Krüger, for which he won the Mussolini Cup at the 1941 Venice Film Festival.-Filmography:*Hitlerjunge Quex...
.
The film is also known as Hitler Youth Quex (American alternative spelling).
Plot summary
Heini Völker is a teen-aged boy. His comrades give him the nickname "Quex". He lives in poverty in Berlin, in a one room apartment. The year is 1932 - the depth of the Depression. His father is an out-of-work supporter of the Communist Party who sends his son on a weekend of camping with the Communist Youth Group. While there Quex finds the undisciplined revelry of the Communists to be distasteful. There is smoking, drinking, and dancing late into the night. Meals are served by cutting hunks from loaves of bread and throwing them to hungry campers who push to get something to eat. Boys and girls play games where they take turns holding each other down and slapping each other on their private parts. Quex runs away and in another part of the park finds a group of Hitler Youth camping by a lake. He spies on them from a distance.The Hitler Youth are working together to make fires and cook a hot dinner. They sing patriotic songs, listen to speeches, and shout in unison their support for an "awakened Germany." There is no smoking or drinking. In the morning they awake early and run to the lake for a before-breakfast communal swim. Health, cleanliness, teamwork and patriotic nationalism is the image projected.
When Quex returns to his home singing one the Hitler youth songs, his father, an ardent Communist, beats him and signs him up to become a member of the Communist Party. However, Quex informs the Hitler Youth that the Young Communists are planning to ambush them during a march using guns and dynamite. He becomes a pariah to the Communists, and a hero to the Hitler Youth. His distraught mother tries to kill her son and herself by extinguishing the pilot light and leaving the gas on in their one room apartment at night. She is killed. Quex survives. His father, crushed by what happens, begins to wonder whether his son isn't right—National Socialism may be better for Germany than Communism.
A recurring character in the film is the Communist street performer. His theme is that "for some people things work out well...but for George they never do." The message is that life in Germany may improve for everyone else, but for the workingman, George, life won't be good unless he joins the Communist Party. It is eventually the Communist street performer who corners Quex in the streets of Berlin at night, and stabs him to death. Quex posthumously becomes a hero to the Nazi movement.
Heini Völker's antagonist is the communist youth leader Wilde, "a Nazi version of the incarnation of the 'Jewish-Bolshevik' will to destruction". The movie's message is characterized by its final words, "The flag means more than death".
Depiction of Communism
The film allows some sympathy for Communists. Quex's father, though violent and drunk, has become a Communist because of his, and the workers', desperate condition. In one scene, his argument for his son being with him revolves about his sufferings in the war and his unemployment. The Communist who invited Quex to a Communist Youth outing, while saying that he has to be eliminated, takes no part in the killing, Quex having made a strong impression on him.Cast
- Jürgen Ohlsen as Heini Völker
- Heinrich GeorgeHeinrich GeorgeHeinrich George , born Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz, was a German stage and film actor.He had one of his first roles in the Fritz Lang directed film Metropolis and the first film version of Berlin Alexanderplatz...
as Vater Völker - Berta Drews as Mutter Völker
- Claus ClausenClaus Clausen (actor)Claus Clausen was a German film actor. He appeared in over 21 films between 1930 and 1968.-Selected filmography:* Westfront 1918 * Skandal um Eva * The Great King...
as Bannführer Kaß (Brigade Leader Kass) - Rotraut Richter as Gerda
- Hermann Speelmans as Stoppel
- Hans RichterHans RichterHans Richter may refer to:*Hans Richter , Austrian conductor*Hans Richter , designer of the Volksbühne in Berlin and villa Heller in Ústí nad Labem...
as Franz - Ernst Behmer as Kowalski
- Hansjoachim Büttner as Arzt (doctor)
- Franziska Kinz as Krankenschwester (nurse)
- Rudolf PlatteRudolf Platte-Selected filmography:* Gold * Columbus Discovers Kraehwinkel * Mamitschka * Dr. Sibelius * Destination Death * Veronika Voss...
as Moritatensänger (carnival singer) - Reinhold Bernt as Ausrufer (barker)
- Hans DeppeHans Deppe-Selected filmography:Actor* The Victor * A Blonde's Dream * Two Hearts Beat as One * The Star of Valencia * A Door Opens * Our Flags Lead Us Forward * The Ambassador's Wife...
as Althändler (furniture dealer) - Anna Müller-Lincke as Eine Nachbarin Völkers (Völkers' neighbour)
- Karl Meixner as Wilde
- Karl Hannemann as Lebensmittelhändler (grocer)
- Ernst Rotmund as Revierwachtmeister (desk sergeant)
- Hans Otto Stern as Kneipenwirt (bartender)
- Hermann BraunHermann BraunHermann Braun was a German, American-born, motion-picture actor, and the son of chamber singer Carl Braun.-Biography:New York-born, Braun made his film debut in 1933 with Der Jäger aus Kurpfalz...
- Heinz Trumper
Soundtrack
- "Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran" (Maschlied der Hitlerjugend) (Music by Hans-Otto BorgmannHans-Otto BorgmannHans-Otto Borgmann was a German film music composer during the Third Reich.He joined UFA as a silent film music conductor in 1928, and became head composer by 1931...
, lyrics by Baldur von SchirachBaldur von SchirachBaldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
) - Sung several times by the communists - "The InternationaleThe InternationaleThe Internationale is a famous socialist, communist, social-democratic and anarchist anthem.The Internationale became the anthem of international socialism, and gained particular fame under the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1944, when it was that communist state's de facto central anthem...
" (Written by Eugène Pottier & Pierre DegeyterPierre DegeyterPierre Chretien De Geyter was a Belgian socialist and a composer, known for writing the music of The Internationale.- Early life :De Geyter's parents, originally from the French Flanders, moved to Ghent to work in the textile...
) - Sung on the camping trip of the communists and later in the movie by a Hitlerjunge - "Das ist die Liebe der Matrosen" (Written by Werner R. HeymannWerner R. HeymannWerner R. Heymann was a German film composer. He was a member of the jury at the 10th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Napoléon * Spione...
& Robert GilbertRobert GilbertRobert Goulston Gilbert is a polymer chemist whose most significant contributions have been in the field of emulsion polymerisation. In 1970, he gained his PhD from the Australian National University, and worked at the University of Sydney from then until 2006...
)
Production
The novel was the basis for a subsequent movie version, produced in the Universum Film AGUniversum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
(Ufa) studios. The plot was written by Bobby E. Lüthge and Karl Aloys Schenzinger, the author of the novel. Produced by Karl Ritter, the movie was supported by the Nazi leadership and produced for 320,000 reichsmarks under the aegis of Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
. The latter also wrote the lyrics for the Hitler Youth song "Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran
Vorwärts! Vorwärts! schmettern die hellen Fanfaren
Vorwärts! Vorwärts! schmettern die hellen Fanfaren was a marching song of the Hitler Youth, which was also known as their banner song...
", based on an existing melody by Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann was a German film music composer during the Third Reich.He joined UFA as a silent film music conductor in 1928, and became head composer by 1931...
, who was also responsible for the music. The director was Hans Steinhoff
Hans Steinhoff
Hans Steinhoff was a German film director, best known for the films he made in the Nazi era. His most notable film was Ohm Krüger, for which he won the Mussolini Cup at the 1941 Venice Film Festival.-Filmography:*Hitlerjunge Quex...
. For the movie, the novel's title was amended with the subtitle Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend ("A film about the sacrificial spirit of German youth"). The movie has a length of 95 minutes (2,605 meters) and was premiered on 11 September 1933 in Ufa-Phoebus Palace, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and on 19 September in Ufa-Palast am Zoo, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. It was one of three movies about Nazi martyrs in 1933, the other two being SA-Mann Brand
SA-Mann Brand
S.A. Mann Brand is a German film, made at the start of Nazi Germany. It was released in mid-June 1933, and depicted events as recent as March of that year.- See also :*List of German films 1919-1933*List of German films 1933-1945*Nazism and cinema...
and Hans Westmar, and by January 1934 had been viewed by a million people.
The film is now rated "Vorbehaltsfilm" in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, meaning it is illegal to show the movie outside of closed educational events guided by an expert.
Reception
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
, Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
and other high Nazi functionaries attended the first premiere in Munich. Goebbels reflected on the movie as follows: "If Hitler Youth Quex represents the first large-scale attempt to depict the ideas and world of National Socialism with the art of cinema, than one must say that this attempt, given the possibilities of modern technology, is a full-fledged success."
See also
- Hitler Youth QuexHitler Youth QuexHitler Youth Quex was a 1932 Nazi propaganda novel and a corresponding 1933 movie based on the life of Herbert “Quex” Norkus. Joseph Goebbels spoke of the movie as "first large-scale" transmission of Nazi ideology using the medium of cinema...
- List of German films 1919-1933
- List of German films 1933-1945
- Nazism and cinema