Fritz Hippler - Career in Film Production

Career in Film Production

After receiving his doctorate in 1934, Hippler became a lecturer at the German University of policy in Berlin. From 1936 he worked as assistant to Hans Weidemann working on the production of German newsreels, directed in the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Here he learned the production of documentaries. In January 1939, he took over Willow's position. In August 1939, Goebbels promoted Hippler again. He appointed the 29-year-old Hippler to head the film department at the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda RMVP. In February 1942, he appointed him to the kingdom of movie directors. With these two functions Hippler was one of the most important politicians of the film "Third Reich" after Goebbels. In October 1942, he was Director in the RMVP. His task was control, supervision and direction of German filmmaking.

In 1938, Hippler was appointed to the rank of SS Captain. According to Veit Harlan, Hippler loved to wear his SS uniform.

In his ministerial functions, Hippler continued to produce films. In 1939/1940 he was responsible for the propaganda film The campaign in Poland which ran under the title of Baptism of fire. In 1940, he was responsible for the management and design of the feature-length documentary film "The Eternal Jew" - according to Courtade," History of Film in the Third Reich," "the vilest anti-Semitic Nazi films." The film historian Frank Noack assessed "The Eternal Jew" as "probably the most radical inflammatory film of all time". A drawn by Hippler article in the magazine "The film" about its creation marked Jews as "parasites of national degeneracy." The film served as a preparation and agreement of the population in the coming holocaust and was mainly used for training of police and SS troops. In the same year, Hippler received from Hitler a secret special endowment of 60,000 Reichsmarks in recognition of his services to the Reich.

In addition to The Eternal Jew Hippler also directed the 1940 propaganda documentaryFeldzug in Polen about the Third Reich's invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939, andDie Frontschau (The Frontshow), a series of shorts shown to soldiers before being shipped to the Eastern Front.

In 1942, Hippler published a book about film theory titled Betrachtungen zum Filmschaffen(i.e., Contemplations on Filmmaking), which included a preface by Emil Jannings.

By 1943, he was promoted to Obersturmbannführer.