Life and Career
Herbert Selpin was born on 29 May 1904) in Berlin. After his medical studies in the same city, Selpin worked as a dancer, boxer, librarian, and art seller before he obtained, in the mid-1920s, an internship at the UFA film studios. Among other assignments at UFA, he worked on the set of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Faust (1926). Selpin was subsequently employed by the European subsidiary of the Fox Film Corporation, where he held several positions, including –in 1927– that of director's assistant to Walther Ruttmann on the set of Berlin. Sinfonie einer Großstadt.
After several positions as editor, Selpin received an assignment as director for Chauffeur Antoinette, released in 1931 by Excelsior Films. In the following two years, Selpin ran into conflict with the National Socialists for his sympathetic portrayals of the British. From 1933 onwards he was making propaganda films for the UFA studios, which was by then under the control of the Propaganda Ministry. After several propaganda films that were not well received (Schwarzhemden in 1933, Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika in 1934, and Alarm in Peking in 1937), Selpin was successful in 1941 with Carl Peters, an anti-British film. This was followed by another propaganda film Geheimakte W.B.1 in 1941–1942.
On the set of Titanic in 1942, Selpin made several remarks critical of the military. He was denounced by his fellow screenwriter and personal friend Walter Zerlett-Olfenius, and—upon failing to retract his statements during a subsequent meeting with Joseph Goebbels—was arrested on 31 July 1942. Since the Gestapo had now taken an interest in the Selpin case, and Selpin's remarks had clearly broken the treason law, Goebbels decided that it was preferable to sacrifice his Titanic director. Around midnight on 31 July – 1 August 1942, two guards entered Selpin's cell:
- "and hanged him from the bars of a ceiling window, using his trouser suspenders as a noose. For the records, Goebbels had the death scene secretly photographed and filed away. He then sent a terse letter to Selpin's wife notifying her of her husband's suicide.
Despite Goebbels attempt to conceal the truth, Selpin's brutal death quickly spread to Berlin's film colony who were deeply angered at Zerlett-Olfenius. Goebbels retaliated by issuing a proclamation decreeing that anyone shunning the screen writer would answer to Goebbels in person.
Titanic was then completed by an uncredited Werner Klingler.
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