Hoegler's Mission

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Der Auftrag Höglers
Directed by Gustav von Wangenheim
Produced by Kurt Hahne
Written by Gustav von Wangenheim
Starring Inge von Wangenheim
Music by Ernst Hermann Meyer
Cinematography Walter Roßkopf
Edited by Lena Neumann
Production
company
Distributed by Progress Film
Release date
  • 27 January 1950 (1950-01-27)
Running time
93 minutes
Country German Democratic Republic
Language German

Der Auftrag Höglers (English-language title: Hoegler's Mission) [1] is a fantasy movie directed by Gustav von Wangenheim. It was released in 1950.

Gustav von Wangenheim German politician

Gustav von Wangenheim was a German nobleman, actor, screenwriter and director.

Contents

Plot

Högler, the former director of a steel plant now in East Germany, is a rich and ruthless capitalist residing in West Germany. He wishes to lay his hands on the new technical innovations that were developed by Dr. Thelen, who now runs the factory after it has been nationalized. Högler tries to besmirch Thelen by organizing sabotage in the factory, threatening to kill innocent workers to destroy the scientist's reputation. Two trade union activists - the West German Maria and the East German Fritz - who know each other since they have both fought in the wartime anti-Fascist resistance, unite to thwart the capitalist's plans.

Cast

Inge von Wangenheim German politician

Ingeborg "Inge" von Wangenheim was a German actress who married actor Gustav Von Wangenheim and joined the Communist Party. After the war, she became a successful East German writer.

Fritz Tillmann was a German actor.

Alice Martha Treff was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 120 films between 1932 and 2001. She was born and died in Berlin, Germany.

Production

At 1949, after the foundation of both the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany and as the existence of a Cold War between East and West became ever clearer, the East German authorities instructed DEFA's filmmakers to focus on new subjects: rather than making purely anti-Fascist films, they were now to fan anti-Western sentiment in their works. Der Auftrag Höglers was the one of the first movies made under those demands. In addition, it was also the first East German film with a style conforming to Socialist Realism, that was also required by the cultural establishment. [2]

Cold War State of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite states, and the United States with its allies after World War II. A common historiography of the conflict begins between 1946, the year U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram" from Moscow cemented a U.S. foreign policy of containment of Soviet expansionism threatening strategically vital regions, and the Truman Doctrine of 1947, and ending between the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1991 collapse of the USSR, which ended communism in Eastern Europe. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences.

Reception

The German Film Lexicon defined the picture as "utterly lifeless, Cold War-influenced film... but interesting as a historical document." [3]

Dagmar Schittly wrote that the movie was a typical anti-Western work of the time, "a propaganda pamphlet against the West German saboteurs." [4] Carsten Gansel and Tanja Walenski noted that it also featured a call for class unity, by presenting the ability of East and West German trade union members to cooperate. [5]

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References

  1. Der Auftrag Höglers on DEFA Foundation.
  2. Joachim-Felix Leonhard (editor). Medienwissenschaft: Ein Handbuch Zur Entwicklung Der Medien Und Kommunikationsform. Volume 15.2. Mouton De Gruyter (2002). ISBN   978-3-11-016326-1. Pages 1238-1239.
  3. Der Auftrag Höglers . German Film Lexicon.
  4. Dagmar Schittly. Zwischen Regie und Regime. Die Filmpolitik der SED im Spiegel der DEFA-Produktionen. ISBN   978-3-86153-262-0. Pages 57-58.
  5. Carsten Gansel, Tanja Walenski. Erinnerung als Aufgabe? V&R (2008). ISBN   978-3-89971-406-7. Pages 246-247.
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