The Nazis Strike
Encyclopedia
The Nazis Strike was the second film of Frank Capra
's Why We Fight
propaganda film
series. It introduces Germany as a nation whose aggressive ambitions began in 1863 with Otto von Bismarck
and with the Nazis as their latest incarnation.
is described in terms of Halford John Mackinder
's Heartland Theory.
of Konrad Henlein
, the British Union of Fascists
and the German-American Bund
. Meanwhile, within Germany the Nazis are beginning an enormous process of rearmament
.
Germany then begins its territorial expansion with the first target being Austria
, Hitler's "full-scale invasion test". He then uses his Sudeten "stooges" under Konrad Henlein to "soften up" Czechoslovakia and annex the Sudetenland with the help of a Britain and France desperate to avoid war. Hitler's use of the concept of self-determination
as a justification for these annexations is ridiculed by reference to prominent German American
s thoroughly loyal to the Allied
cause, including Admiral
Chester Nimitz
, Henry J. Kaiser
, Wendell Willkie
and Senator Robert Wagner.
, which is depicted with many inaccuracies.
The extreme disparity between the two sides is emphasized - the Nazis have 5000 modern tank
s against Poland's 600 obsolete models, while the Luftwaffe
had 6000 modern monoplane
s opposed by the less than 1000 aircraft of the Polish Air Force
, many of which are outdated biplane
s. Animations are also used to graphically show how Polish army units were encircled and destroyed. The film suggests that most of the Polish air force was destroyed on the ground, and that the Polish Army relied heavily on mounted cavalry (see Tuchola Forest myth) – suggesting that its makers learned the details of the Polish campaign largely from Nazi propaganda
, where both claims were often made. The stubborn resistance of Polish forces in the Hel peninsula
is recognized, as are the widespread Nazi atrocities
following the Polish defeat. Overall, the movie gives the false impression that Polish army was ineffective, pathetic even, and did no damage to the Germans. The film also alleged that there was widespread collaboration (although doesn't specify from whom) with the invading Germans.
The Nazis are forced to stop at the Bug River
when they meet the advancing Red Army
. The film misrepresents the Nazi-Soviet alliance
, claiming that the pact was signed only after West has turned down Soviet requests to ally themselves against the Germans, and that overall "it didn't make any sense." As the film was made when the Soviets were allied to the Western democracies against the Nazis, the film justifies this occupation by the Soviet need to obtain a buffer zone against a further Nazi advance to the east, and implies that the Soviets entered Poland to stop Hitler, this time repeating Soviet propaganda. The movie makes no mentions of the Soviet invasion and their battles with the Polish border forces
, or that the Soviets broke their non-aggression pact with Poland. Soviet atrocities against the local population are omitted as well.
The film then notes that Hitler now turns west to finish off Britain and France, which have declared war on Nazi Germany, rather than risk a two-front war
, leading to the third part of the installment, which deals with the German invasion of Western Europe. It concludes with the quote by Winston Churchill
from his speech to Allied delegates in 1941:
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's Why We Fight
Why We Fight
Why We Fight is a series of seven war information training films commissioned by the United States government during World War II whose purpose was to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war. Later on they were also shown to the general U.S...
propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
series. It introduces Germany as a nation whose aggressive ambitions began in 1863 with Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
and with the Nazis as their latest incarnation.
Heartland Theory
Hitler's plan for world dominationHegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
is described in terms of Halford John Mackinder
Halford John Mackinder
Sir Halford John Mackinder PC was an English geographer and is considered one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy.-Early life and education:...
's Heartland Theory.
- In the Middle Ages a plague of slavery descended on the world. From the wilds of Mongolia rode a mighty army of fierce horsemen, led by Genghis KhanGenghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
. Burning, looting, pillaging ... the barbarian horde swept across Asia and Eastern Europe. Genghis Khan conquered most of the worldMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
of the thirteenth century. Adolf Hitler was determined to outdo him, and conquer all the world of the twentieth century.
- Set up at Munich was an institute devoted to the little-known science of geopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, vaguely defined as "the military control of space". Germany's leading geopolitician, a former general, Karl HaushoferKarl HaushoferKarl Ernst Haushofer was a German general, geographer and geopolitician. Through his student Rudolf Hess, Haushofer's ideas may have influenced the development of Adolf Hitler's expansionist strategies, although Haushofer denied direct influence on the Nazi regime.-Biography:Haushofer belonged to...
, was head man. Here was gathered together more information about your home town than you yourself know.
- To the German geopolitician, the world is not made up of men and women and children, who live and love and dream of better things. It is made up of only two elements – labor and raw materials. The geopoliticians' job was to transform Hitler's ambition to control these elements into cold, hard reality.
- On their map our planet is neatly divided into land and water. Water forms three quarters of the earth's surface, land only one quarter. And in that one quarter of the earth's surface lies the world's wealth, all its natural resources - and the world's manpower.
- Control the land and you control the world - that was Hitler's theory. This all-important "land" the geopoliticians now break up into two areas - one the Western HemisphereWestern HemisphereThe Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
which together with Australia and all the islands of the world including Japan, comprises one third of the total land area. The other area, which consists of Europe, Asia and Africa, makes up the other two thirds. This supercontinent, which they call the "World Island", is not only twice as large as the rest of the land area, but also includes seven-eighths of the world's population.
- The heart of this "World Island" comprises Eastern Europe and most of Asia. This they call the "Heartland", which just about coincides with the old empire of Genghis Khan.
- Hitler's step-by-step plan for world conquest can be summarized this way:
- Conquer Eastern EuropeEastern EuropeEastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and you dominate the Heartland. - Conquer the Heartland and you dominate the World Island.
- Conquer the World Island.......... and you dominate the World.
- That was the dream in Hitler's mind as he stood at Nuremberg.
Fifth column activity
The next focus of the film is the "softening-up" of the Western democracies using fascist organizations such as the Belgian Rexists, the Sudeten German National Socialist PartySudeten German National Socialist Party
The Sudeten German Party was created by Konrad Henlein under the name Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront on October 1, 1933, some months after the state of Czechoslovakia had outlawed the German National Socialist Workers' Party...
of Konrad Henlein
Konrad Henlein
Konrad Ernst Eduard Henlein was a leading pro-Nazi ethnic German politician in Czechoslovakia and leader of Sudeten German separatists...
, the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
and the German-American Bund
German-American Bund
The German American Bund or German American Federation was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s...
. Meanwhile, within Germany the Nazis are beginning an enormous process of rearmament
Rearmament
Rearmament is the third album by American singer-songwriter Happy Rhodes, released in 1986.-Overview:Rhodes' first four albums were not conceived and recorded as album releases, but were a gathering together of songs recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios from 1984 to 1986...
.
Germany then begins its territorial expansion with the first target being Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Hitler's "full-scale invasion test". He then uses his Sudeten "stooges" under Konrad Henlein to "soften up" Czechoslovakia and annex the Sudetenland with the help of a Britain and France desperate to avoid war. Hitler's use of the concept of self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
as a justification for these annexations is ridiculed by reference to prominent German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
s thoroughly loyal to the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
cause, including Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Chester Nimitz
Chester Nimitz
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN was a five-star admiral in the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet , for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas , for U.S...
, Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
, Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
and Senator Robert Wagner.
Invasion of Poland
The film concludes with the Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, which is depicted with many inaccuracies.
The extreme disparity between the two sides is emphasized - the Nazis have 5000 modern tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s against Poland's 600 obsolete models, while the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
had 6000 modern monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
s opposed by the less than 1000 aircraft of the Polish Air Force
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...
, many of which are outdated biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
s. Animations are also used to graphically show how Polish army units were encircled and destroyed. The film suggests that most of the Polish air force was destroyed on the ground, and that the Polish Army relied heavily on mounted cavalry (see Tuchola Forest myth) – suggesting that its makers learned the details of the Polish campaign largely from Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
, where both claims were often made. The stubborn resistance of Polish forces in the Hel peninsula
Hel Peninsula
Hel Peninsula |Nehrung]]) is a 35-km-long sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.- Geography :...
is recognized, as are the widespread Nazi atrocities
Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles
In addition to about 2.9 million Polish Jews , about 2.8 million non-Jewish Polish citizens perished during the course of the war...
following the Polish defeat. Overall, the movie gives the false impression that Polish army was ineffective, pathetic even, and did no damage to the Germans. The film also alleged that there was widespread collaboration (although doesn't specify from whom) with the invading Germans.
The Nazis are forced to stop at the Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
when they meet the advancing Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. The film misrepresents the Nazi-Soviet alliance
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, claiming that the pact was signed only after West has turned down Soviet requests to ally themselves against the Germans, and that overall "it didn't make any sense." As the film was made when the Soviets were allied to the Western democracies against the Nazis, the film justifies this occupation by the Soviet need to obtain a buffer zone against a further Nazi advance to the east, and implies that the Soviets entered Poland to stop Hitler, this time repeating Soviet propaganda. The movie makes no mentions of the Soviet invasion and their battles with the Polish border forces
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
, or that the Soviets broke their non-aggression pact with Poland. Soviet atrocities against the local population are omitted as well.
The film then notes that Hitler now turns west to finish off Britain and France, which have declared war on Nazi Germany, rather than risk a two-front war
Two-front war
In military terminology, a two-front war is one in which fighting takes place on two geographically separate fronts. It is usually executed by two or more separate forces simultaneously or nearly simultaneously, in the hope that their opponent will be forced to split their fighting force to deal...
, leading to the third part of the installment, which deals with the German invasion of Western Europe. It concludes with the quote by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
from his speech to Allied delegates in 1941:
-
- "What tragedies, what horrors, what crimes has Hitler and all that Hitler stands for brought upon Europe and the world! it is upon this foundation that Hitler [...] pretends to build out of hatred [....] a new order for Europe. But nothing is more certain than that every trace of Hitler's footsteps, every stain of his infected, and corroding fingers will be expunged, purged, and if need be, BLASTED from the surface of the earth. Lift up your hearts, all will come right. Out of depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind."
Critical reception
Polish-American historian Mieczysław B. Biskupski gives a harsh review of the movie, calling it "a conglomeration of patriotic exhortation, crackpot geopolitical theorizing, and historical mischief making." He notes that the film was more than inaccurate, that it was an intentional attempt to falsify certain facts about the war, in particular, through its misportrayal of the Soviets. The film casts Poles into the role of failure, and Soviets, into the role of guiltless saviors, thus saving a clear ideological role of justifying the Western Allies alliance with the Soviet Union.External links
- Watch The Nazis Strike on Google VideoGoogle VideoGoogle Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...