Inside Nazi Germany

This March of Time newsreel was produced in 1938, before World War II and long before the extent of Nazi atrocities were revealed to the world. It was a warning from those who recognized the path that Germany was taking at the time, and was screened for President Roosevelt. In 1993, it was designated for preservation by the Library of Congress for historical significance.   

“Inside Nazi Germany” is an explicitly anti-Nazi movie that provided Americans with a look at the horrific injustices the Nazis were perpetrating against Jews and others who dared to question the Nazi regime. It was produced by Americans using footage smuggled out of Germany to show the public what was really going on. It’s not terribly graphic, violent, or otherwise visually disturbing, beyond the anti-semitic signs and Nazi marches we see on screen. Kristallnacht was still many months away, and the average German could still believe the lie that the concentration camps were only for criminals and other deviants.

Matt Novak posted the video to YouTube last week, where it was immediately taken down for violations of their hate speech policy, despite the film's purpose. It took a few days of confusion and protest to get it reinstated. Read that story and more on this documentary at Paleofuture.