The film based on Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel cannot be screened in Germany
The anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by German author Erich Maria Remarque tells of the harrowing experiences of a young German soldier and his school friends on the Western Front during the First World War. The American film adaptation from 1930 was one of the first Hollywood films to be dubbed for the German market and enjoyed considerable international success, winning several awards. In Germany, however, it was met with a flood of criticism upon its release due to its pacifist stance and its portrayal of the hopeless situation of German soldiers. Right-wing parties – especially the NSDAP – as well as veterans’ associations, saw the film as an attack on the honour of German soldiers. The Reichswehr disapproved of German soldiers being portrayed as questioning the meaning of their actions. Many were also disturbed by the fact that Germans were played by actors from the USA, the former enemy, and that Jews were significantly involved in the production of the film. The Berlin Film Censorship Board allowed only a shortened version to be screened.
The loudest of the critics was Joseph Goebbels, party leader in Berlin and its chief mouthpiece. First, storm troopers staged riots in front of and inside cinemas showing the film, disrupting the screenings. Goebbels then said that this violence justified a ban on the grounds that the film posed a threat to public order. Governments of German states such as Thuringia and Bavaria agreed. On 11 December 1930, the Central Film Censorship Board banned the film on the grounds it “endangered Germany’s reputation abroad, denigrated the Reichswehr and displayed unrestrained pacifist tendencies”. The decision provoked widespread protest, and a shortened version of the film was re-released months later. The film was banned by the Third Reich and the novel on which it was based fell victim to the campaign of Nazi book burning. In 2022, a German remake of the novel won more Oscars than any other German film.
About the Deutschlandmuseum
An immersive and innovative experience museum about 2000 years of German history
The whole year at a glance
