The Role of Women in German Film: a Comparison Between

The Weimar Republic and the Nazi Period

Maddi Lapitz for

Perspectives of German Film, Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lin

Universität Regensburg (SS-2023)

University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

Film has been one of the most important forms of mass media since its beginning in

the 19th century, making it not only a prominent form of entertainment but also a space to

reflect the social and political situation of the time in which it is produced. In the context of

the German nation, having such a complicated and everchanging history, looking at its film

and the themes it reflects is an excellent way to better understand its development. In the

words of Sabine Hawke, it is important to focus on “ the changing function of the cinema as a

mass medium, social space, public diversion, political weapon, and cultural institution”,1 in

order to understand the importance film has had in the specific German context.

This essay will focus on the role of women in both the Weimar Republic (1918-1933)

and the Third Reich (1933-1945), and how it was reflected in film. To understand how and

why women’s situation developed in these years, the essay will first take a look at the specific

context of both periods, focusing on both the social and artistic factors, and it will then offer

examples of films in which those factors have materialized. Lastly, a comparison between the

two periods will be made to illustrate how quickly cinema changed in such a short period of

time, notoriously coinciding with the way the German nation evolved.

Women in Weimar Film

The role women had in the Weimar cinema can only be understood by looking at the

period in which these films emerged, that is, a time of confusion and liberation, but also

1
Sabine Hawke, German National Cinema, Routledge (New York, 2022), p. 2.

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

poverty and collective trauma. The Weimar Republic was established in 1918, directly after

the loss of the First World War, when Germany was forced to admit defeat and own up to

having been fully responsible for the War and the destruction it caused. That left the already

traumatized Germans not only ridiculized but also in a fragile economic situation, taking into

account the cost of the destroyed infrastructures on top of the compensations they needed to

give to the winning parties. Even in these tragic times, the Weimar Republic offered a

newness Germans had never experienced before, being democratic for the first time, with the

sensation of being able to build the country they want without any impositions. This was

reflected in all aspects of society but is even more apparent when it comes to art, and

therefore, film.

The situation of women in these conditions flourished, and while it can not be

overlooked that women were still nowhere near equality in the 1920s, the phenomenon of a

New Woman appeared. As Jochen Hung expresses, this new woman was open to more

opportunities than ever before when it came to employment, fashion, mass production, and

political rights… the newness of Weimar Germany offered women a chance to reinvent

themselves, even in the context of general subordination to men. Women experienced

liberation in all senses of the word, their role in society shifted, as did the way they were

portrayed in mass media, creating new paradigms of femininity, sexuality, and tradition.2 This

societal progress slowly receded at the same time the economy did, after the Great

Depression of 1929, and as the population rejected progress as a way to cling to Germany’s

2
Jochen Hung. “The Modernized Gretchen: Transformations of the ‘New Woman’ in the Late Weimar
Republic.”, German History 33, no. 1. (2015), p. 54-55

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

glorious past, women suffered a loss of rights. This was obviously made apparent with the

results of the 1930 elections, in which the NSDAP, the Nazi Party, won and Germany rapidly

became a right-wing country.

Having seen the situation of Germany and German Women in the time between 1918

and 1933, it is important to lay out the main themes, topics, and techniques of the film

production of this time before getting into the role women had in it. It has been stated that the

Weimar Republic was a time of experimentation, which heavily influenced the film industry.

The main theme was obviously the collective trauma after WWI and the general madness it

caused in the population, materialized by terror films like Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau) or

Das Cabinet des Dr. Calagari (1920, Robert Wiene), or social critique movies, like Fritz

Lang’s Metropolis (1927) or Die Letzte Mann (1924), in which the struggles of postwar

Germany and the abuses of the working class are crudely depicted. Without a doubt, the

common theme all kinds of movies from this period had is the loosing of the mind, the deep

psychological wound the War caused in the population. These traumas shaped the German

psyche for the following years, which later became a factor that could explain the rise of the

Nazi regime.3 When it comes to the technical details, the Weimar film is characterized by

the expressionistic way to exteriorize ideas: exaggerated acting, surreal settings,

deformation of landscapes… It was a time of technical advances, which introduced many

innovations like the unchained camera and complex mass choreographies. These

expressionistic tendencies “aim(s) at reappropriating an alienated universe by

3
Bernadette Kester, Film Front Weimar: Representations of the First World War in German Films of the Weimar
Period (1919-1933) (Amsterdam University Press, 2003).

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

transforming it into a private, personal vision”,4 that is, to build a bridge between the

dystopian reality and the deep psychological issues of the population.

When it comes to how and where women fit in this terror or social awareness

expressionist movies, various roles deserve attention: the victims in terror films, the

seductive femme fatales, and the new main characters. As women were still oppressed

and seen as less than a man, they were still the perfect poor, little, and fragile victims of

cruel monsters, who could not fend for themselves whatsoever. The newfound liberty of

these years also allowed for sexuality to be further explored in cinema, introducing the

figure of the seductive femme fatale, which was already present in literature. To get a

better understanding of the aforementioned two kinds of roles women could fulfill, this

essay will present an example of each of them.

Beginning with the role women fulfilled in terror films, that is, that of the victim,

one of the most characteristic ones of the time is Ellen, in Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922).

She is the main character’s wife, and since the monster, Orlok, is presented with her

image, he becomes infatuated with her, and a special supernatural bond is created. He

becomes obsessed with biting her, which he does at the end of the movie, causing his

inevitable death. The most important aspect of Ellen’s character is of course her

relationship with Orlok, which is not only one of horror but also sexual tension and

4
Marc Silberman. German Cinema. Texts in Context. Detroit: Wayne, 1992, p. 20

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

desire. Moreover, this desire drives her crazy, to the point of wanting to be with the

monster, going mad for it, and sacrificing her life for the completion of their union. This

is an excellent summary of these female characters who were depicted as helpless and

fragile, but also more complex than ever before, fighting their inner urges. Even if it can’t

be denied that the general tone of this character, and those alike, is still very much

patriarchal, the sexual and even sentimental connection with the monsters provides the

characters with more depth and nuance.

Another manifestation of the liberty to portray sexuality is the figure of the femme

fatale, the seductress who infatuates the main character and deceives him for her own

gain. A good example of this would be Lola, the exotic dancer in Stenberg’s The Blue

Angel (1930): a respectable Gymnasium professor by the name of Immanuel Rath meets

her backstage at a dance bar, becomes infatuated with her, and slowly but surely lets go of

all he believes in to be with her. At the end of the movie, he is shown as a completely

gone and ridiculized human being, acting like a clown in Lola’s circus in front of people

who had respected him not long ago. These kinds of roles are better understood when

taking into account the millions of deaths and injuries WWI caused, which led men to

repress their feelings and trauma and completely separate emotions from a cold and

impenetrable exterior. When blaming women and their sexuality for the downfall of

respectability, men had the opportunity to feel anger, frustration, or even despair without

confronting the traumatic events of previous years. As Barbara Halles puts it, “the

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

Weimar construction of the sexual woman served as a mirror of fears and anxieties

brought on by historical developments”. 5

Women in Nazi Film

Contrasting with the relative freedom of previous years, the role women had in

Nazi Germany and its film was indicative of a deep social regression. The Third Reich

started in 1933 after the Enabling Act dissolved the parliament and illegalized all

opposition to the NSDAP that had democratically won the elections of 1930. The main

ideology of the Nazis was of course the protection of traditional notions of family, the

superiority of the mystical Aryan race, the intense antisemitism which lead to mass

extermination, and the belief that Germany had the right to expand all through Europe to

clean it from inferior races. Because of Hitler’s imperialistic ambitions, tensions grew in

Europe until the invasion of Poland in 1939 led to the start of WWII, which lasted until

1945 and left Germany completely devastated. Unlike in WWI, there was no doubt that

Germany was to blame for this War, and so the feeling of guilt and repression took over

the German nation.

The situation of women in this context, as one could imagine, differs greatly from

the one in the Weimar Republic. Women regressed back to being housewives and

5
Barbara Halles, “Projecting Trauma: The Femme Fatale in Weimar and Hollywood Film Noir,” Women in
German Yearbook 23 (2005): 224–43.

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

caretakers, who had the sole purpose of sacrificing their life to please their good German

husbands and creating more soldiers or wives. All the freedom they could have

experienced disappeared overnight: they were no longer able to partake in public life, and

all their contribution was limited to the sphere of the household. As Charu Gupta

expresses, “(t)he Nazis, in the 1920s and early 1930s, called for the removal of women from

all areas of political and economic life and the reversal of the gains women had made since

the beginning of the German feminist move- merit in the 1860s.”6

Before getting into the role women had in Nazi film, it is vital to determine the role

film had in the Nazi regime, given that it is extremely unique to its time. During the Third

Reich, the main objective of all kinds of cultural production was the propaganda of Nazi

values, and because of the popularity of cinema, it became the favorite medium of Goebbels,

the head of Nazi propaganda. Because of this, all films from this time aim to express specific

values through the telling of stories or even the dramatization of real events. Most films opted

for a more subtle representation of Nazism, running away from swastikas or explicit mentions

of violence, and steering towards the depiction of perfect families, happy soldiers, the

greatness of the German nation, military discipline… Film ceased to be artistic and became

another form of control and domination, completely controlled by Nazis. In the words of

Rentschel, “(f)ilms made under the Nazi regime amounted to an other-directed cinema,

administered by a state apparatus which determined every aspect of production from a script

6
Charu Gupta, . “Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany.” Economic and Political Weekly 26, no. 17
(1991): WS40–48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4397988, p. 42

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

treatment to a film’s final shape, from its release and exhibition to its circulation in the public

space:” 7

Taking into account film was used as a way to political and social means to an end,

there is no doubt of the role women played in it, which was to represent the good woman of

the time. As the way to understand womanhood and femininity completely shifted, so did the

way they were portrayed in film: nazism prioritized the absolute of the "German mother" as

well as the idea of the "female fighter and comrade," rejecting both the femme fatales of the

fin-de-siècle and the "new woman" of modernity.8 Of course, this was easier said than done,

as the paradigms of stardom female desirability were still present in society even among

Nazis. Still, even if the role of women in the film Nazi industry is a nuanced and sometimes

contradictory one, there is no doubt that their characters followed a general line, both

ideologically and aesthetically. To get a better understanding of the general role of women in

Nazi films, this essay will now analyze an exemplary instance.

An excellent example of how women were portrayed in Nazi movies can be found in

Veit Harlan’s Opfergang, given that the two main female characters, Äls Flodeén and

Octavia, represent many Nazi ideals in various ways. In this movie, a man by the name of

Albert meets Äls, his new neighbor, and gets infatuated with her even if he has a wife,

Octavia. While her wife is interested in meaningless intellectual endeavors like reading

7
Eric Rentschler,. “The Testament of Dr. Goebbels.” Film History, vol. 8, no. 3, 1996, pp. 316–26. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/3815311, p. 19
8
Christian Rogowski and Antje Ascheid, “Hitler’s Heroines. Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema,”
German Studies Review 27, no. 3 (October 1, 2004), p. 7

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

philosophy, Äls is everything a good woman should be. Physically, she follows the Aryan

beauty standards exactly: she is blonde, pale, tall, and fit. Moreover, she is shown as an

athletic person, always running or swimming or riding a horse, which, according to Nazism,

was the ideal way to be. The whole purpose of women was to birth healthy babies and to be

strong enough to support the country while men were off fighting, so the importance of health

and sport was always present when representing women.

Even if the physical aspects of Opfergang are important, the vital notion of this film is

the concept of sacrifice. Generally speaking, Nazis glorified the sacrifice of the self in favor

of the greater good in all aspects of life, from dying in war for the good of the Nation to

everyday situations. This is more apparent when talking about women, given that their whole

existence can be understood as a sacrifice to have children and please men, without having

any ambitions or projects of their own. In this movie, Äls has a terminal disease that prevents

her from being able to see Albert and gets bedridden at the same time Albert also falls sick,

making it impossible for him to visit her. Seeing how missing Albert is affecting Äls’ spirits,

Octavia decides to pass herself as Albert and walk by her house, so she will be happy

thinking Albert is thinking about her. Here, Octavia is sacrificing her relationship and her

pride for the greater good, which is the mental state of a sick woman and of her husband.

Later in the film, when Äls ultimately dies of her sickness, Albert and Octavia are able to fix

their marriage and live happily ever after. In this case, Äls also sacrificed herself by dying so

that the institution of marriage can remain intact, and the main characters are able to live

happily and create a family.

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

Conclusion

Taking into account what this essay has displayed, one could say the role of women in

cinema took a drastic turn with the popularization of Nazi ideology and the subsequent

proclamation of the Third Reich. All the progress women were making to be seen as complex

bidimensional individuals came to a halt and they got turned into unidimensional mothers and

wives, who did nothing wrong and whose sole value relied on their perfect Aryan body. It is

true that there are many similarities in the way women were understood in both the Weimar

and the Nazi periods, given that women were not treated as equal to men in either of them,

but analyzing specific characters and examples shows how the oppression of women was

made more extreme from 1933 on.

The other conclusion of this essay is the extreme connection between social factors

and film in German history. Even if the role of women is the theoretical framework of this

work, the evidence shows how German film has been used as an outlet to express deeper

societal issues or ideas. In the Weimar Republic, film was one of the ways to cope with

disconcertion and directionlessness, and during the Third Reich, film was used as a means to

show society which direction it had to take. Even if the social function this genre fulfilled

differs greatly, the point stands: film is inherently social and political in the German context.

Word count: 2678

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University of Regensburg
25th of June, 2023
Perspectives on German Film
Dr. Norbert Ballerstaller-Lim
Maddi Lapitz

Sources

Gupta, Charu. “Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany.” Economic and

Political Weekly 26, no. 17 (1991): WS40–48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4397988,

Halles, Barbara. “Projecting Trauma: The Femme Fatale in Weimar and Hollywood
Film Noir,” Women in German Yearbook 23 (2005): 224–43

Hawke, Sabine. German National Cinema, Routledge (New York, 2022)

Hung, Jochen. “The Modernized Gretchen: Transformations of the ‘New Woman’ in

the Late Weimar Republic.”, German History 33, no. 1. (2015)

Kester, Bernadette. Film Front Weimar: Representations of the First World War in
German Films of the Weimar Period (1919-1933) (Amsterdam University Press, 2003)

Rogowski, Christian and Ascheid, Antje. “Hitler’s Heroines. Stardom and

Womanhood in Nazi Cinema,” German Studies Review 27, no. 3 (October 1, 2004).

Rentschler, Eric. “The Testament of Dr. Goebbels.” Film History, vol. 8, no. 3, 1996,
pp. 316–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3815311

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