Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Tran and Helle was a popular series of propganda shorts in Nazi Germany, aired from October 1939 onwards.
The shorts always followed the same basic script: Tran, played by actor Ludwig Schmitz (1884-1954) was portrayed as a gullible, easy to fool character, who would regularly believe British propaganda, while Helle was portrayed as a "good German" who would regulary explain the "truth" (in the Nazi propaganda sense) to Tran.
The shorts were only a few minutes long and were usually played in front of newsreels or movies.
The series was stopped in Autumn 1940, because it was getting extremely popular and the Nazis feared people could identify with Tran and his anti-Nazi views.
This episode from December 1939 deals with the topic of drinking alcohol during wartime. Tran wakes up in a prison cell; not remembering how he got there. He then got a visit from Helle, who told him about all of his drunk shenanigans from last night, and cautioned him to be careful with drinking too much, especially during wartime.
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Subtitles made by me.
Tran and Helle was a popular series of propganda shorts in Nazi Germany, aired from October 1939 onwards.
The shorts always followed the same basic script: Tran, played by actor Ludwig Schmitz (1884-1954) was portrayed as a gullible, easy to fool character, who would regularly believe British propaganda, while Helle was portrayed as a "good German" who would regulary explain the "truth" (in the Nazi propaganda sense) to Tran.
The shorts were only a few minutes long and were usually played in front of newsreels or movies.
The series was stopped in Autumn 1940, because it was getting extremely popular and the Nazis feared people could identify with Tran and his anti-Nazi views.
This episode from December 1939 deals with the topic of drinking alcohol during wartime. Tran wakes up in a prison cell; not remembering how he got there. He then got a visit from Helle, who told him about all of his drunk shenanigans from last night, and cautioned him to be careful with drinking too much, especially during wartime.
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Subtitles made by me.
![Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel No. 3- January 1945 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sS78yJzQSgs/mqdefault.jpg "Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel No. 3- January 1945 [Full HD]
The Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel (Panorama-Farbmonatsschau) was a German propaganda newsreel produced during WWII.
Color film was already invented in the mid 1930s and was commercially avaliable, although color cameras and film were extremly expensive.
Nevertheless, during WWII, more and more German propaganda footage was shot in color, and by 1944, the Propaganda Ministry wanted to create a newsreel completly in color.
The Panorama Color Newsreel was only produced in four episodes, from November 1944 to January/February 1945.
The newsreel was more focused on cultural events, civlian footage, footage from workplaces etc. and contained few military footage/footage from frontlines.
This video shows issue No. 3 from January 1945. It shows footage from from wine harvest at the Rhine, cattle being moved in Bavaria from the hills to the valley for winter, including decorations being put on them.
Also shows German troops leaving Finland and reaching Norway, where they meet with local Lapps people, footage of German AA-positions in Norway,
footage of German reconnaissance seaplanes starting for mission andAA-guns fighting off a Soviet air raid.
Another section shows the history of the Red Cross and the work of Red Cross nurses packing packages for German POWs abroad, footage from the German hospital ship Tübingen and from a German field hospital at Lake Garda, and footage from German pilot recruits during gliding flight.
There are also some annotations from the German Federal Archive before the episode.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![German Newsweek No. 706- 15 March 1944 [Full HD] (Memorial Day, Combat Footage Soviet Union/Italy)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uk7TQmsgpHM/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 706- 15 March 1944 [Full HD] (Memorial Day, Combat Footage Soviet Union/Italy)
The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945. The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany.
With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 onwards shown under the title of The German Newsweek.
It was one of the most important aspects of German wartime propaganda. These Newsreels were made to show the war in a favorable way for the Germans, even when the tide of the was clearly turned against German after 1943. Even in 1945, they still tried to generate a feeling of resistance and told the people that Germany is able to continue its defense.
They also often contain other elements of Nazi propaganda, such a antisemitic footage, or footage describing the alleged misery or bad conditions among the Allied nations or the Soviet Union, and the superiority of Germany in fields of arts, social programs and living conditions.
Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as well as frontline soldiers, RAD-workers etc.
The showing was mandatory before films, and later, a regulation was added that people were not allowed to enter the cinema after the Wochenschau started, forcing people to sit through it if they wanted to watch a film.
This is issue No. 706 from mid-March 1944.
It shows footage from the Remembrance Day in Berlin on March 12th, footage from an NSDAP Party School, civilians creating their own air raid shelter, RAD ski training, a swimming festival and footage from training of new air industry workers.
The second part shows combat footage from various Air Force units, combat footage from the Eastern Front and from Italy, including footage from the Anzio bridgehead.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about feeling Empathy for France- August 1940 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vGIfwECdrAc/mqdefault.jpg "“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about feeling Empathy for France- August 1940 [Full HD]
Tran and Helle was a popular series of propganda shorts in Nazi Germany, aired from October 1939 onwards.
The shorts always followed the same basic script: Tran, played by actor Ludwig Schmitz (1884-1954) was portrayed as a gullible, easy to fool character, who would regularly believe British propaganda, while Helle was portrayed as a good German who would regulary explain the truth (in the Nazi propaganda sense) to Tran.
The shorts were only a few minutes long and were usually played in front of newsreels or movies.
The series was stopped in Autumn 1940, because it was getting extremly popular and the Nazis feared people could identify with Tran and his anti-Nazi views.
This episode from August 1940 deals with the recent victory over France. In it, Tran laments this and feels pity and empathy for the French, while Helle warns him that the French are out for revenge and would start another war if Germany isnt watchful.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![German Newsweek No. 531- 6 Nov. 1940 [Full HD] (Signal Troops Exercise, Bombing of England)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vV4lG5Or2Zc/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 531- 6 Nov. 1940 [Full HD] (Signal Troops Exercise, Bombing of England)
The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945. The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany.
With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 shown under the title of The German Newsweek.
It was one of the most important aspects of German propaganda. Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as private TV ownership was extremly rare during WWII.
These newsreels were, of course, not a neutral news source, but would rather spread Nazi propaganda, trying to create the impression that Germany was winning the war and that Germany was fighting a just war, without mentioning the countless war crimes and crimes against humanity commited by German forces.
285 wartime issues were produced, from September 1939 (No. 470) to March 1945 (No. 755).
This is issue No. 531, from early November 1940.
It shows a large variety of different footage, including harvest in Germany, building of new Autobahn sections, a visit of SA-chief Viktor Lutze in occupied Poland, an exercise of German troops in occupied France and German fighter and bomber squadrons, including a bombing raid of Heinkel He-111 bombers on England, among other things.
This issue also shows footage of Italian troops in North Africa and from Japanese bombers allegedly bombing the Burma Strait.
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Subtitles made by me.")
