Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You've probbably heard of "Victory in the West"- a two hour long 1941 German Propaganda Film, celebrating the German 1940 Victory over France. Produced with a high budget, made out of real combat footage, illustrated with maps and graphics, it is certainly a well-made propaganda movie.
Yet, it failed in cinemas. Why? Because Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister of Nazi Germany, delibaterly sabotaged the movie.
In this video, I'm gonna talk a little about this rather interesting story of how the Army Production of Movie triggered a conflict with Goebbels, how Goebbels felt about these movies, how he even went to sabotage the premiere of "Victory in the West"", and how he ultimatley won the power struggle with the Army, banning them from making further videos.
The background footage in the video is from "Victory in the West".
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Sources:
David Welch — Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933–1945 (1983)
Rolf Giesen — Nazi Propaganda Films: A History and Filmography (2003)
Robert Edwin Herzstein — The War That Hitler Won: The Most Infamous Propaganda Campaign in History (1973)
You've probbably heard of "Victory in the West"- a two hour long 1941 German Propaganda Film, celebrating the German 1940 Victory over France. Produced with a high budget, made out of real combat footage, illustrated with maps and graphics, it is certainly a well-made propaganda movie.
Yet, it failed in cinemas. Why? Because Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister of Nazi Germany, delibaterly sabotaged the movie.
In this video, I'm gonna talk a little about this rather interesting story of how the Army Production of Movie triggered a conflict with Goebbels, how Goebbels felt about these movies, how he even went to sabotage the premiere of "Victory in the West"", and how he ultimatley won the power struggle with the Army, banning them from making further videos.
The background footage in the video is from "Victory in the West".
-
Sources:
David Welch — Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933–1945 (1983)
Rolf Giesen — Nazi Propaganda Films: A History and Filmography (2003)
Robert Edwin Herzstein — The War That Hitler Won: The Most Infamous Propaganda Campaign in History (1973)
![Propaganda Footage from German Paratrooper Exercise- 16 June 1943 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gN8y9QEUbPY/mqdefault.jpg "Propaganda Footage from German Paratrooper Exercise- 16 June 1943 [Full HD]
During WWII, Germany was the first country to use paratroopers on a larger scale, they were employed during the invasion of Denmark and the Low Countries in 1940, for example during the famous assault on Fort Ében-Émael in Belgium on May 10th, where around 500 German paratroopers used gliders to land inside the fortress and capture it.
But their most famous operation was the invasion of Crete, where over 14,000 German paratroopers landed on the island and managed to conquer it in May/ June 1941.
However, the Germans suffered heavy losses during these landings, both in men and planes, which prompted Hitler to believe the age of large-scale paratrooper landings is over, and no further use of airborne landings was planned.
Unlike the Germans, the Allies were impressed with the German landings on Crete, and began to form their own tactics for large-scale airborne operations, which were successfully employed on Sicily, in Normandy and during the famous Operation Market Garden.
Germany, on the other hand, only used paratroopers after 1941 as regular ground troops, mostly on focal points on the front that were under high pressure. The German paratroopers, still considered elite formations, were famous even amongst the Allies, and paratroopers often offered heavy resistance, both in Italy and on the Western Front in 1944/45.
Actual paradrop training was continued until early 1944. This video is a short clip from German paratroopers conducting training in June 1943, shown in propaganda newsreels. It shows them boarding planes, dropping and advancing on their mock target.
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Subtitles made by me.")
](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gsmozf3JQOI/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 563- 18 June 1941 [Full HD](Combat Footage Crete/Africa, German Merchant Raider)
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.
285 wartime issues were produced, from September 1939 (No. 470) to March 1945 (No. 755).
This is issue No.563, released on June 18th, 1941, only four days before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was of course still being kept a secret and thus not mentioned here.
The episode starts with footage from East Asia, showing a Japanese Army parade and combat footage from China.
The issue also contains footage from evacuated children from Hamburg in Vienna and re-building of a bridge in occupied Yugoslavia.
Combat footage from Crete, including the landing of Italian troops and mountain troops is shown, as well as combat footage from North Africa.
The last scene shows German Navy units operating off the coast of Africa and India, sinking British merchant ships.
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Subtitles made by me.")
](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gu7X0ERRuJE/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 628- 16 Sep. 1942 [Full HD ](U-Boats St. Lawrence river, Caucasus/Stalingrad)
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.
Over 700 episodes were produced, and many of the historical WWII footage we nowadays have comes from the Wochenschau.
This is issue No. 628 from September 16th, 1942.
It shows footage of a German U-Boat operating in the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence in Canada,German units fighting on the Volkhov front, including footage of the making of Volkhov staffs, German and Romanian units crossing the Strait of Kerch and advancing towards Novorossiysk, and lenghty scenes of German planes attacking Soviet positions and planes.
Finally, the Newsweek shows German units advancing towards and shelling Soviet positions around Stalingrad, and again German planes attacking Soviet positions around and in Stalingrad.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Helicopter Testing Footage [Full HD]- ca. August 1943](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hLBOolI6O3k/mqdefault.jpg "Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Helicopter Testing Footage [Full HD]- ca. August 1943
The Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (Dragon) was the first serial produced helicopter in the world, and the first to be used in a rescue mission.
Development began in 1937, with the first prototype ready in 1940. However, development and production were seriously hampered by Allied air raids, which resulted in the destruction of several prototypes and pre-series helicopters.
In the end, only around 20 were built until the end of the war, with most of them destroyed while still on the factory floors.
Only a few were assigned to Transport Squadron 40, a dedicated helicopter transport unit, and some prototypes were used for rescue missions of crashed planes, although many of these prototypes crashed themselves.
The following is footage showcasing the flight of a later prototype of the Fa 223.
It is raw footage without sound, so there are no subtitles.")
![German Propaganda Footage from a U-Boat under Attack in the Arctic Ocean- 10 August 1944 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/h_TY32qqLTA/mqdefault.jpg "German Propaganda Footage from a U-Boat under Attack in the Arctic Ocean- 10 August 1944 [Full HD]
During WWII, many German U-Boats operated in the Arctic Sea to attack Allied convoys, as many of them passed through that area, both to reach the Soviet port of Murmansk, but also convoys on their way to Great Britain.
U-Boat warfare in the Arctic Ocean lasted until 29th April 1945, when the last convoy attack of the entire war took place, with U-286 sinking the freighter HMS Goodall.
The following is footage from a German submarine operating in the area, coming under attack from enemy planes and diving. It was taken inside the submarine and shows the crew trying to evade the bombs, including footage from the crew repairing a water leak.
It is unknown when exactly the footage was taken, or how much of it is actually real or staged, but it was shown in German propaganda newsreels released on August 10th, 1944.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![German Newsweek No. 649- 10 February 1943 [Full HD] (New Factories, Night Combat, North Africa)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/i6bXEvPuH7o/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 649- 10 February 1943 [Full HD] (New Factories, Night Combat, North Africa)
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.
Over 700 episodes were produced, and many of the historical WWII footage we nowadays have comes from the Wochenschau.
This is issue No. 649 from February 10th, 1943. This particulary issue has been digitized from the original 35mm film to 1080p, resulting in a very good video quality.
It shows footage from new factories built unter the directions of Reich Minister Speer, a speech by Goebbels in a tank factory, footage of Grand Admiral Dönitz taking over the supreme command of the Navy, footage from North Africa, including arrival of convoys in Tunisia and combat footage against British/American planes, and the capture of a British pilot.
This issue also shows footage from the Eastern Front, including units having to deal with heavy winter weather, defensive combat footage, and footage from a German field airport during heavy winter weather. - Subtitles made by me.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![Ufa Sound Week No. 470- 7 Sep. 1939 [Full HD] (Invasion of Poland, Fighting in Danzig, Mobilization)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iSMrydqfwyY/mqdefault.jpg "Ufa Sound Week No. 470- 7 Sep. 1939 [Full HD] (Invasion of Poland, Fighting in Danzig, Mobilization)
The Ufa (Universum Film AG) was a German movie and TV company, founded in December 1917. It was founded by several companies, with the German goverment secretly involved; and its initial goal was to produce pro-German propaganda movies that would be shown outside of Germany.
After the end of WWI, however, the focus shifted on producing movies for Germany for commercial profit.
In 1927, Ufa had financial difficulties and was facing bankruptcy, the company was bough by right-wing media mogul Alfred Hugenberg, who continued production as normal, but also Newsreels of the Ufa to advertise his own party and later the Nazi party.
After the Nazis rose to power, Ufa, like all other movie companies, came under strict goverment control, and in March 1937, Hugenberg had to sell the majority of his stakes in Ufa to a goverment-controlled company; the Ufa thus came under direct goverment control.
The Ufa Week was produced from September 1925 onwards, initially as silent newsreel, from September 1930 onwards with sound, hence the name was changed to Ufa Sound Week.
Like all newsreels in Nazi Germany, it was not a neutral news source, but rather full of Nazi propaganda. After the outbreak of WWII, the content that all newsreels produced was unified, and in mid-1940, all newsreels were unified to The German Newsweek.
This here is Ufa Sound Week No. 470, released only a few days after the start of WWII in Europe and is one of the first wartime newsreels.
It shows scenes from Danzig and tells the Nazi propaganda lie that Poland allegedly wanted to conquer Danzig and that the Germans had to defend it.
Also shows scenes of alleged bombing of German villages by Polish planes, and footage of various combat events within Danzig, such as the Battle for the Polish Post Office and the Shelling of the Westerplatte.
Further scenes shown are war preparations within Germany, such as air raid preparations and armament production, and footage of German troops advancing in Poland and German planes bombing Polish positions.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about Denunciation- July 1940 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iXhX1hcr3CQ/mqdefault.jpg "“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about Denunciation- July 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 is a short from July 1940, dealing with the topic of denunciation. While the Nazis Secret Police, the Gestapo, relied heavily on tips and denunciations from the general public to track down people with anti-nazi views, like communist sympathizers, pacifists, anti-nazi conservatives etc., many reports were simply filed by people due to personal aversion against other people.
Obviously, such reports were rather useless for the Nazi authorities, and they ran multiple campaigns to discourage people from reporting people simply due to personal feud. This video is part of these activities; Tran is reporting his neighbor out of personal dislike for a minor reason, while Helle reminds him that he shouldnt do such things, as they are useless and bother the authorities.
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Subtitles made by me.")
