The Ascent of the Nazis and the Downfall of the Catholic Company, Leo-Film AG

Abstract

This article explores the political and fiscal circumstances surrounding the demise of the distributor Leo-Film AG of Munich between 1933 and 1935. It shows how Leo-Film, a company closely associated with the Catholic Church, and which had borrowed heavily to sustain its activities during the period of the transition to sound, was brought down due to a Nazi ‘show trial’ that did great damage to the reputation and standing of the Catholic Church in Germany. The historical actors involved in the demise of Leo-Film include several important individuals who later became significant in the Nazi regime as well in the opposition to it.

Notes

1 ‘BB001/2/2, 349 - Ernst, Georg’, Archiv des Erzbistums München und Freising, https://digitales-archiv.erzbistum-muenchen.de/actaproweb/document/Vz_1413b1f5-61fc-40fe-b31c-c383019f3895. There are various birth dates given for Ernst in legal documents concerning Leo-Film AG; his true date of birth is 25 December 1880.

2 ‘Tagebucheintrag Vom 6. Mai 1933 EAM, NL Faulhaber 10015, S. 47’, Kritische Online-Edition der Tagebücher Michael Kardinal von Faulhabers (1911–1952), https://www.faulhaber-edition.de/dokument.html?idno=10015_1933-05-06_T01.

3 Heiner Schmitt, Kirche und Film: kirchliche Filmarbeit in Deutschland von ihren Anfängen bis 1945 : mit Katalog der kirchlichen Filmproduktionen von 1917–1945 (Boppard am Rhein, Germany: Harald Boldt Verlag, 1979), 92.

4 Dorit-Maria Krenn, Die christliche Arbeiterbewegung in Bayern vom Ersten Weltkrieg bis 1933 (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, 1991), 11.

5 We are appreciative of Dr. Krenn’s assistance in answering our detailed questions during the course of this research.

6 Ibid., 13.

7 Schmitt, Kirche und Film, 76. Bernhardt would emigrate to the United States in 1933 and go on to work with numerous famous Hollywood stars, including Ronald Reagan. After arriving in the United States, he changed his name to Curtis Bernhardt.

8 Hans Jürgen Wulff, ‘Gebrauchsfilm’, Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, https://filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de/doku.php/g:gebrauchsfilm-2310#gebrauchsfilm.

9 ‘Die drei Ringe’, advertisement, Der Kinematograph, 17 October 1926, 28; ‘Teil III des Berichts der Bayerischen Politischen Polizei Wechselgeschäfte’, 1933, 106–7, R 58/7240, Bundesarchiv, https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/dfed50ca-2469-4b74-93dc-f5a4a5d6db9e/; see also, ‘Akta: Der Landgericht in München I. Wyrok Sądu Krajowego w Monachium w sprawie: dr Ernst Georg, Karl Walterbach i Leonard Wackerl oskarzonych o różne przestępstwa i wykroczenia’, 1935, IPN GK 868/66, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej w Warszawie.

10 ‘Teil III’, 144.

11 Ibid., 166. It should be noted that both Ernst and Habler are being quoted from a police report; therefore, their critical views against the Jewish film community could have been aggrandized by the writers of the report.

12 Ibid., 108. Lorsch wrote to the management of Leo-Film and to Dr. Ludwig Holländer (1877–1936). Concerning the reviews of the film, an advertisement in the April 1927 Der Kinematograph contained snippets from several positive overviews that recorded how the film depicted ‘an unusually serious subject, treated in an unusually serious way, both factually and artistically’, or that within the theater, ‘with trembling hearts, gripped by often breathless excitement, the viewers followed the uncomplicated, popular plot’. Other critics were not so kind, noting that the film had ‘by no means the qualities that one must demand of a good film’. ‘Kinderseelen klagen euch an’, advertisement, Der Kinematograph, 3 April 1927, 6; Victor Schamoni, ‘Katholische Fitmbestrebungen: Zum 2. Internationalen Katholischen Filmkongretz in München’, Sächsische Volkszeitung, 16 June 1929, 11.

13 Alois Funk, ‘Film und Seelsorge: Eine Orientierung und Zielsetzung’, Pastor bonus: Zeitschrift fuer kirchliche Wissenschaft und Praxis, November 1930, 413, Bd 3426, Staatsbibliothek. These observations were based on Ernst’s report at the annual general meeting of Leo-Film, which suggest that new film productions slowed due to the failure of the antiabortion film.

14 Nusser has very little presence in academic research; his birth and death dates are published here for the first time.

15 Kosterlitz would flee Nazi Germany in 1933, eventually changing his name to Henry Koster. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is the discovery in New York City of the comedic team Abbott and Costello.

16 Ancestry.com. Kriegsranglisten und -stammrollen des Königreichs Bayern, 1.Weltkrieg 1914–1918 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010; Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.

17 Krenn, Die christliche Arbeiterbewegung, 343–44; ‘Deutsche/deutschsprachige Filmzeitschriften/Zeitschriften (Programme) im Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv’ (Bundesarchiv, August 2008), Stand: 8, Filmarchiv Berlin Bibliothek, https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/Downloads/Benutzen/Zettelkataloge_Bibliothek_BERF_National.pdf?__blob=publicationFile.

18 ‘Kinderseelen klaren euch an’, Der Kinematograph, 27 March 1927, 28.

19 A few valuable references include: Thomas Forstner, Priester in Zeiten des Umbruchs: Identität und Lebenswelt des katholischen Pfarrklerus in Oberbayern 1918 bis 1945 (2013); John Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World: US and European Struggles for Mastery of the Global Film Industry, 1920–1950 (2002); Casiana Ionita, ‘The Catholic Spectator: Cinema and the Church in France in the 1920s’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 32, no. 4 (2012): 501–20. Lieven Boes, Leen Engelen, and Roel Vande Winkel, Roman Catholic Engagements with Audio-Visual Media Around the World (1928–2001) Exploring and Utilizing the OCIC and UNDA Archives (Leuven: KADOC - Institute for Media Studies, 2018).

20 Léo Bonneville, Soixante-Dix Ans Au Service Du Cinéma et de l’audiovisuel [70 Years at the Service of Cinema and Audiovisual Media] (Québec: Éditions Fides, 1998), 11.

21 Rev. J. Van der Heyden, ‘Catholics Hold Film Congress at the Hague’, N. C. W. C. News Sheet, 14 May 1928, 1.

22 Quoted in John Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World: US and European Struggles for Mastery of the Global Film Industry, 1920–1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 214.

23 Quoted in Van der Heyden, ‘Catholics Hold Film Congress’, 1.

24 Schmitt, Kirche und Film, 58.

25 Bonneville, Soixante-Dix Ans Au Service, 13.

26 For example, J. Arthur Rank and Reverend F. W. Chudleigh of the Methodist church had also been using film for educational purposes in the 1920s. Michael Wakelin, J. Arthur Rank: The Man Behind the Gong (Oxford: Lion Publishers, 1997), 42.

27 ‘Internationaler Katholischer Film- Und Rundfunk-Kongress, Munchen’ (O.C.I.C. Internationalas Katholisches Filmkomitee, June 1929), BayHStA, MHIG 5851, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.

28 ‘Der Münchner Kongress: Lebhaffe Zensur-Debatte Der Katholiken’ (Lichtbild-Bühne, 29 June 1929), 3, BayHStA, MHIG 5851, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.

29 Luitpold Nusser, ‘Verwendung Des Films Zur Verbreitung Vom Ideen [The Use of Film for the Propagation of Ideas]’, in Film Und Rundfunk, ed. Georg Ernst and Bernhard Marschall (Munich: Leohaus, 1929), 96–133.

30 Félix Morlion, ‘Filmwetenschap IV: Hoe Willen Wij de Filmgeschiedenis?’, De Standaard, 10 April 1933, 6.

31 ‘Internationaler Katholischer Film’.

32 In contrast to Nusser’s opinion, and almost in the same period, the editors of the British film magazine Close Up argued that Storm over Asia was art and not propaganda. Kenneth Macpherson, ‘As Is’, Close Up, December 1928, 8; Bryher, Film Problems of Soviet Russia (Switzerland: Riant Chateau, 1929), 69.

33 Nusser, ‘Verwendung Des Films’, 101.

34 Ibid., 133.

35 Dr. M., ‘Katholischer Filmkongress in München’, Der Kinematograph, 19 June 1929, 2. ‘Dr. M’. is almost certainly the director, writer, and film critic Dr. Georg Viktor Mendel (1881–1942).

36 ‘Teil III’, 1933, 164.

37 Funk, ‘Film und Seelsorge’, 413.

38 ‘Dr. Ernst 50 Jahre’, Der Kinematograph, 27 December 1930, 3.

39 Anton Kochs, ‘Unsere Mitarbeit Am Film Vortrag’, Sächsische Volkszeitung, 27 September 1932, 3.

40 Carl Walterbach and Georg Ernst, ‘Mitarbeiter und Freunde der Leo-Film A.G. München’, 1932, 3, T 20,1 a, Bischöfliches Archiv.

41 ‘Teil III’, 169.

42 Nusser’s documentary achieved great success with the Catholic film groups, and it received regular film viewings into March 1935.

43 Occasionally, Hermann’s brother, Ferdinand Diehl, is also credited.

44 At the general meeting of Leo-Film AG held on 16 August 1932, the board of directors resolved to increase the budget from 40,000 to 1,000,000 Reichsmarks. ‘Lichtbildbühne: Aus Der Katholischen Filmbewegung’, Kärntner Tagblatt, 27 August 1932, 5.

45 Walterbach and Ernst, ‘Mitarbeiter und Freunde’, 3.

46 Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 326. We also confirmed that Canon Joseph Reymond, in Paris, was considered to have overly politicized his role in supporting the Catholic film industry. Jacques Cleynen, ‘La Politique Du Cinema Francais: Strategies et Realisations (1929–1935)’, (Ph.D. thesis, Paris, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 1983), 286, Centre Technique du Livre de l’Enseignement Supérieur (MSH TH 2897 (1-3)).

47 ‘Teil III’, 168.

48 Oscar Geller, ‘Münchner Notizen’, Österreichische Film-Zeitung, 12 December 1931, 4.

49 For more on László’s inventions with light and music, see: Jörg Jewanski, ‘Die Farblichtmusik Alexander Lászlós’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 60, no. 1 (1997): 12–43, https://doi.org/10.2307/1482843.

50 Oscar Geller, ‘Münchner Notizen’, Österreichische Film-Zeitung, 28 November 1931, 7.

51 Interestingly, the Film-Kurier reported that Nusser and László, along with several other employees, had their contracts terminated by Leo-Film, as opposed to resigning. ‘Neue Dispositionen bei Leo-Film?’, Film-Kurier, 4 December 1931, 2.

52 Geller, ‘Münchner Notizen’, 12 December 1931, 4.

53 ‘Was was ihnen prophezeite’, Mein Film, 1932, Nr. 348, 3.

54 Hans Beck-Gaden, ‘Memorandum’, 1936, R 9361-V/108367, Bundesarchiv.

55 ‘Was Bringen Sie Kinos? Der Moderne Alpenfilm’, Auer Tageblatt, 5 November 1931, 7.

56 ‘Nazis Finally Take Over German Film Industry Reorganization’, Motion Picture Herald, 10 June 1933, 13.

57 Heide Fehrenbach, Cinema in Democratizing Germany: Reconstructing of National Identity After Hitler (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 269 fn47.

58 ‘Parteiamtliche Bekanntmachungen’, Der Führer, 1 February 1933, 9.

59 Luitpold Nusser, ‘Gedanken über den deutschen Film’, Der Führer, 12 March 1933, 8.

60 David Stewart Hull, Film in the Third Reich: A Study of the German Cinema, 1933-1945 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), 19.

61 ‘Dr. Luitpold Nusser’, Film-Kurier, 12 April 1935.

62 Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder: die NS-Propaganda vor 1933 (Bonn: J. H. W. Dietz, 1990), 193. Although ‘Luitpold’ is part of the theater name, no connection exists with Nusser.

63 After working on the propaganda film Hitler über Deutschland, the Film-Kurier credited Nusser with editing and then production management on two additional Nazi propaganda films: Johannes Häussler’s short documentary, Blutendes Deutschland (1933), and Carl Froelich’s Ich für dich, du für mich (1934). ‘Nationalsozialistische Filme Werden Begeistertbeklatscht!’, Film-Kurier, 6 April 1933; ‘Dr. Luitpold Nusser’, Film-Kurier, 12 April 1935.

64 ‘Hitler über Deutschland’, Völkischer Beobachter, 25 October 1932, 299 edition; “Hitler über Deutschland’: Der erste nationalsozialistische Grossfilm”, Völkischer Beobachter, 27 October 1932, 301 edition; Thomas Hanna-Daoud, Die NSDAP und der Film bis zur Machtergreifung (Böhlau, 1996), 322; Mathias Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP 1925–1933: Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik (Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2014), 318 fn211.

65 Quoted in William G. Chrystal, ‘Nazi Party Election Films, 1927–1938’, Cinema Journal 15, no. 1 (Autumn 1975): 35, https://doi.org/10.2307/1225103.

66 ‘Hitler Uber Alles’, Motion Picture Herald, 10 June 1933, 7.

67 ‘Verwendung Des Films’, 121.

68 Carolyn Birdsall, Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933–1945 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012), 39.

69 ‘Waarheen Gaat de Film in Duitschland?’, De Standaard, 14 April 1933, 6.

70 Morlion, ‘Filmwetenschap IV’, 6.

71 William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960), 208; John S. Conway, The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933–45 (Whitby, ON: Ryerson Press, 1968), 125; Friedrich Hermann Hettler, Josef Müller (‘Ochsensepp’) : Mann des Widerstandes und erster CSU-Vorsitzender, Miscellanea Bavarica Monacensia, Bd. 155 (München: Stadtarchiv München, 1991), 38.

72 Beck-Gaden, ‘Memorandum’.

73 Several misleading ‘wiki’ pages state that Goebbels included Mayring’s name on the Gottbegnadeten-Liste, or the God-gifted list—an assemblage of artists the Nazis considered crucial to promoting the purity of German culture. Neither the original document of the Gottbegnadeten-Liste nor Theodor Kellenter’s biographical overview of all members on the list include Mayring’s name. “Gottbegnadetenliste,” 1944, BArch R 55/20252a, Bundesarchiv, https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/63e49426-8455-4934-9191-09800a5a0b61/; Theodor Kellenter, Die Gottbegnadeten: Hitlers Liste unersetzbarer Künstler (Kiel: Arndt-Verlag, 2020).

74 ‘Die katholische Filmbewegung im neuen Deutschland’, Deutsche Filmzeitung, 5 May 1933, 1.

75 ‘On Tourne On Dit’, Cinémonde, 17 August 1933, 687. Leo-Film AG would not complete the bankruptcy filings until 16 October 1944. ‘7. Konkurse und Bergleichstachen’, Deutscher Reichsanzeiger, 26 October 1944, 1.

76 The identity of Dr. Butler, or perhaps Buttler, is not currently known; according to ‘Teil III’, however, it does appear that his business practice profited from a willingness to loan money at severe interest rates.

77 ‘Tagebucheintrag Vom 5. April 1933 EAM, NL Faulhaber 10015, S. 33–34’, Kritische Online-Edition der Tagebücher Michael Kardinal von Faulhabers (1911–1952), https://www.faulhaber-edition.de/dokument.html?idno=10015_1933-04-05_T01.

78 ‘Teil III’, 121.

79 The exact details of Müller’s role in the Leohaus trials are contested and controversial. In one of the few scholarly works on Müller, Friedrich Hettler strongly shifts focus away from Müller’s connections with the Gestapo, arguing that later accusations against Müller were merely smear campaigns. Additionally, the notes on Müller from the Allied Force Headquarters tend to place him in a positive light, suggesting that his close connections with the National Socialists were fostered to be better positioned to intercept important information to relay to the Vatican. In this article, we are merely presenting one version of this complex narrative. Friedrich Hermann Hettler, Josef Müller (‘Ochsensepp’) : Mann des Widerstandes und erster CSU-Vorsitzender, Miscellanea Bavarica Monacensia, Bd. 155 (München: Stadtarchiv München, 1991), 20–41; ‘Dr Josef Müller (Abwehr Oberleutnant)’, 1945, WO 204/12807, The National Archives, Kew.

80 Mark Riebling, Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler (New York: Basic Books, 2016), 35. See The Resistance in Austria, 1938–1945 for more on the Catholic opposition to the Nazis and the systems established to smuggle out of Austria news concerning the persecution of Catholics. Radomír V. Luža, The Resistance in Austria: 1938–1945 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), 66–71.

81 Konrad (Otto Leighter) Huber, ‘Justizminister ohne Justiz’, Aufbau: Reconstruction, 15 October 1948, 42.

82 ‘Das ist selbst für Bayern zuviel’, Der Spiegel, 17 December 1948, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/das-ist-selbst-fuer-bayern-zuviel-a-478c5fa2-0002-0001-0000-000044420950. Neuhäusler’s defense of Müller may be explained by the fact that after the war—even after surviving Dachau—Neuhäusler aided Nazis to flea criminal persecution and served as chair of the Komitee für kirchliche Gefangenenhilfe [Committee for Church Prisoner Aid]. Hilary Earl, ‘‘Bad Nazis and Other Germans’: The Fate of SS-Einsatzgruppen Commander Martin Sandberger in Postwar Germany’, in A Nazi Past: Recasting German Identity in Postwar Europe, ed. David A. Messenger and Katrin Paehler (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2015), 68.

83 Thomas Schlemmer, Aufbruch, Krise und Erneuerung: Die Christlich-Soziale Union 1945 bis 1955 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2009), 295. The following year, Aufbau published a piece that gave credit to the effectiveness of Leighter’s article, reporting that thousands of copies had been distributed throughout Germany, thus creating more pressure against Müller. ‘Die Tage de ‘Ochsensepp’ Sind Gezählt’, Aufbau: Reconstruction, 29 April 1949, 2, 6.

84 ‘Das Leohaus geschloffen’, Salzburger Chronik, 15 May 1933, 7.

85 ‘Beginn Des Leo-Haus-Prozesses’, Durlacher Tageblatt, 9 October 1935, 2.

86 ‘Tagebucheintrag Vom 6. Mai 1933 EAM, NL Faulhaber 10015, S. 47’, Kritische Online-Edition der Tagebücher Michael Kardinal von Faulhabers (1911–1952), https://www.faulhaber-edition.de/dokument.html?idno=10015_1933-05-06_T01.

87 ‘Der Münchener Leohaus-Prozess’, Salzburger Chronik, 22 October 1935, 5.

88 ‘Leohaus München Betr’, Badischer Beobachter, 21 May 1933, 3.

89 ‘Urteil im Leo-Haus-Prozess’, Der Führer, 2 December 1935, 2.

90 Krenn, Die christliche Arbeiterbewegung, 108n20. Contrary to the listing for Georg Ernst printed in Jahn Bruno’s Die deutschsprachige Presse: Ein biographisch-bibliographisches Handbuch (2005), after a significant effort—including extensive research with the records of the Arolsen Archives International Center on Nazi Persecution—we could locate no evidence that Ernst was interned at Dachau during 1943–44.

91 ‘Dr. Luitpold Nusser’, Film-Kurier, 12 April 1935. A brief mention of Leo-Film AG in a 1951 German newspaper noted that Children’s Souls Accuse You was their most memorable production. ‘Die Kirche und Der Film’, Offenburger Tageblatt, 29 November 1951, 8.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported by a grant from the University of Kitakyushu, President’s Selection Research Grant.

Notes on contributors

Wayne E. Arnold

Wayne E. Arnold is an Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Kitakyushu, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in English from The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and an M.A. in TESOL from the same university. Additionally, he has earned an M.A. in English from Western Kentucky University and an MBA from Wright State University. His primary research focus is Henry Miller and Japan—including Miller’s interest in cinema—with recent publications on Miller appearing in NEXUS: The International Henry Miller Journal and Delta: Studies on Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin and Lawrence Durrell.

Adrian Wood

Adrian Wood has been a researcher of archival film and associated materials since the 1970s. Honored by BAFTA with a Special Craft Award for his contribution to British television, he is also the recipient of a Peabody Award, amongst several others. Perhaps most recently known for his work on the recovery and restoration of the films of the Olympic Games from 1912 to 1996, he now focuses on the restoration of films in or from Asia from his studio in Fukuoka, Japan. He has been a member of IAMHIST for over 20 years.