by Elizabeth Ward
In: The Holocaust in the Twenty-First Century edited by David M. Seymour und Mercedes Camino
Routledge, 2016
ISBN: 978-0367264031
Without doubt, the official rhetoric of the ruling Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) marginalised the fate of Jews under National Socialism. By presenting National Socialism as the inevitable outcome of a politically and economically driven class struggle, the SED argued that, with the destruction of the politico-economic structures which facilitated the coming to power of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), the GDR had eradicated fascism by its roots and, consequently, should be considered the first German post-fascist state. However, the realities of filmmaking in the GDR reveal a far more complex matrix of intertwining local concerns and day-to-day needs than expressed in the official ideological rhetoric of the state. In this regard, the importance of film as an alternative source for historical analysis comes to the fore as, when we examine the relationship between film and the National Socialist past in East German political and cultural narratives, a far more nuanced picture emerges. This becomes clear when we consider the position of Jacob the Liar (Jakob der Lügner, 1974).
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Elizabeth Ward 