BA Dissertation - Verena Rechmann

Media and English Literature BA(Hons)
LA380 Dissertation
May 31
st
2011

Dubbing the Past
The Influence of Germanys History on the
Post-Production of Hollywood Imports

Verena Rechmann
08828050

1

Contents

1. Introduction: There Shall Be No Censorship ....................... 2

2. Discussion and Analysis .......................................................... 3

2.1. Post-War Germany:
Occupation, Wirtschaftswunder and Ignorance ............ 3

2.2. The Era of Hollywood Blockbusters:
German Villains and American Heroes ...................... 15

2.3. The Digital Age:
Omnipresence of the Original ................................... 24

3. Conclusion: There Is Censorship......................................... 31

4. List of References .................................................................. 34

4.1. Bibliography................................................................. 34

4.2. Filmography................................................................. 36

4.3. Electronic Sources ....................................................... 39

5. Appendix

2
1. Introduction: There Shall Be No Censorship

Are you German? are the first baffled words the archaeologist in the French film The
Fifth Element (1997) stutters, as he comes face to face with a group of machine-like
aliens. It is 1914 and although the First World War just began, the elderly mans
reaction is based on the twentieth century post-Second World War Hollywood image of
the Germans. Yet, the issue is not the influence that Hollywoods use of stock
characters has on the peoples perception of Germany, it is the German film industrys
tendency to reject these images. In the dubbed version (Das Fnfte Element (1997)) a
startled explorer politely asks, Sind Sie hier von der Erde? (Are you from here
Earth?)

Article 5 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany secures the freedom of
expression, arts and sciences, stating that [t]here shall be no censorship (2010).
Nevertheless a history of censored Hollywood films can be traced back to the time of
the occupation of Germany after the Second World War. Their common, censor-worthy
trait is their textual connection to Germanys Nazi past. While exceptions to the law
against censorship, such as the protection of juveniles (Phelps 1975: 243) and the
wish not to jeopardize relations with friendly states or their leaders (Phelps 1975:
243), may justify such a censorship in relation to German cinema productions, it does
not give a satisfactory reason for the censoring of imported films. It is therefore likely
that an additional motive for post-production censorship can be found in Gasserts and
Steinweis observation:

Every generation of Germans since the end of World War II has been
confronted by the challenge of working through the moral and historical
implications of Nazism and the Holocaust. Germanys problematic history
of dictatorship and genocide has had profound consequences not only for
the political system [], but also for national identity, religious faith,
education, legal practice, social policy, gender roles, and other dimensions
of daily life. (2006: 1)

The consequences for the German film industry directly after the war, were more severe
than their remains found in todays wrongly dubbed and unnecessarily cut blockbusters:
During allied occupation the Anglo-American occupying forces prohibited all
S
publishing activities including the production, distribution and exhibition of films
(Loiperdinger 2002: 154) and even after that, it was not necessarily the Germans
choice to have American movies edited down to a German-friendly version in order to
make the audience less uncomfortable. Yet, the techniques were later adopted by the
FSK
1
, which established itself in 1949 as a part of the new Federal Republic of
Germany.

By exploring the history of film related censorship and its executing bodies, as well as
the developments in the German post-production process by reference to several
Hollywood imports, the full impact of Germanys past on its dubbing and cutting habits
may become apparent. It should also help establish in how far Germanys past still
influences the post-production of imported films in the 21st century and in how far the
technical and socio-political developments of the new century have led to changes in
this area.

2. Discussion and Analysis

2.1. Post-War Germany:
Occupation, Wirtschaftswunder and Ignorance

The apparent wish of German dubbing studios to occasionally eliminate uncomfortable
history-related dialogues seems quite ironic if we believe Nornes claim that dubbing
has a deep relationship to nationalism and fascism (2007: 191). This may seem like a
realistic assessment, seeing as the [t]ypical dubbing countries are Austria, France,
Germany, Italy and Spain (Koolstra et al 2002: 326) France, being a slight exception.
In its case the use of dubbing is likely to be related to the Frenchs strong sense of
national identity, which is tightly linked with the French language, not to a fascist past.
However, it seems plausible to link the need to transfer a film into a nations language
and possibly eliminate all references to the culture of origin with a sense of nationalism.
Especially since dubbing provides the most efficient means for censorship besides the

1
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft (Voluntary Self Regulation of the Movie Industry)
4
cutting of a film. Opposed to the use of subtitles, viewers in dubbing countries are
more vulnerable to manipulation and censorship (Koolstra et al 2002: 330), since they
cannot detect the error without a copy of the original material.

Despite all this, the first and most severe cases of censorship in post-war Germany were
due to the American distributors and their belief that a confrontation with the recent
Nazi past would be unsuitable for the Germans (Pahlke 2009; Pruys 1997).
Simultaneously the Americans yielded to the Germans wish for dubbed films, making
the distinctions between American and German films a matter of scale and quality of
production and not linguistic differences (Nornes 2007: 191), therefore facilitating the
distribution of American films.

When Casablanca (1942) was released in West Germany in 1952, the public was
unaware that the story they were following had little to do with what the cinemagoers in
the USA had seen, when the movie was screened there ten years before. More than 20
minutes of the original film had been cut mainly any scene showing visual references
to the Nazis or the Vichy Regime, entirely eliminating the character of SS-Major
Strasser. The rest of the story was modified by means of dubbing, leaving only the
romantic love triangle between Rick, Ilsa and the criminal Scandinavian scientist
Larsen, creator of a dangerous weapon. The former, of course, is known to todays
audience as Victor Laszlo, the Jewish resistance fighter who is chased by the - in this
version non-existent - Major Strasser (Pahlke 2009; Pruys 1997). The American
occupiers must have believed all this would be too much for a German post-war
audience to take in and the storyline remained censored until 1975, when the TV
channel ARD
2
commissioned a new adaptation that remained true to the original (Maier
1997). Having been censored by the American distributor, the twisted adaptation of the
original story had remained unnoticed even by the FSK (Pruys 1997), which defines
itself as the Self-Regulatory Body for the legally regulated protection of youth and
minors, and which had at that point already been active within Germany. It would later

2
The public service broadcaster Arbeitsgemeinschaft der ffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Consortium of public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal
Republic of Germany)
S
become a far more dominant force within German film censorship. In the 50s, however,
it remained unaware of the American changes undertaken to facilitate the FSKs work.

One reason for Americas interest in sheltering the Germans from their past was given
by the head of 20
th
Century-Fox, Spyros Skouras:

[I]t is a solemn responsibility of our industry to increase motion picture
outlets throughout the free world because it has been shown that no medium
can play a greater part than the motion picture industry in indoctrinating
people into the free way of life and instil in them a compelling desire for
freedom and hope for a brighter future. Therefore, we as an industry can
play an infinitely important part in the world-wide ideological struggle for
the minds of men, and confound the Communist propagandists. (Guback
qtd. in Elsaesser 1989: 9)

In the struggle against communist ideology, the US quite probably thought it necessary
to keep the Germans away from any further confrontation with their recent past and
instead use the cinema to positively influence their attitude towards capitalism.

An example of an American film that was, however, censored by the distributer after
the FSK objected to the original content was Alfred Hitchcocks Notorious (1946),
known in Germany in 1951 as Weies Gift (White Poison) and only after a re-dubbing
in 1969
3
by its literally translated title Berchtigt (Pruys 1997). In its original form,
Notorious tells the story of a Nazi spys daughter Alicia Huberman, who helps the
American government uncover a uranium smuggling Nazi organisation in South
America. The first German adaptation told an entirely different story. Here Elisa
Sombrapal, daughter of a South American drug dealer is no longer after uranium and
Nazis, but after a dangerous new drug and its creators.

Other than the first German adaption of Casablanca, the Weies Gift version of
Notorious can still be found in stores today. The DVD released by the Sddeutsche
Zeitung
4
in 2009 claims that Berchtigt is the story of a Nazi conspiracy, but contrary to

S
This time by the ZDF, another public broadcaster, the Second German Television channel, in honour
of Hitchcocks Birthday.
4
South German Newspaper, a daily paper, which also publishes classic books and films under its name.
6
what the packaging reads, the actual adaptation sold is Weies Gift from 1951. The
differences between the two German versions as well as the English reference are quite
striking. The direction taken by each individual version is indicated in the establishing
scene, as the members of the press are waiting outside of the courtroom for the result of
the trial.

Notorious (1946) Weies Gift (1951) Berchtigt (1969)

[mumbling]
- Die Sitzung muss doch
mal zu Ende gehen.

- Sie dauert schon ber
fnf Stunden!

- Ja, ein Rauschgiftprozess
geht nicht so schnell.
- Es muss doch bald soweit
sein.

- Was glaubst du, wie viel
Jahre wird er bekommen?

- Hm. Die scheinen heute
aber lange zu beraten.

Translation
5
:
- The hearing has got to
end eventually.

- Its been over five hours!

- Well, a drug trial cant be
rushed.
- Its got to be time soon.

- What do you think how
many years will he get?

-Hm. They seem to be
taking long today.

While in the Hollywood original an actual dialogue does not begin until the camera
allows the viewer to look into the courtroom, both German versions are determined to
set the scene verbally, by giving the journalists outside distinguishable voices. In doing
so Weies Gift immediately puts great emphasis on the drug-based storyline a
decision making it seem almost overeager to point out that this movie has an absolutely
neutral, non-Nazi-related content. The similar pattern in the choice of audible voices
suggests that the dubbing of Berchtigt was based on its German predecessor. However,
this new version makes use of the American originals narrative technique. It does not
let the viewers know what is happening inside the courtroom, leaving it to the next
scene between the Judge, the Lawyer and Alicia/Elisas Father to explain the situation.

5
Since there is no official translation of the German soundtrack, I will try to translate as accurately as
possible, making sure to translate closely to the German text in order to convey the intended meaning, but
also keeping true to the choice of words.
7
- Is there any legal reason,
why sentence should not be
pronounced?

- No, your honour.

- Yes, I have something to
say! You can put me away,
but you cant put away
whats going to happen to
you and to this whole
country next time. Next
time we are going to

- Besteht irgendein
gesetzlicher Grund das
Urteil nicht zu verknden?

- Nein, euer Gnaden.

- Einen Moment, ich
mchte dazu etwas sagen!
Sie knnen mich
verurteilen, aber sie
werden mich nicht zwingen
knnen zu verraten, woher
diese Droge stammt, die
die Wirkung aller bisher
bekannten Rauschgifte um
ein vielfaches bertrifft.
Niemals werde ich

- Haben Sie vor der
Urteilsverkndung noch
etwas zu sagen?

- Nein, euer Ehren.

- Doch, ich habe noch
etwas zu sagen! Sie knnen
mich einsperren, aber
gegen das, was Ihnen und
Ihrem Land das nchste
mal passieren wird, knnen
sie nichts machen. Das
nchste mal werden wir
nmlich

Translation:
- Is there any legal reason,
why the sentence should
not be pronounced?

- No, your grace.

- One moment, I would
like to add something! You
can sentence me, but you
will not be able to force me
to reveal to you, where this
drug comes from, whose
effect exceeds by far any
drug known to date. Never
will I
- Do you have anything to
add before I pronounce the
sentence?

- No, your honour.

- Yes, I still have
something to say! You can
lock me up, but you cant
do anything about what
will happen to you and
your country next time
around. Next time we are
going to

In all three versions Mr Huberman/Sombrapal is then interrupted by his lawyer, who
advises him against speaking any further. The change in the Judges opening line in
Berchtigt merely suggests an adjustment to phrases used in German court, while
replacing honour with grace seems like a simple mistake, as grace is a way of
referring to members of the church and not to members of court. The more prominent
difference lies in the defendants reaction. Again, a clear distinction can be made
between the Nazi-related storyline and the drug-related storyline of Weies Gift. While
Berchtigt now translates the Nazi-spys threats to the American state, its predecessor
8

simply overemphasises the drug storyline. The mans reaction seems slightly out of
place. Why would he emphasise how extraordinary the drugs he has been dealing with
are? Why would he explicitly let the judge know, that he knows exactly where the drugs
were coming from? What is meant to be a threat is now an involuntary advertisement.
While the audience of 1951 may not have noticed the awkwardness of the scene, its
textual incoherency and the defendants overeagerness to share Information, become
apparent when compared with the alternative versions. Accordingly, the charges vary in
the two translations.

|.j ciime of tieason
against the 0niteu States
|.j

|...j uie Einfuhi von
Rauschgift in uie
veieinigten Staaten
voigenommen,
iespektive
voibeieitungen uazu
getioffen zu haben |...j

|...j ues veibiechens ues
Lanuesveiiates gegen uie
veieinigten Staaten |...j

Translation:
[] conducted the import
of drugs into the United
States, respectively having
made preparations to do so
[]
[...] the crime of treason
against the United States
[]

For a third time within the first minute of the film the drugs are being mentioned,
whereas it is the first time the original storyline mentions the actual crime even though
no connection to the Germans is being made at this point. Not only did the 1951 dub
replace the original storyline, it also changed the pace of the film, offering less suspense
and instead desperately promoting the alternative theme. It isnt until the next scene,
when the defendants daughter leaves the courtroom and gets confronted by the press,
that the original storyline reveals the nature of her fathers treason.

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Coulu we say that you'ie
pleaseu youi fathei is
going to pay the penalty
foi being a ueiman
woikei.

Konnen wii schieiben, es
fieut sie, uass ihi vatei
seine Stiafe als
Rauschgifthnulei
bekommen hat.
Stimmt's uass sie fioh
sinu, uass ihi vatei fi
uie Zusammenaibeit mit
uen Beutschen bestiaft
wiiu.

Translation:
Could we write, that you
are delighted, that your
father received his
punishment for being a
drug dealer?
Is it true, that you are glad
that your father is being
punished for his
collaboration with the
Germans?

In both Notorious and Berchtigt, the viewer is now able to piece the story together and
finds out that a man was put on trial for treason, because he cooperated with the
Germans. Weies Gift simply spells out the theme of the movie for a fourth time as to
make sure that nobody in the audience could ever doubt the movie was about drug-
related crime. It is almost as if the distributors were anxious the audience may be able to
sense the original storyline. The theme, of course, carries on throughout the 1951 film,
replacing the discovered iron ore (Notorious 1946; Berchtigt 1969) - which later
turns out to be uranium - with the made up word Medikament-Grundstoff (Weies Gift
1951), suggesting the substance being a medical binder.

While these examples make it clear, that the FSK was determined to keep the storyline
appropriate for a post-war audience by mutilating it in an almost comical way, a far
more surprising manipulation is suggested in the reporters question. The seemingly
insignificant variation in the translation of German worker as collaboration with the
Germans is the first sign of censorship in the 1969 edition of Berchtigt. While
collaboration on its own may appear to be a politically stronger statement, it denies the
nature of what exactly Alicias father was doing for the Nazis. Him being a worker for
them is only the first hint towards the involvement of a German company - and the first
hint towards the censoring of that fact. It does not surprise too much that six years after
the war had ended, showing a Nazi thriller in German cinemas may not have been the
best marketing strategy, however, it seems almost presumptuous that twenty-four years
later the ZDF chose to still censor the storyline in their new, original dub. Worker is
the first subtle hint at the German company responsible for smuggling the uranium,
1u
something that becomes clearer in a scene that shows the authorities discuss how to
bring down said company.

- It's not the giil. It's these
ueiman scientists I'm
woiiieu about. I simply
question why we uon't
finu some way of taking
them into custouy.

- It'u uo no goou. Even if
we aiiesteu theii leauei
Alexanuei Sebastian,
tomoiiow, anothei
Faiben man takes his
place anu theii woik goes
on.

- Wenn alle spuien uaiauf
hinueuten, uass es sich
wiiklich hieibei um uie
Rauschgiftzentiale
hanuelt, sehe ich nicht
ein, waium wii nicht
einfach uie Banue gleich
veihaften sollten.

- Auf keinen Fall.

- Bas wiue nichts
ntzen. Wenn wii
Allessanuio Sebastini unu
seine Leute veihaften,
setzt ein anueiei uen
Banuel mit uem weien
uift foit.

- Es geht mii nicht um uas
Nuchen. Biese
Beutschen Spione
machen mii soigen. Ich
beilege mii unentwegt
wie wii sie auf
iigenueinem Weg hintei
Schloss unu Riegel
biingen.

- Bas biingt uns auch
nicht weitei. Wenn wii
Alexanuei Sebastian, uen
Chef uei uiuppe
veihaften wiuen, wiue
moigen ein anueiei
seinen Posten
beinehmen.

Translation:
- If all traces point to this
really being the drug
headquarters, I dont see
why we shouldnt just
arrest the gang straight
away.

- Absolutely not.

- That would be of no use.
If we arrest Allessandro
Sebastini and his people,
somebody else will
continue the trade with the
white poison.
- I dont care about the girl.
These German spies worry
me. I keep thinking of
ways to bring them behind
bars.

- That isnt going to get us
any further. I we were to
arrest Alexander Sebastian,
the leader of the group,
somebody else would take
over his position
tomorrow.

Weies Gift stays true to its individual storyline, eagerly mentioning drugs as often as
possible and adjusting the ringleaders name in order to rid him of every last bit of
Germanness. A dubbing mistake can also be made out in the 1951 translation, as a line
was given to a third character who happened to open his mouth in order to say
11
something, just as a man spoke off-screen. This has been corrected in the 1969 version.
It now becomes obvious where the new adaptation chose to censor the storyline.
Scientists (Notorious 1946) are turned into spies (Berchtigt 1969). While the FSK
now finally seemed to find it acceptable that Germans be confronted with their no-
longer-quite-as-recent past, there seems to remain a problem when distinguishing
between criminal German spies and regular German scientists. It is as if a fine line is
drawn between Germans who happen to be bad people just as the Americans
cooperating with them and regular Germans who have become part of the mechanism
of Nazi Germany. This becomes even more apparent when focussing on the term
Farben man (Notorious 1946). On its own Farben - being the German word for
colours, seems oddly out of place in the excerpt. It is another one of Hitchcocks puzzle
pieces that builds up on a scene prior to this one. The German version fully ignores this
reference, which is unlikely to be mistake, but rather a conscious decision. The term
refers to the IG Farben, a German company that played a dominant part in Nazi
Germany.

The leaders of IG Farben, Europe's largest private corporation between 1925
and 1945, were conventionally good men. Serious, talented, and well
educated, they brought the world a succession of beneficial inventions [...].
Yet within the Third Reich, these executives presided over the firm most
widely credited, then and since, with carving out a lucrative and murderous
place for itself. Farben's products became ubiquitous and essential. It made
not only the synthetic rubber on which most Nazi war vehicles rode and the
fuel-from-coal that powered many of them, but also the gas that murdered
more than a million people at Auschwitz and even several of the drugs that
Dr. Theo Morell, Hitler's physician, pumped into the fuehrer's bloodstream.
(Hayes 2001: xxi)

After the war it was seized by the Americans and later divided into various smaller
companies, who still play an important part in Germany today, such as BASF and Bayer
(Hayes 2001). The actual IG Farben remained in existence as a cooperation in
liquidation, and even after becoming insolvent eight years ago (Hauch-Fleck 2003), can
still be found listed in the Brse Stuttgart
6
today. The involvement of IG Farben in the
Second World War is therefore publicly known, and yet it was thought of as something
that should remain in the English original of Notorious and not be shared with the

6
A German stock exchange situated in the town of Stuttgart.
12

German public in this fictional context. An explanation for this may be found in the
FSKs justification for excluding the names Flick, Krupp and Mercedes-Benz
(Loiperdinger 2002: 155) from their German adaptation of The Condemned of Altona
(1962), because leading German companies cannot be associated with crimes whose
instigators and perpetrators should be sought [] in quite different quarters (Hack qtd.
in Loiperdinger 2002: 155). However, it is likely that the main reason to avoid
mentioning German companies in connection with Germanys history is not the
protection of the innocent workers, but the protection of business interests. It is
questionable whether this is an acceptable excuse ethically, as well as logically, seeing
as the IG Farbens involvement in the war was a well-known fact even then and could
hardly be made worse by any sort of dramatisation. The IG Farben trial, as part of the
Nuremberg Trials, was present in the public sphere with all the details of its crimes
unfolded, as articles from the late forties show (Spiegel 1948: 8-9)
7
. Also, those viewers
that are unaware of the companys involvement in World War II and that may be
influenced by the mentioning of the IG Farben in Notorious, would hardly make an
immediate connection to Bayer or BASF. It therefore seems like a needless
manipulation and an unnecessary attempt to protect a German audience from a fictional
confrontation with its past, encouraging the collective amnesia in the era of the
economic miracle (Kaes 1989: 19). Excuses can be made for this wrongly dubbed
scene be it the translator not having understood Hitchcocks subtle hint, or the belief
that the German audience may not have understood the reference. However, this is
highly unlikely, seeing as the one scene that would have explained the situation to the
audience was entirely cut from the movie. It is the scene in which Agent Devlin tries to
recruit Alicia Huberman/Elisa Sombrapal for his course.

7
See Figure 1 in appendix.
1S
- I am no stool pigeon, Mr.
Devlin.

- My department
authorized me to engage
you to do some work for
us. It's a job in Brazil.

- Oh, go away. The whole
thing bores me.

- Some of the German
gentry who were paying
your father are working in
Rio.

[Ever hear of the I.G.
Farben Industries?

- I tell you, I'm not
interested.

- Farben has men in South
America, planted there
before the war.]

We're cooperating with the
Brazilian government to
smoke them out. My chief
thinks that the daughter of
a...

- Of a traitor?

- Well, he thinks you might
be valuable in the work.
They might sort of trust
you. And you could make
up a little for your daddy's
peculiarities.

- Why should I?

- Patriotism.

- Nein, ich werde kein
Spitzel Mr Devlin.

- Mein Chef hat mich
beauftragt sie zu
verpflichten. Es geht um
eine Sache in Brazilien.

- Ach, hren Sie auf. Sie
langweilen mich.

- Allem Anschein nach
befindet sich die
Rauschgiftzentrale, die wir
suchen in Rio.

[...]

Wir haben jede
Untersttzung bei der
brasilianischen Regierung
um die Bande zu fassen.
Mein Chef glaubt, dass die
Tochter eines der...

- ... der Verbrecher...

- ... von grtem Wert
dabei sein wrde, denn
man schenkt ihr Vertrauen.
Sie knnten wieder gut
machen, was ihr Vater
begangen hat.

- Warum sollte ich das?

- Aus Menschenliebe.

- Ich bin kein Lockvogel
Mr Devlin.

- Meine Dienststelle hat
mich beauftragt, Sie fr
eine bestimmte Arbeit in
Brasilien zu verpflichten.

- Uh... - hauen sie ab, ihre
Geschichte langweilt mich.

- Eine Gruppe von
Deutschen, fr die auch ihr
Vater schon gearbeitet hat,
befindet sich jetzt in Rio.

[...]

Wir arbeiten jetzt mit der
brasilianischen Regierung
zusammen um sie kalt zu
stellen. Mein Chef ist der
Ansicht, dass die Tochter
eines...

- ...Verrters...

- Er glaubt, dass Sie
wertvoll fr uns wren.
Ihnen wrde man da
vertrauen. Und Sie knnten
den Schaden, den Ihr Vater
angerichtet hat wieder gut
machen.

- Wie komme ich dazu?

- Aus Patriotismus.

14
- That word gives me pain.
No, thank you. I don't go
for patriotism... nor.. or
patriots!

- Lassen sie mich damit
zufrieden. Nein danke, ich
kmmere mich nicht um
andere Menschen.. und Sie
liebe ich auch nicht!
- Schon das Wort macht
mich krank. Nein Danke,
ich mach mir nichts aus
Patriotismus oder aus
Patrioten!

Translation:
- No, I will not become a
snitch, Mr Devlin.

- My boss has instructed
me to engage you. Its
about a matter in Brazil.

- Oh, stop it. You bore me.

- Apparently the drug
headquarter we are looking
for is situated in Rio.

[]

We have every support
from the Brazilian
government to catch the
gang. My boss believes,
that the daughter of one of
the

- ... the criminals...

- ... would be of greatest
value, because one trusts
her. You could make up for
what your father has done.

- Why should I?

- Out of human kindness.

- Dont bother me with
that. No thank you, I dont
care for other people... and
I dont love you either!
- I am not a stool pigeon,
Mr Devlin.

- My office instructed me,
to engage you in a specific
job in Brazil.

- Urgh... go away, your
story bores me.

- A group of Germans, for
which your father has
worked already, too, is
now situated in Rio.

[...]

We are now collaborating
with the Brazilian
government in order to
shut them down. My boss
believes, that the daughter
of a

- ...traitor...

- He believes, that you
would be valuable to us.
Theyd trust ou there. And
you could make good the
damage your father
brought about...

- Why would I?

- Out of patriotism.

- The very word makes me
sick. No thank you, I dont
care for patriotism or for
patriots.

1S
Based on the thought that the second German translation was based on the first German
dubbing, one might possibly argue that the dubbing studio was unaware of the missing
sequence, but the mentioning of Farben in other scenes and the fact that they must have
had access to the original English copy, simply emphasises the fact that the ZDF, the
FSK, or both were apparently unwilling to mention the company in Berchtigt. Yet the
true reason for this seems inexplicable, especially since the movie is not using an
innocent German company as its villain. Notorious is a work of fiction and therefore
as a work of art should not be censored. It remains questionable as to why it wasnt at
least considered replacing the name IG Farben with a made up company. Maybe this
would have been considered more suspicious to viewers, than just eliminating the idea
of an evil German company entirely. The Weies Gift version possibly got rid of the
scene for the same reason, instead of modifying it with the use of dubbing as it had done
throughout the rest of the film. Even when assuming that the English material had been
cut before it was given to the German studios, this does not justify the censorship of all
further references to IG Farben. Yet, an improvement can be found in the new German
version, when it comes to the use of the word patriotism. The ZDF adaptation no longer
shies away from the use of the word, whereas the original translation chose to put a
great emphasis on human kindness instead. This reflects mainly on the censorship of
the storyline - seeing as without the political conspiracy there is no need to call upon her
patriotism, but it may also point out a new post-war German need to emphasise human
morals.

2.2. The Era of Hollywood Blockbusters:
German Villains and American Heroes

As the example of Notorious shows, the censorship of war-related contents did not end
with the immediate post-war era. It merely laid the groundwork for decades of an
awkward relationship between the Germans and their fictional Hollywood-counterpart.
During the sixties a left-wing movement had young Germans demanding for a critical
debate about what had happened during the Third Reich, and with growing intensity,
attempts have been made to rewrite German history, to fit the atrocities of the Hitler
16
period into a tolerable master narrative (Kaes 1989: ix). But while Germanys
voluntary amnesia healed itself and the terrors of war were being confronted,
Hollywood had moved on to creating an image of the Germans, which the new German
generation was at this point no longer willing to humbly accept. Yet the new historical
awareness kept the German audience from viewing these new Hollywood productions
with the necessary self-mockery at least that must have been the assessment of the
FSK and the distributors.

While even during the war the Americans image of the Germans remained a balanced
one, the horrors that were revealed after the war, changed the image in the American
media.

Though most Americans found Nazis abhorrent, they still made distinction
between Nazis and good Germans. [] Although the Gestapo and the S.S.
were reviled for their barbaric conduct, the regular German military
establishment was still seen as consisting of honorable professional soldiers.
There is a historical irony in these perceptions, for the knowledge of the
Holocaust has now indelibly coloured our view of Germany. (Koppes and
Black 2000: 252)

Germans needed to relearn to distinguish between Germans and Nazis, while
Hollywood often still uses both terms interchangeably. (Pruys 1997: 166) Yet,
Hollywood didnt take the grim past all too seriously and merely adapted a German
stereotype, making it easier to spot the bad guy be it due to his armband or his accent:

One unfortunate consequence was a plethora of stereotypical representations
of the German language in the post-war period in comic strips and on
screen, in which the speakers of the language were presented
indiscriminately as inarticulate, unthinking oafs. (Fiebig-von-Hase and
Lehmkuhl qtd. in Cronin 2009: 68)

During the eighties, with the rise of the evil German character - that usually spoke bad
German with a heavy American accent, the era of the American action hero followed.
The American cowboy was reborn in form of Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981), John McClane (Die Hard 1988) and many others. Producers couldnt go wrong
in having either of them fight the Germans and they all did. Therefore, after German
17
distributers no longer thought it necessary to keep their audience entirely sheltered from
their countries past, the new approach to Hollywood movies was to censor those
contents, which were considered to be anti-German (Pruys 1997: 170), one of the more
drastic examples being Die Hard (1988). While the famous blockbuster about
Lieutenant John McClane, who single-handedly defends a building filled with hostages
against attacking terrorists, was just as successful in Germany as it was overseas, the
actual origin of the terrorists was not revealed in the dub. When comparing the English
original to the German version, it becomes obvious that the German distributors tried
hard to eliminate any connection between the terrorists and their country of origin.
While the modes of censorship werent as radical as the cutting of entire scenes, the
censorship caused by changes to the text, is enough to question the distributers
decision.

Die Hard (1988) Stirb Langsam (1988)
Sources say the terrorist leader Hans may
be this man, Hans Gruber. A member of
the radical West German Volksfrei
movement. Strangely, the Volksfrei
leadership issued a communiqu an hour
ago, stating that Gruber had been expelled
from the organization..

Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die
Terroristen von einem gewissen Jack
Gruber angefhrt werden. Er ist den
Behrden als Mitglied der Internationalen
Volksfront Bewegung bekannt. Vor einer
Stunde hat die Volksfront ein
Kommunikee verffentlicht. Demzufolge
wurde Gruber aus der Organisation
ausgeschlossen Vermutlich ein
Ablenkungsmanver.

Translation:
It is believed that the terrorists are being
led by a certain Jack Gruber. He is known
to the authorities as a member of the
International Volksfront Movement. An
hour ago the Volksfront issued a
communiqu. According to this, Gruber
has been expelled from the Organisation
Probably a diversion.

It is during a news report that Hans Grubers German nationality is revealed, linking
him to a West German organisation. Even though the organisation distances itself from
Gruber, therefore making him a villain without any political motivation, who is merely
acting out of greed, it was decided to cut Grubers ties with Germany in the dubbed
version Stirb Langsam (Die Slowly,1988). As Maier suggests, while claiming to make
18
decisions in the audiences best interest, such decisions seem to be made solely in the
interest of covering up uncomfortable topics. However, if the FSK would trust the
audiences ability to differentiate between a regular Hollywood clich and an actual
offence, these kinds of changes would prove absolutely unnecessary (1997: 134 - 135).
In Stirb Langsam the audience was apparently not believed to be able to make this
distinction and therefore Hans Gruber became Jack Gruber and his henchmen, too,
received English alternatives for their suspiciously German names. However, this only
worked within the limits of the film, until a rather peculiar scene, in which McClane
in order to keep track of the terrorists involved in the taking of hostages, notes down
two of the terrorists names.


- We have to do something Hans.

- We do. We have to tell Karl his brother
is dead.

[]
- Wir mssen uns was einfallen lassen.

- Das werden wir auch. Wir mssen
Charlie beibringen, was mit seinem
Bruder passiert ist.

[- Euch beide nenn ich Hans und Karl,
wie die bsen Riesen im Mrchen.]

Translation:
- We have to think of something.

- We will. We have to let Charlie know
what happened to his brother.

[- Ill call you two Hans and Karl, like the
evil giants in the fairytale.]

Hans and Karl are both mentioned in the English soundtrack, wherefore McClane
writes their names on his arm. Apparently the editing of the German release was not
meant to go as far as to actually cut scenes and so the voice actors had to think of an
alternative way to handle the situation. It is surprising that the scene did not confuse the
German audience - awkward, as the result seems. Charlie, once known as Karl, is
mentioned in the German version, however, Jack is not. The logical thing for the
German version of John McClane to do is now to note down the names Hans and
Karl, while muttering something about giants and fairytales.
19

Was pretty tricky with that accent. You
ought to be on fucking TV with that
accent.

Du ziehst da ne riesen Show ab. Die ist so
schlecht, damit kannst du nur im
Fernsehen auftreten.

Translation:
Youre putting on quite a show there. Its
so bad, you could only make it on TV
with that.

In yet another scene Gruber puts on an American accent, leading McClain to believe he
is not one of the terrorists. This of course was not possible to translate in the German
version, as everybody speaks German and accents loose their meaning. Still, had Gruber
not been stripped of his nationality, the dubbing studio could have at least attempted to
make a cultural reference. Surely this does also point out a reason, why it may
sometimes be difficult to maintain German characters in the dub. If the characters
German origin is not mentioned, a German audience is unable to distinguish between
nationalities based solely on language. It seems to be a common excuse for the change
of a characters nationality, even though it wouldnt necessarily hurt the logic of a
movie to keep the nationality intact. Viewers in dubbing countries are able to
differentiate between German-speaking characters and German characters, as the third
part of Die Hard proves. The distributors and the FSK may have used this common
explanation to justify the censorship in Stirb Langsam, but whatever reason they truly
had, Stirb Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht (1995) the German Die Hard: With A Vengeance
(1995) devaluates it.

Die Hard: With a Vengance (1995) Stirb Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht (1995)
There's a guy out there setting off bombs,
he calls himself Simon. He speaks with a
German accent, and for some reason, he's
very angry with me.

Da drauen luft einer rum, der Bomben
legt. Er nennt sich selbst Simon, redet
manchmal etwas wirres Zeug und aus
irgendeinem Grund ist er stinksauer auf
mich.

Translation:
Theres a guy on the loose out there,
planting bombs. He calls himself Simon,
talks crazy stuff at times and for some
reason hes really mad at me.

2u
At first the German viewer finds himself confronted with the same modifications as in
the first part of Die Hard. This time, McClain is caught in a psychological game with a
bomber in New York City. When McClain is confronted about what he knows about the
man, he immediately mentions a German accent. While, again, this remark may be an
illogical thing to point out in the German version, no attempt is made to distinguish the
bombers nationality by any means. While the dubbers of Die Hard: With A Vengeance
seem to be making the same mistakes at first, the next lines show, that seven years after
Die Hard, the distributers attitude towards the German stereotype must have changed.
This may have to do with Die Hard: With A Vengeance not being distributed by 20th
Century Fox as its two predecessors were, but by Buena Vista International. According
to the online synchronisation index Synchron Kartei, it was also no longer the
Deutsche Synchron KG, but the Berliner Synchron GmbH, which was the responsible
dubbing studio for the third part of Die Hard.

McClane is then informed that the bomber is in fact Peter Krieg, a former member of
the East German army in the English soundtrack as well as the German.

Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995) Stirb Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht (1995)
- Second man was an obscure colonel, in
the East German army. Ran an infiltration
unit. Kind of thing the Nazis did at the
battle of the Bulge. English speaking.
Troops.
-Yeah, yeah. I saw the movie.
-All we know of him is the GDR medical
reports show he suffers from migraines.
His name is Peter Krieg.

- Well, that is a exceptional report fellas.
Now, you want to tell me what the hell
this has to do with me?
- The name Gruber mean anything to you,
lieutenant?
- Der zweite Mann war ein obskurer
Oberst fr spezielle Aufgaben in der DDR
Armee. Er hat eine Infiltrationseinheit
aufgebaut. So was wie die Nazis im Krieg
gehabt hatten. Eine Expertentruppe..

- Ja, ich hab auch die Filme gesehen.

- Von ihm wissen wir nicht viel.
Allerdings steht in seinen Krankenakten
aus der DDR-Zeit, dass er unter Migrne
leidet. Sein Name ist Peter Krieg.

- Hm.. also das ist alles sehr
beeindruckend, Jungs, aber wollt ihr mir
jetzt nicht endlich sagen, was das
verdammt noch mal mit mir zu tun hat?

- Sagt ihnen der Name Gruber
irgendetwas, Lieutenant?

21
- It rings a bell, yeah.
- L.A.
- What?
- That thing in the building in L.A.
- Peter Krieg was born Simon Peter
Gruber. He's Hans Gruber's brother.
- Da klingelt was, ja.

- L.A.

- Was?

- Die Geschichte in dem Gebude in L.A.

- Peter Krieg wurde geboren als Simon
Peter Gruber. Er ist Hans Grubers Bruder.

Translation: - The second man was an obscure coronel
for special tasks in the army of the GDR.
He established an infiltration unit.
Something like what the Nazis had during
the war. A troop of experts

- Yes, I saw the movies, too.

- We dont know much about him.
However, in his medical file from GDR-
days, it says that he suffers from
migraines. His name is Peter Krieg.

- Hm.. well, thats all very impressive,
boys, but dont you want to finally tell
me, what the damn that has to do with
me?

- Does the name Gruber mean anything to
you, Lieutenant?

- That rings a bell, yes.

- L.A.

- What?

- The thing in that building in L.A.

- Peter Krieg was born as Simon Peter
Gruber. He is Hans Grubers Brother.

Unfortunately, at this point, German viewers that had never seen the original Die Hard
film, would be slightly confused, because they now learn that Peter Krieg was born
22
Simon Peter Gruber and is taking revenge for his brother, Hans. This link to the first
part of Die Hard may be an interesting twist for English viewers, but due to the
censorship of the first movie, the German audience now wonders who Hans is. And
even if they make the connection with Jack Gruber, it still isnt quite right, since there
is no explanation as to why Peter had an American brother.

However, there seems to be no plausible reason why the first movie had to be censored
and the third one was left as it was - even though a few adjustments were made. The
reference to the Operation Greif of the Battle of the Bulge, which included "an
organized attempt to create confusion in the Allied rear areas through sabotage carried
out by jeep parties clad in American uniforms" (Cole 1965: 269) is replaced by a less
specific reference to the Second World War. Although the new approach towards the
dubbing of the Die Hard films is most likely due to the different distributor and dubbing
studio, it may also be due to the cultural and political changes caused by the
reunification of Germany, which gave the country a more confident attitude towards
itself, making it more tolerant towards its Hollywood image. Yet, the division of
Germany may also play a crucial part in the dubbing differences. It is striking that the
mentioning of Hans Gruber from the West German Volksfrei movement is turned
into the American Jack, but the colonel of the East German army remains Peter,
the German. There is a possibility, that while West Germany felt offended by the image
of the evil German, it could relate to the image of an evil East German. It seems ironic
that the distributors would distance themselves from the American clich of the German
villain, but agree to the clich of the East German villain. Only five years before Stirb
Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht was released, the reunification of Germany meant having to
come to terms with the Stasi
8
past, as its files were revealed to the public, bringing to
light many of the organisations crimes, adding to the rather negative attitude towards
East Germany as a country that exploited its own people (Spiegel 1989: 30-37). Yet,
such a selective censorship of the post-production industry would only emphasise the
fact that censorship for political reasons should not be taking place at all.

8
Ministerium fr Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security), which was part of the East German
surveillance system
2S
Unfortunately, there are quite a few similar cases of censorship, like the replacement of
a German chancellor-elect with a Nazi past in Der Harte und der Zarte (Loose
Cannons, 1990). Here the villains are turned into Argentinean fascists and it is
apparently believed that the German viewers would not grow suspicious, when the leads
plan to meat someone at the Argentinean embassy, which is conspicuously decorated
with German flags. Of course, in the original version the characters Fielding and Stern
are meant to meat up with a German government official.

However, in most cases, when a film is censored, the modes used are usually subtler
than that and minimalistic changes are made to adjust the film to what is believed to be
the German audiences gusto. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which is
set in 1938, Indiana Jones and his father are captured by the Nazis. The nature of their
opponents was not edited and there is a possibility that this has to do with the dubbing
studio responsible for the adaptation. It is again the Berliner Synchron GmbH, which
suggests that the differences in the censorship of the Die Hard movies were indeed
dependant on the decisions of the individual dubbing companies, making the part the
FSK plays in this a minor one. However, Indiana Jones Austrian love interest Dr. Elsa
Schneider sees him off with a kiss and the words Thats how Austrians say goodbye.
This statement is adopted by the German dub, but a clear distinction is made when the
Nazi officer steps in front of Indiana Jones, announcing And this is how we say
goodbye in Germany, before hitting him in the face. In the German version this is
replaced by a definition of how goodbye is said in the SS. This subtle change in the
text highlights the need of the German media to make a distinction between regular
Germans and Nazis.

Towards the end of the century movies were no longer censored as strictly and the
examples given here, only reflect a minority of films. Yet minor changes are still a form
of censorship and especially in connection with the German past they feel rather
unnecessary. As Richard Evans pointed out,

24
[t]he survival and strengthening of West German democracy, and the
continued stability and calculability of West Germany in European and
world politics, require, now more than ever, a continuing, open, and honest
confrontation with the Nazi past. (1989: 140)

This political statement is applicable not only to society, but also to the handling of the
German past in the media. With a new attitude of willingness to confront and thematise
the past forming in the country, one would hope for the media to follow the peoples
example and accept references to its past in order to develop a natural way of dealing
with its own history.

2.3. The Digital Age: Omnipresence of the Original

Indeed the 21
st
century has lead to a change in the German post-production industry -
but also in Hollywood and its attitude towards Germans. Since 9/11 Hollywood has
another bad guy - the Arab terrorist (Marrison 2004: 14). The German Nazis and
Russian Communists that were once the worst threats imaginable to the United States
have now been replaced with stereotypical Arabs, threatening homeland security. The
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are ever-present in America and the movies and series it
produces, shifting the focus of the people of the United States. While the passing of
time and the generally good relations between the USA and Germany, despite the
temporary issue of Germanys unwillingness to fight in the Iraq War, may have also
played a part in these changes, it is unlikely that this is the main reason. As films such
as the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) suggest, Americans still
identify with the part they played in the Second World War, regardless of the political
situation between the two countries in the 21
st
century.

The films produced in the last decade mark the return of the good German in the
American movie industry. The idea of honourable soldiers and evil Nazis, as it used
to be found in the films of the forties, returned to Hollywood. Examples for this are
films such as Valkyrie (2008), which is ready to appreciate real Germans that attempted
to do something against Hitler and Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds (2009), in
which fictional Germans even succeed to bring down the Nazi regime. There is also a
2S
far greater presence of positive German characters without any connection to the war,
such as the gentle mutant Kurt Wagner from the second X-men movie X2 (2003), or the
leads Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm from the The Brothers Grimm (2005). Unfortunately,
when the characters origin is not specified and therefore only detectable by the accent,
German viewers dont even notice the regular, non-Nazi characters, such as Mia in Love
Actually (2003).

However it is not Hollywoods change of heart alone that led to a more open handling
of the post-production process. While in the late nineties Maier still thematised the
problems of acquiring original English footage of movies in order to compare the
German dub with the original (1997: 127) and Pruys believed such copies could only be
found in rare video stores, cinemas and festivals (1997: 8), the following years would
bring valuable technological changes, that influenced many German viewers attitude
towards the way they watched movies and their relationship to dubbing. The rise of the
DVD broadened the viewers horizons and made them more attentive, by offering them
background information which is usually not dubbed, by making it easier to move
back and forth through a movie and especially by offering the original sound track to
every film.

DVDs distributed in a dubbing country where foreign language films in
cinemas are typically dubbed rather than subtitled may also include subtitled
versions and vice versa, providing viewers with more options. (OHagan
2007: 157)

Although all except a few arthouse cinemas still show the dubbed version of movies,
each individual viewer now has the facility to watch the original film at home, skip
through the German dub, compare and analyse. Even those that dont speak English
have the option to watch a film with subtitles instead, and in doing so may come across
conspicuous findings. While probably only a few make the actual effort of comparing
films analytically, voices in online forums
9
suggest, that films are being watched in both
languages and mistakes are being noticed. Viewers no longer need to go through the
trouble of buying an alternative VHS and with the option being there, many do decide

9
See Figure 2 in appendix.
26
to watch the films with their original soundtrack.

At the same time, the broadband Internet means that programs can be
distributed globally at relatively low cost. Its been termed the death of
distance. [...] Once produced, it can be reproduced at almost no cost. And it
can be distributed, with the Internet, quite cheaply, and without much
sensitivity to distance. This means the content of Hollywood, adapted for
interactivity, can be all over the world. (Noam 2010: 67)

This resulting absence of distance, due to the new media, is what may have forced
German distributors to cease from noticeable forms of censorship. More people are
watching television programs on devices other than their home TV set (InSite 2010)
and therefore the changes would no longer remain unseen by the viewers and the
Internet would make negative reactions concerning unwanted editing known
immediately. Websites, forums and blogs make it their duty to let their readers know
about the manipulations conducted during post-production. Distributors cant hide from
these open dialogues between viewers possibly even from different parts of the world,
and therefore have no choice but to take greater care in preserving the original content.
Alternatively they risk certain groups of viewers turning entirely from German cinemas
and finding their film of choice online.

During the last decade it has therefore become more difficult to find significant
censorships and the dubbed versions of movies like Inglourious Basterds were
surprisingly accurate although the common problem of turning English and German
dialogue into purely German text arose and the posters and DVD covers were edited for
the German release. The swastika incorporated in the title was removed, since it is
against German law to display symbols related to National Socialism. While this is
perfectly understandable, the symbol may be used within films, because according to
article 86 of the German Criminal Code, this rule

shall not apply if the propaganda materials or the act is meant to serve civil
education, to avert unconstitutional movements, to promote art or science,
research or teaching, the reporting about current or historical events or
similar purposes (2008).

27
It could be argued that even this form of censorship was unnecessary, since the content
of the film is, of course, directed very strongly against Nazi Germany. There would also
be no reason to worry about the use of the symbol addressing the wrong people, seeing
as a movie that artfully fantasises about the successful assassination of the Nazi regime
is clearly opposing any radical right-wing opinions. But still, this decision of the
distributors seems far more understandable, than the changes made during the past
century.

While, based on the more accurate dubbing in these recent films, it seems like Germany
may have become less sensitive to its image in Hollywood, a change within its own film
industry can also be noticed, which shows the new developments in the countrys
process of coming to terms with its past. Ever since the war, Germanys cinema had
worked through its history, but always with a careful distance. In the past years movies
like Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004) and the comedy Mein Fhrer (2007), took a new
approach to this. While Der Untergang dared to show human aspects of Hitler, Mein
Fhrer was one of the first German films to deal with the subject in a rather comical
way. However, more than half of the Germans were opposed to Dani Levys film,
according to the political magazine Spiegel (2007). This begs the question whether the
distributors decision to censor movies had truly been necessary in the past, or whether
keeping references to the Germans history from them led to this troubled handling of
the subject in the media. Of course there is also the possibility, that such a strong
reaction is only provoked if it is a German film that attempts to satirise the German past
be the director himself Jewish or not. Unfortunately this also reflects on the current
approach to post-production. Although the constantly developing attitude towards
Germanys history has led to far fewer cases of severe censoring, the post-production
still struggles when it comes to a comical and in American films often more explicit
view of its past. While occasionally the dubbing surprises, like in The Producers
(2005), where a pigeon named Adolf doing the Nazi Salute was left untouched and the
Pigeon Hilda was even renamed Eva, after Hitlers companion. Yet other examples
show, that rather drastic cases of censorship can still, very occasionally, be found on
German DVDs today.

28
The German edition of the film Eurotrip (2004) adapted the layout of the English cover
and reads uncensored in bright red letters. Unfortunately this is not true. The film
follows a group of American teenagers across Europe, to help their friend Scotty find
the love of his life - his German pen pal Mieke. Throughout their travels they
encounter all kinds of European stereotypes and yet the image created of the Germans is
a very positive one, with Mieke being a loveable character that has an interest in other
cultures. Only towards the end of the film, when Scotty and his friend Cooper meet
Miekes father, a reference to Germanys past is made. As Miekes father and Scotty
talk, his friend watches Miekes little stepbrother draw a Hitler moustache on his face
and march up and down the room. While Cooper becomes more and more
uncomfortable, everybody else seems to be unaware of the situation.

German Eurotrip DVD (2006) American Eurotrip DVD (2006)

The positive image of Germany does not change after this scene and the American-
German love story continues. Yet, the scene does not exist on the German DVD both
with the English and the German soundtrack. It is unlikely that America resorted to the
post-war technique of not burdening the Germans with their past, however, when asked,
the distributors made no attempt to answer the question of who exactly was responsible
for this decision and therefore no official reason as to why and by whom the boy was
censored can be given. Even if the cutting of the scene can be justified with the rules of
29
German youth protection, it seems almost impudent to sell the DVD with uncensored
written across the cover. It shows the unwillingness to justify the decision, by
camouflaging the censorship - and by doing so underestimating the power of the
Internet. Of course the missing of the scene was soon discovered and online reviews
now warn of buying the German, censored version and advise to buy the UK edition
instead. Those that did buy a German copy can find the censored clip on YouTube. This
proves not only the impact of new technologies, it also emphasises the pointlessness of
censoring a movie in the digital age.

While the overall tendency seems to be that of distributors now adapting films true to
the original - be it forced by the new media or by choice, a look into the near future
casts doubt on the new period of problem-free handling of Germanys past. Captain
America: The First Avenger is to open in cinemas in 2011 and it already sheds light on
the different mindsets of Germans and Americans. While initial German reactions to the
trailer were partly the disliking of yet another film with evil Germans in it
10
, American
viewers were worried the film would contain no Nazis at all (Rosenberg 2011). Captain
America originated as a national comic hero during the Second World War, which
naturally links the character with the events of that era. However, in the first official
scenes that were released, no Nazi symbols could be made out, leading comic fans to
worry about the authenticity of the film. The MTV website reassures them, stating that
the villain Schmidt runs an organization called Hydra, which starts as a part of the
Third Reich power structure (Van Lente qtd. By Rosenberg 2011). It is questionable
whether the producers had Germany in mind when choosing to put an armband with the
fictional Hydra symbol on the villains instead of a swastika. This offers far more
opportunities to edit the movie during post-production. The lack of Nazi symbols was
one of the reasons why Notorious was so easily censored. As Van Lente further assures:

It is not some kind of rewriting of world history[.] [] There are Nazis in
the movie, Ive read the script. It is not trying to pretend that the Nazis
didnt exist, or that World War II didnt happen the way we all know it from
history. (qtd. by Rosenberg 2011)

1u
Based on the immediate reactions on the video-sharing website YouTube. See Figure 3 in appendix.
Su
It is interesting to think of the German attitude in comparison. While Americans fear
fictional organisations may weaken the Nazi image, Germans believe Hollywood is
constantly overdoing the Nazi clich, which is probably going to be present for many
years to come (Brill, 2009) . However the true nature of the new Captain America
movie wont be revealed for another few months and as of now only a few observations
can be made, based on both the German and the American version of the official trailer.

In the trailer the weakling Steve, eager to fight for his country, is deemed unfit for
military duty and therefore chooses to become part of a project, aiming to create
outstanding soldiers with the help of science. What the German viewers dont learn
from the trailer - and would otherwise only know if they were familiar with the comics,
is that Dr. Abraham Erskine, the scientist helping the Americans, is in fact a German,
recognisable by his accent in the English version of the trailer. This strengthens the
theory that America, apparently unwilling to entirely let go of their Nazi villains,
promote a more balanced image of the Germans. Unfortunately the trailer then suggests
that the German post-production industry may need a little longer to deal with the
leftovers of their Hollywood image. While Steve is being turned into Captain America,
a voiceover can be heard, giving no technical reason whatsoever to change the wording
of what is said, and yet even in the two and a half minutes of the trailer, Captain
America: The First Avenger is being censored.

English Trailer German Trailer
We are going to win this war, because we
have the best men [] and they will
personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates
of hell.

Wir werden diesen Krieg gewinnen, weil
wir die Besten Mnner haben [] und sie
werden heute den Feind persnlich durch
die Pforten der Hlle fhren.

Translation:
We will win this war, because we have the
best men [] and they will personally
lead the enemy through the gates of hell
today.

S1
It does not seem plausible why this text had to be censored. It in no way glorifies the
Nazis, but talks about Hitler as an enemy and yet it seems to be thought of as
inappropriate for German viewers. Even if it were a reaction to German viewers being
annoyed by the constant use of the Nazi villain, replacing Adolf Hitler, but keeping
footage of soldiers doing the Nazi salute will not hide the fact that the villains in this
movie are Germans. It merely distorts the film unnecessarily. As reaction to Captain
America and the Finnish comedy Iron Sky (2012), Entertainment Weekly writer Franich
wondered, whether we are approaching some sort of post-Inglourious Basterds bumper
crop of ridiculous candy-colored Nazi flicks (2011). If that is the case it should be
worth following up on the further development in Germanys handling of those films,
seeing as despite many positive examples, censorship in connection with Germanys
past is still taking place.

3. Conclusion: There Is Censorship

Luckily Germany has come a long way since the post-war manipulations of entire
storylines and the denial of the German villain. However, it is unfortunate that the
distributors have not yet reached a censor-free post-production system that is honestly
willing to take great care to work closely to the original, instead of finding opportunities
to mitigate the content. The 21
st
century has made it harder for distributors to change
parts of movies unnoticed, but it is still done as has been shown above with regard to
the mentioning of Hitler in the Captain America trailer. It has to be acknowledged, that
especially on TV things are changing. The translators of series seem less eager to
modify the content possibly due to an even bigger presence of German online
audiences. Yet, while no German dubbing of a film purposely conceals German villains
anymore, the individual approach to film passages and the choices made seem as
selective as they are random.

While it is understandable, that Germany has a complicated history and correlated
problems with dealing with it, the handling of Hollywood films suggests that the
country has not entirely worked through its issues yet. Caught between the wish to
S2
move on and the conscientiousness to handle the past with extreme care, the viewers
seem to be believed unable to handle Hollywoods demonised and dramatised view of
the Germans and are expected not to laugh about Americas parodies. Standards, that
seem more and more unrealisable in a globalised world. However the censoring of
movies may have had some affect on the viewers in the past, as they now accept serious
dramas that educate, but frown upon the pop-culture Nazis. This certainly is a delicate
subject, but how are future generations supposed to move on, if they never learn the
natural contact with these themes? Hollywood wars are not supposed to replace the true
past, but they should be more willingly accepted by German viewers, without fearing
other countries judgement for doing so. Especially when it comes to humorous takes on
Germanys past, such as the allusion to Hitler in Eurotrip, there seems to be a belief that
a positive reaction to this is inappropriate. Yet, in those other countries, the image of
Germany is most likely shaped and influenced by exactly these Hollywood movies,
which makes it even more important not to censor them in Germany. Germans should
be watching the same versions of these films, for how else are they to understand the
other nations handling of the past, relate to their point of view, know where their
opinions and prejudices come from and even begin to adapt to their humour, without
feeling uneasy.

Even more importantly, the question remains as to whether it is right for censorship to
exist in a democracy. As a reaction to Paramounts unwillingness to reply to the
question as to who is responsible for the censoring of Eurotrip, it would be interesting
to pursue the issue further, past the limits of this subject, in order to find those that are
truly in charge of censorship in Germany. A film, as created by the director, the actors,
the creative team and many others, is a work of art and according to German law should
not be censored. How can a country, terrified to give the wrong impression through the
images and words of Hollywood movies, at the same time use censorship - one of the
most powerful tools of propaganda, to act against that fear of propaganda. The country
should trust in its citizens ability to distinguish right from wrong and not patronise
them in this way. By modifying the films contents to what they think is right, they
falsify the voices of the filmmakers. Instead of worrying about preserving a directors
vision, they worry about ways to change the work according to their personal belief
system. Of course, only in few cases films are severely censored because of their link to
SS
Germanys past, but according to German law none should be censored at all.
Independent from Germanys history, it is questionable whether a country should have
the right to cut and dub away its own image, as it is seen through the lens of other
countries.
11,142 words

S4
4. List of References

4.1. Bibliography

Bohlander, M. (ed.) (2008) The German criminal code: a modern English translation.
Oxford: Hart.

Cole, H. M. (1988) The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Washington: Government
Printing Office.

Cronin, M. (2009) Translation goes to the Movies. Abingdon: Routledge.

Deutscher Bundestag. (2010) Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin:
German Bundestag.

Elsaesser. T. (1989) New German Cinema. A History. Basingstoke: The Macmillan
Press Ltd.

Evans, R. J. (1989) In Hitlers Shadow. West German Historians and the Attempt to
Escape from the Nazi Past. London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd.

Gassert, P. and A. E. Steinweis (eds.) (2006) Coping With the Nazi Past. West German
Debates on Nazism and Generational Conflict, 1955 1975. New York: Berghahn
Books.

Hayes, P. (2001) Industry and Ideology. IG Farben in the Nazi Era. (2
nd
edn.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kaes, A. (1989) From Hitler To Heimat. The Return of History as Film. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.

Koppes, C. R. and G. D. Black (2000) Hollywood Goes To War. Patriotism, Movies and
SS
the Second World War. From Ninotchka to Mrs Miniver. London: Tauris Parke
Paperbacks.

Loiperdinger, M. (2002) State Legislation, Censorship and Funding. In Bergfelder, T.,
E. Carter and D. Gktrk (eds.), The German Cinema Book. London: British Film
Institute.

Maier, W. (1997) Spielfilmsynchronisation. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH.

Marrison, J. (2004) Arabs Not The First To Be Blown Away By The Movies.
Afterimage 31 (5): 14

Noam, E. (2010) Hollywood 2.0: How Internet Distribution Will Affect the Film
Industry. In Neuman, W. R. (ed.), Media, Technology, and Society. Theories of
Media Evolution. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Nornes, A. M. (2007) Cinema Babel. Translating Global Cinema. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.

Pahlke, S. (2009) Handbuch Synchronisation. Von der bersetzung zum fertigen Film.
Leipzig: Henschel Verlag.

Phelps, G. (1975) Film Censorship. Letchworth: The Garden City Press Limited.

Pruys, G. M. (1997) Die Rhetorik der Filmsynchronisation. Wie auslndische Spielfilme
in Deutschland zensiert, verndert und gesehen werden. Tbingen: Gunter Narr
Verlag.

S6
4.2. Filmography

Berchtigt (1969) Film. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Germany: ZDF.

Berchtigt (2009), DVD, Sddeutsche Zeitung GmbH.

Berchtigt (Notorious) (2008), DVD, Phoenix Bild- und Tontrger Vertrieb.

Casablanca (1942) Film. Directed by Michael Curtiz, USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Casablanca (1952) Film. Directed by Michael Curtiz, Germany: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Casablanca (1975) Film. Directed by Michael Curtiz, Germany: ARD.

Das Fnfte Element (1997) Film. Directed by Luc Besson. Germany: Tobis Filmkunst.

Der Harte und der Zarte (1990) Film. Directed by Bob Clark. Germany: Columbia
TriStar.

Der Untergang (2004) Film. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Germany: Constantin
Film Produktion.

Die Eingeschlossenen von Altona (1963) Film. Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Germany:
Centfox.

Die Hard (1988) Film. Directed by John McTiernan. USA: 20
th
Century Fox.

Die Hard (2000), DVD, Twentieth Century Fox.

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) Film. Directed by John McTiernan. USA: 20
th

Century Fox.

S7
Die Hard with a Vegance (2002), DVD, Buena Vista.

Eurotrip (2004) Film. Directed by Jeff Schaffer. Germany: Universal Pictures.

Eurotrip (2004) Film. Directed by Jeff Schaffer. USA: DreamWorks SKG.

Eurotrip (2006), DVD, Paramount Home Entertainment.

Eurotrip Unseen (2006), DVD, Dreamworks Home Entertainment.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Film. Directed by Steven Spielberg. USA:
Paramount Pictures.

Indiana Jones und der letzte Kreuzzug (1989) Film. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Germany: Paramount Pictures.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) Film. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. USA: Universal
Pictures.

Inglourious Basterds (2010), DVD, Universal.

Iron Sky (2012) Film. Directed by Timo Vuorensola. Finland: Blind Spot Pictures Oy.

Loose Cannons (1990) Film. Directed by Bob Clark. USA: TriStar Pictures.

Love Actually (2003) Film. Directed by Richard Curtis. UK: Universal Pictures.

Mein Fhrer Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit ber Adolf Hitler (2007) Film. Directed
by Dani Levy. Germany: Arte.

Notorious (1946) Film. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, USA: RKO Radio Pictures.

S8
Notorious (2008), DVD, Fremantle Media.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Film. Directed by Steven Spielberg. USA: Lucasfilm
Ltd.

Stirb Langsam (1988) Film. Directed by John McTiernan. Germany: 20
th
Century Fox
of Germany.

Stirb Langsam (2005), DVD, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Stirb Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht (1995) Film. Directed by John McTiernan. Germany:
Buena Vista International.

Stirb Langsam: Jetzt Erst Recht (2002), DVD, Touchstone.

The Brothers Grimm (2005) Film. Directed by Terry Gilliam. USA: Mosaic Media
Group.

The Fifth Element (1997) Film. Directed by Luc Besson. France: Gaumont Film
Company.

The Producers (2005) Film. Directed by Susan Stroman. USA: Universal Pictures.

The Producers (2006) Film. Directed by Susan Stroman. Germany: Sony Pictures
Releasing.

Valkyrie (2008) Film. Directed by Bryan Singer. USA: MGM

Weies Gift (1951) Film. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Germany: RKO Radio Pictures.

X2 (2003) Film. Directed by Bryan Singer. USA: 20
th
Century Fox.

S9
4.3. Electronic Sources

Brill, O. (2009) Die Erfindung der Hollywood-Nazis. Spiegel [online]. 16
th
February.
Available: <URL:http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/3667/
die_erfindung_der_hollywood_nazis.html> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Dringer, C. (2011) English Information [online]. Wiesbaden: FSK. Available:
<URL:http://www.spio.de/index.asp?SeitID=480&TID=480> [Access date 26
th
May
2011].

Franich, D. (2011) Nazis! In! Spaaaaaaaace! Check out the totally bananas 'Iron Sky'
teaser [online]. New York: Entertainment Weekly. Available:<URL:http://popwatch.
ew.com/2011/05/13/iron-sky-preview-space-nazis/> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Hauch-Fleck, M.-L. (2003) Seltsame Pleite. Zeit [online]. 13
th
November. Available:
<URL: http://www.zeit.de/2003/47/WCM> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

InSite (2010) New Technology and the Web Change TV Consumption, Content [online].
Pittsburgh: The Art Institutes. Available: <URL:http://insite.artinstitutes.edu/new-
technology-and-the-web-change-tv-consumption-content-20751.aspx> [Access date
26
th
May 2011].

Koolstra, C. M., A. L. Peeters and H. Spinhof (2002) The Pros and Cons of Dubbing
and Subtitling. European Journal of Communication [online]. 17 (3). Available:
<URL: http://ejc.sagepub.com/content/17/3/325> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Marvel (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger Trailer [online].San Bruno:
Youtube. Available: <URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JerVrbLldXw>
[Access date 26
th
May 2011].

OHagan, M. (2007) Impact of DVD on Translation : Language Options as an Essential
Add-On Feature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New
4u
Media Technologies. [online]. 13 (2). Available: <URL:http://con.sagepub.
com/content/13/2/157> [Access date 26th May 2011].

Rosenberg, A. (2011) 'Captain America: The First Avenger' Will Include Nazis, Says
Comic Book Prequel Writer [online]. New York: MTV Networks. Available:
<URL:http://splashpage.mtv.com/2011/02/25/captain-america-movie-nazis-comic-
book-prequel/> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Schowanek, M. (2004) Deutsche Synchronkartei [online]. Available:
<URL:http://www.synchronkartei.de/> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Spiegel Online (1948) Kein finsteres Bdnis. Spiegel [online]. 14
th
August. Available:
<URL: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44418676.html> [Access date 26
th
May
2011].

Spiegel Online (1989) Der Zorn wir tglich grer. Spiegel [online]. 11
th
December.
Available: <URL: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13497127.html> [Access
date 26
th
May 2011].

Spiegel Online (2007) Mehrheit der Deutschen lehnt Hitler-Satire ab. Spiegel [online].
10
th
January. Available: <URL:http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/
0,1518,458931,00.html> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Tausch, F. (2011) Captain America | Trailer german deutsch [HD] [online]. San Bruno:
YouTube. Available: <URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy7MEa8vk30>
[Access date 26
th
May 2011].

Wurm, G. (2011) Schnittberichte.com [online]. Furth: Gerald Wurm. Available:
<URL:http://www.schnittberichte.com/index.php> [Access date 26
th
May 2011].

5. Appendix
Figure 1:
27.05.11 12:39 Schnittberichte.com Thema anzeigen - Politisch motivierte Zensur durch Synchronisation
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Betreff des Beitrags: Re: Politisch motivierte Zensur durch Synchronisation
Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 02:52
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Politisch motivierte Zensur durch Synchronisation

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Autor Nachricht
Brighton
Registriert: 9. Mai 2011,
02:17
Beitrge: 4
Hallo ihr Lieben,
zur Zeit schreibe ich an einer Arbeit ber die Entwicklung der
Synchronisation bezglich der politisch motivierten Zensur. Beispiele
wren solche Klassiker wie Casablanca in der (in der ursprnglichen
Version) erst mal alles was mit dem zweiten Weltkrieg zu tun hatte
rausgeschnitten wurde, oder solche Gestalten wie der liebe Hans Gruber
aus Die Hard. Eben alles was in Deutschland als politisches Taboo gelten
knnte.
Da ihr euch hier aber sicher alle wesentlich besser auskennt als ich, wre
es unglaublich hilfreich, wenn ihr mir noch ein paar Filme nennen
knntet, in denen in der deutschen Version eine fr Deutsche eventuell
unangenehme oder politisch inkorrekte Situation 'bearbeitet' wurde.
Es wrde mich zum Beispiel auch interessieren was mit Filmen wie The
Sound of Music oder Cabaret ist. Wurden die in der deutschen Fassung
auch etwas entschrft? Heutzutage wrde sich natrlich keiner mehr
anmaen ganze Storylines zu ndern, aber die Deutschen neigen ja
zumindest dazu noch den einen oder anderen unpassenden Witz der auf
ihre Kosten geht zu entfernen..
Also, was habt ihr denn fr mich da alles im Angebot?
Schonmal vielen, vielen Dank im Voraus!
Nach oben
Mar
Registriert: 23. Jun 2004,
19:38
Beitrge: 9376
Wohnort: Mynstrborg
Das Paradebeispiel aus neuerer Zeit ist wohl Starship Troopers.
Hier wird die politische Komponente des Drehbuchs durch teils
hanebchene Erfindungen der deutschen Fassung weitgehend
ausgeblendet.
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittb ... hp?ID=1547
Ich hoffe allerdings, dass du in deiner (Fach-/Bachelor-/Master-?)Arbeit
nicht zu pauschalisierenden Formulierungen wie "die Deutschen haben xy
entfernt" greifen wirst, da diese einen nicht vorhandenen oder zumindest
nicht feststellbaren nationalen Konsens fr eine von einigen wenigen
Verantwortlichen vorgenommene Zensur voraussetzen.
_________________
Figure 2:

Betreff des Beitrags: Re: Politisch motivierte Zensur durch Synchronisation Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 04:02

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 07:55

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 09:10

Nach oben
KLOTZ
06:29
Beitrge: 7086
Wohnort: teh internetz
Notorious/Berchtigt
_________________
WARNUNG: Beitrge mit dem Kennzeichen 'KLOTZ' knnen Spuren von Trollkot enthalten.
----
Public XBL: o Currywurst o
Public PSN: XboxDude247
Nach oben
McClane
SB.com-Autor
15:46
Beitrge: 977
"Der Harte und der Zarte": Da jagt man in der deutschen Version
angeblich argentinische Faschisten, allerdings hngen in der
argentinischen Botschaft lauter deutsche Flaggen.
Nach oben
Martin Penwald
Registriert: 3. Dez 2010,
18:00
Beitrge: 716
James Bond - Im Angesicht des Todes
Ehemaliger KZ-Arzt wird zum polnischen Biologen, der Hormone etc. fr
Sportler entwickelt
Casino Royal (1966)
Sellers Hitlerkostm wurde rausgeschnitten
Top Secret
In der Originalfassung wird die DDR-Nationalhymne nachgesungen, in
der Synchrofassung das Prinz Eugen-Lied darber gelegt.
The Blues Brothers (1979)
Ein Witz mit jdischem Bezug wird gendert.
Angaben zum Teil ohne Gewhr und sind Wolf Jahnkes Essay
"Entnazifizierung von Filmen" entnommen. Lohnt sich aber, glaub ich, fr
dich nicht wirklich zu lesen.

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 10:36

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 10:57

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 11:24
_________________
Das Merkwrdigste an der Zukunft ist wohl die Vorstellung, da man
unsere Zeit spter die gute alte Zeit nennen wird. (John Steinbeck)

Nach oben
Brighton
02:17
Beitrge: 4
Das ging ja schnell.
@Mar: Keine Angst, es soll mehr darum gehen, ob diese wenigen
Entscheidungstrger (teils sind es ja auch die amerikanischen Studios,
wie bei Casablanca) das Recht haben das Original fr die Massen zu
zensieren. So heikel manche die Themen auch finden mgen, glaube ich
nmlich, dass es fr das deutsche Publikum wichtig ist, die auslndischen
Meinungen/Darstellungen zu sehen. Wie soll man sonst mit dem Thema
umgehen lernen? Ausserdem ist Zensur, nur weil man glaubt das
Publikum knnte sich unangenehm berhrt fhlen (was ja nun meist
nicht mal der Fall ist), ja nun wirklich so nicht zu begrnden. (Oh, und es
ist meine BA Arbeit. :s)
@Martin Penwald: Die Filme werde ich gleich mal alle recherchieren und
danke fr den Verweis auf das Essay. Selbst wenn es sich nicht ganz zu
lesen lohnt, kann ich es wenigstens als Quelle fr den Verweis auf die
besagten Filme verwenden.
Danke!!!
Zuletzt gendert von Brighton am 9. Mai 2011, 11:24, insgesamt 1-mal gendert.
Nach oben
spannick
21:34
Beitrge: 106
ganz bel auch CASABLANCA Erstsynchro, wo der Nazi quasi komplett
durch Synchro & Schnitte entfernt wurde.
BLOOD DINER, wo Jimmy Hitler zu Jimmy der Etrusker wurde und alle
Szenenteile, wo die HK-Armbinde zu sehen war, entfernt wurden.
Nach oben
peda
SB.com-Autor
09:00
Beitrge: 4531
Wohnort: Mnchen
Raumschiff Enterprise:
In der Episode "Krieg der Computer" wurden alle Bezge auf Gaskammern
heraussynchronisiert (und teilweise auch geschnitten).
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittb ... ID=4806342
Evtl. auch noch "Griff in die Geschichte":
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittb ... ID=2261931
EDIT:
Fr die deutsche Fassung von "Night Hunter" (OT: Avenging Force)
wurden ebenfalls alle fremdenfeindlichen Aussagen entfernt oder
verfremdet.
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittb ... ?ID=704163

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 12:46

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 12:57

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 13:03

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 13:49
Nach oben
Martin Penwald
18:00
Beitrge: 716
Da fllt mir auch noch Tanz der Vampire ein, bei dem ebenfalls die
Synchro verndert wurde. Ich bin mir nicht mehr ganz sicher, aber ich
glaube im Original sind jdische Vampire gegen das Kreuz immun (bin
mir wirklich nicht sicher). In der deutschen Fassung lst sich die
Geschichte irgendwie belangloser auf. Da findest du bestimmt auch was
dazu.
Ist aber nur grenzwertig politisch.
_________________

Nach oben
Brighton
02:17
Beitrge: 4
@Martin: Das Beispiel finde ich gar nicht mal so schlecht. Heutzutage
werden ja durchaus die historischen Anspielungen auf die Deutschen
eher drinnen gelassen als Witze, die auf jdische Kosten gehen
(unabhngig davon, ob der jdische Produzent es selbst so gewollt hat
und seine Arbeit dadurch verflscht wird). Denke das ist das einzige was
auch heute noch oft zensiert wird. Gibt da ja das eine oder andere
Beispiel aus der Nanny oder diese Szene aus Airplane - und die Witze
darin sind ja nun echt nicht bse gemeint.
Noch mal Danke an alle. Ihr seid ja wirklich super hilfreich hier bei
Schnittberichte!
Nach oben
Mar
19:38
Beitrge: 9376
Wohnort: Mynstrborg
Martin Penwald hat geschrieben:
Knntest du kurz wiedergeben, wie der lautet und an welcher Stelle er
sich befindet?
_________________

Nach oben
Crossbone

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 14:53

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 14:59
Registriert: 1. Jul 2003,
03:50
Beitrge: 226
Wohnort: sterreich
Es gibt auch ein paar Vernderungen bei "Indiana Jones und der letzte
Kreuzzug" durch die dt. Synchronisation. Manchmal wird das Wort nazi
im dt. zu Deutsche bersetzt. Das bekannteste /Sprachzensur-)Beispiel
dieses Films ist jedoch zweifellos in der Szene, wo der eine Nazi(mit HK-
Binde) Harrison Ford mit der Faust ins Gesicht schlgt, sagt er kurz
vorher "This is how we say Goodbye in Germany"-bersetzt mit "So sagen
wir Auf Wiedersehen bei der SS".
Die Hintergrundinfos zu diesem Film sind ohnehin sehr interessant, da
sich die Kinofassung und smtliche medialen Auswertungen danach
(VHS,DVD etc.) in ein paar Punkten unterscheiden(u.a. die Entfernung des
Worter "jdisch" in einem prekren Zusammenhang. Ich hatte damals das
Glck, den Film mehmals im Kino in der Ursprungsfassung zu sehen).
Dies drfte aber nicht von Belang fr deine BA sein, da diese nderungen
fr alle gngigen Fassungen gelten.
_________________
Mchte Filme in einer Fassung sehen, wie sie vom Regisseur beabsichtigt
sind!
Nach oben
Martin Penwald
18:00
Beitrge: 716
Mar hat geschrieben:
Martin Penwald hat geschrieben:
Knntest du kurz wiedergeben, wie der lautet und an welcher Stelle er
sich befindet?
Ich kann da nur den sehr ungenauen Text zitieren:
"Selbst bei THE BLUES BROTHERS, USA 1979, konnten es die
Synchronsprecher anscheinend nicht verantworten, da die Zuschauer
zwischen Autokarambolagen und einfltigen Neonazis, ber einen Witz
mit jdischem Bezug lachen knnten und nderten einen jdisch
klingenden Namen, mit welchem sich einer der Blues Brothers kurzweilig
ausgibt."
Ich denke mal, dass du nun ebenso schlau bist wie vorher. Ich htte mir
auch eine genauere Angabe gewnscht.
_________________

Nach oben
Mar
Danke, das ist doch schon mal was. Kenne den Film nur in der
Synchrofassung.
_________________

Verfasst: 9. Mai 2011, 15:56

19:38
Beitrge: 9376
Wohnort: Mynstrborg

Nach oben
Filmifreaki
20:56
Beitrge: 1263
"Stirb langsam" vllt. noch ?
Aus den hauptschlich deutschen Terroristen wurde ne internationale
Truppe
Nach oben
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Politisch motivierte Zensur durch Synchronisation

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Autor Nachricht
Bokusatsu
11:37
Beitrge: 825
Beim Original Inglorious Bastards heit der von Raimund Harmstorf
gespielte Charakter Adolf Sachs.In der deutschen Synchro heit er Armin.
_________________

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Martin Penwald
18:00
Beitrge: 716
Eben gerade gelesen: De Sicas Die Eingeschlossenen von Altona
Die Firmennamen Krupp und Mercedes Benz wurden ausgetauscht, da
man die international erfolgreichen Unternehmen nicht schdigen wollte.
Im Film wurde Bezug auf deren Verwicklung in nationalsozialistisches
Treiben genommen.
_________________

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Tony Montana

Verfasst: 10. Mai 2011, 19:05

Verfasst: 10. Mai 2011, 19:59

Verfasst: 19. Mai 2011, 17:36

Verfasst: 20. Mai 2011, 14:52
Moderator
Registriert: 19. Mr 2004,
11:18
Beitrge: 10997
Hat zwar nichts mit deutschen Synchro zu tun, aber als Beispiel fr
andere Lnder sicherlich nicht uninteressant. Ich sage nur South Park
Folge 201 --> klick. Da findest du auch noch Links zu den lteren News
bzgl. der TV-Ausstrahlung auf Comedy Central und der Verfgbarkeit auf
der HP.
_________________

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NUR DIE RUHE
Registriert: 18. Okt 2008,
11:44
Beitrge: 18
Wohnort: Xibalba
Shriek
http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=text&f ... &rid=41914
_________________
"Das bringt die Sache nicht um ein Iota vorran !" Arthur Spooner
"Jetz auch am DVD" Hostel, Bahnsteig 2
Ich will einen "Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper Ultra Keeper Futura S
2000" (Southpark, Episode 4.12)
> ruhige Filmsammlung <
Nach oben
Brighton
02:17
Beitrge: 4
Danke, Danke, Danke! Da sind echt super Beispiele dabei, die genau das
sind, was ich brauche! Bald muss ich euch noch meine BA Arbeit widmen.
Nach oben
Charles Tucker III
Registriert: 26. Sep 2009,
21:12
Beitrge: 5
ich hab auch noch eines:
In "ein Fisch namens Wanda", als Otto, der sich ber die berheblichkeit
der Englnder aufregt,
gerade das Haus von Archie verlsst, sagt er im Original:
... you all would speak German, singing "Deutschland, Deutschland uber
alles".
In der deutsche Version wurde daraus:
Und wenn wir nicht gewesen wren, dann wrdet ihr jetzt alle Sauerkraut
essen und pauselos Marschmusik hren.
War den brsetzern wohl ein wenig zu heikel^^.
Nach oben
Sir Chrischel
Charles Tucker III hat geschrieben:

14:16
Beitrge: 936
ich hab auch noch eines:
In "ein Fisch namens Wanda", als Otto, der sich ber die
berheblichkeit der Englnder aufregt,
gerade das Haus von Archie verlsst, sagt er im Original:
... you all would speak German, singing "Deutschland, Deutschland
uber alles".
In der deutsche Version wurde daraus:
Und wenn wir nicht gewesen wren, dann wrdet ihr jetzt alle
Sauerkraut essen und pauselos Marschmusik hren.
War den brsetzern wohl ein wenig zu heikel^^.
Ist im Deutschen aber auch witziger, wie ich finde.
(Arne Elsholz sei dank)
_________________

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27.05.11 12:53 YouTube - Captain America | Trailer german deutsch [HD]
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captain america
Hochgeladen von FilmKritikTV am 31.03.2011
Captain America deutscher Trailer deutsch german Trailer Vorschau mit
Franc Tausch. Mit Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley
Tucci & Haley Atwell. Ein Film von Joe Johnston.
Geplanter Kinostart / Filmstart von Captain America - The First Avenger: 18.
August 2011 im Kino.
Deine Gedanken ueber die Captain America The First Avenger Trailer
Vorschau mit Chris Evans?
BITTE KOMMENTIEREN, DAUMEN HOCH & ABONNIEREN
Franc's Twitter: http://twitter.com/FilmKritikTV2
Captain America offizieller Trailer & Webseite: http://wwww.captainamerica-
film.de
Captain America: The First Avenger official trailer & movie website
international: http://www.captainamerica.marvel.com
In ganz Europa tobt der Zweite Weltkrieg und richtet unendliche Verwstung
an. Der junge Steven Rogers ist fest entschlossen, sein Land im Kampf um
Frieden und Freiheit zu untersttzen, doch seine Krperkraft reicht fr den
gefhrlichen Kriegseinsatz nicht aus. Unbeirrt stellt er sich nach seiner
Ausmusterung fr eine mysterise Versuchsreihe zur Verfgung: Das
"Super-Soldier"-Programm macht aus dem unscheinbaren Mann eine
unschlagbare menschliche Waffe - Captain America ist geboren!
Kaum ist der neue Kriegsheld auf dem umkmpften Kontinent angekommen,
steht ihm die bisher grte Prfung seines Lebens bevor: Der Kampf gegen
Nazi -Agent Red Skull, der als absolut unbesiegbar gilt. Um ihn zu stoppen,
muss Captain America sich selbst opfern...
Captain America trailer german / Captain America trailer deutsch / Captain
America The First Avenger german / Captain America The First Avenger
deutsch / Captain America deutscher trailer / Kino Trailer Vorschau DVD
2011
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Auf dieses Video antworten...

fand den Trailer langweilig... bis nervig ....
TheAdipositas vor 1 Monat
Bin ganz deiner Meinung Frank! :-)
nicozehnder1992 vor 1 Monat
Hollywood hat wie immer 2 Feinde zur auswahl
Die bsen Deutschen( Nazis 1940-1945)
Oder die bsen Russen ("Kalter Krieg" Kommunisten)
Also echt, seit 40 Jahren die gleiche Leier , am Ende retten die die amis wie immer
die Welt vor dem Bsen . Nur das diesmal ein anderer Schwachkopf im Mittelpunkt
steht , ein aus einer kranken Fantasie entsprungener Superheld. Und immer sind
die amis 1000 fach technisch berlegen.
Wie bei den alten Stealth filmen
gibt mal BERKUT bei GOOGLE ein das ist technik
Gaschisch vor 1 Monat 128
Sehr geehrte Herr Tausch
Ich schliee mich meinen Kollegen an.Der Trailer hat mich kaum angesprochen,da
man das Gefhl hat,sowas schon ein dutzend mal gesehen zu haben.Der
Protagonist(Captain America) ist neben den fantastischen vier, die unbeliebteste
Figur im Marvel Universum!Die Story ist unterer Durchschnitt UND ICH KANN ES
NICHT MEHR SEHEN,DASS HOLLYWOOD IMMER NOCH AUF DIESE SCHEISS
NAZIFILME SETZT!Kreativlosigkeit bis zum Schluss in Hollywood und das schon
seit Jahren.
prussiansoldier85 vor 1 Monat
wir haben Captain Berlin xDDDD
777theluk777 vor 1 Monat
Wie Tony Starks Vater halt echt das Captain America experiment durchgefhrt hat
:D
MauriDOA vor 1 Monat
Mich strt an den ganzen amerikanischen Filmen, dass immer die Deutschen die
Boesen sind .Langsam reicht es doch mal.
hansderhansi vor 1 Monat
der trailer ....... naja!
aber die ganze zeit diese mr. Krabs stimme -.-
TheFantasticBeats vor 1 Monat
@TheVisnu
Hellboy hat auch gegen Nazis gekmpft. Auerdem, was regen sich hier alle auf?
Captain America ist uralt und kmpfte anfangs immer gegen Nazis. Chillt euch^^
Noin2006 vor 1 Monat
schwachsinn..
xKenny180x vor 1 Monat
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