I've seen many films from the 1940's through the 1960's with subtle and not-so subtle anti-black racism, but this was the first I saw of outright hostility and anti-German racial stereotyping in film. I know from stories my German-born mother told me that there was hatred directed towards German immigrants after WW II, that some saw all Germans as inhuman nazis. This is on display in The Seventh Cross. I couldn't finish it.
shareAnna Seghers who wrote the book "Das siebte Kreuz" aka "The seventh cross" wrote it in exile, during the Naziregime. The point in the book and in the film is not that all germans are inhuman nazis, in fact it is the opposit. The book and the film for that matter, shows a Germany in which everybody suspects everybody, and that trusting the wrong person can have the gravest of consequences. This was the result of the nazi-terror campaign against the german people, but in fact there was many germans who despised the nazis, and some who just lived the best they could during Hitlers reign of horror. Too sum it up the book depicts a nuanced Germany in wich there is a lot of different kind of people - nazis, nazi-followers, socialists, communists democrats, liberals, non-political etc. If u would take the time to watch it to the end, you would see that our main protagonist only manages to escape because he gets help from a lot of people who in fact risks there own lives doing it...how is that anti-german?!
shareYou left out a group.... those Germans who chose to go along to get along. The ones that realized that what was going on was wrong but didn't have the guts to stand up to the Nazis. Other people did - those friends who helped the Franks, Corrie ten Boom and her sister and elderly father (Corrie & her sister were no Spring chickens) who put their lives on the line to help Jews.
The reason that this story looks anti-German is because it was. The Germans in this story WERE the bad guys. They were hunting men who were imprisoned because of their beliefs or their ethnicity.
Yes, during and after WWII many Americans were suspicious of Germans... but then the Country did kill millions of people NOT on the battlefield.
As a German-American, I can certainly sympathize with your thoughts... however, that's never gotten in the way of my enjoying this wonderful movie. It was wartime... and little else can be expected? I think this movie is tame on that score, compared to some of the hateful, stereotyping that was on display in other WWII films, towards the Japanese especially. Times haven't changed too much either.... I can't watch TV shows like The Unit and The Ring due to stereotyping of anything foreign, especially those from the middle east.
History has proven over and over again... we only appreciate Anti-War movies during times of peace.... during war... we dehumanize the enemy, and our worst hatefulness can be revealed.
eddyskiva says > History has proven over and over again... we only appreciate Anti-War movies during times of peace.... during war... we dehumanize the enemy, and our worst hatefulness can be revealed.I think this is only natural. I don't think we'd be at war if we didn't see the people we're fighting in a certain way. It's almost a necessary evil. If we saw them any other way it would be difficult to understand why we're fighting them.
YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?
shareA movie made during the height of WWII that portrays the Germans as inhuman Nazis and someone here doesn't understand that? The Nazis slaughtered millions just because they didn't like them and we weren't supposed to make films that showed them as they were?
Like Windsong05 wrote, YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?
I just saw this film a few days ago on Turner Classic Movies. It was an enjoyable film even though the romantic plot near the end was kind of sudden and hokey in my opinion. It was not anti_German at all I thought as all the characters in it where supposed to be German. It showed that there where still decent people who valued basic human rights even in a society like Nazi Germany. True I saw a few German stereotypes but nothing out of the ordinary. At least they did not try to do fake German accents ;). So relax and enjoy the film!
shareThe Japanese of the 30s/40s were buthcers who believed all non-Japanese weren`t even human. Anyone who crys over their treatment is a fool.
shareMany, but not all Japanese were as you describe. To characterize any group of people in one way is shortsighted and prejudiced.
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
I don't recall any Japanese in this film. Did I miss something?
shareI have to agree that the romance at the end is pretty hokey. However, overall, a good picture. Found it quit comtemporary, something that would be made today.
Gabriel Krichinsky when he arrives late for the family Thanksgiving dinner: Vy didja cud da TOIKEY?
You obviously didn't begin to watch in the first place.
shareThe Germans committed the ultimate war crime, and the only one that carries any punishment. They lost.
shareAre we talking about the Germany that invaded Poland, Czheckoslovakia, Holland, Belgium, France, Russia, etc. Murdered millions in concentration camps? The Germany that elected Hitler after he wrote Mein Kampf? I'd say this movie doesn't begin to cover the real Germany of that period.
shareWell, let's agree on the historical facts, e.g., Germany invaded Holland, France, etc and yes, the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of millions and should, therefore, be condemned unequivocally by right thinking people. What is at issue is the 'ergo' part. One writer says what can you expect from the Germans, especially after electing Hitler who had published Mein Kampf. Poor reasoning and more than a bit unjust to blanket an entire population for the misdeeds of a demonic power structure.
These comments go to the characterization of the German people as mostly being savages and complicit in the crimes of their Nazi government. Isn't this the same reasoning that is being widely rejected by the mainstream media, politicians, etc. of today with respect to the Muslim terrorists, i.e., since the preponderance of 'good' Muslims seem lacking in their condemnation of the miscreants among them, they must all be complicit in the terrorist acts of the few. Also, why wouldn't this same faulty reasoning apply to the Communists of Russia and China, who together murdered, at a minimum, over five times as many people as the Nazis. I've never read any responsible scholar suggest the Chinese people nor the Russian people should be condemned for allowing Lenin and Mao tse-Tung to come to power. While we're at it, what about the Japanese during this same period...is the ergo part equally applicable to the entire Japanese nation who saw the militarism of their *beep* filled leaders and let them come to power regardless? Oh, they weren't elected you might say...good point. After Hitler was 'elected' how many elections did he stand for subsequent to that? Didn't he follow the model of Moa, Castro, Stalin, etc and just decide to stay for the duration? Let's cut the general population of Germany and, by extension, all those other countries who come under totalitarian control some slack, not just charge the entire populace with complicity. This is why we don't condemn the entire nation of Iran for not standing up to their theocratic maniacs in government who execute homosexuals.
None other than Alexander Solzhenitsyn comments on this general fear in a population when he says that if the average Russian had ambushed with hammers, axes, etc. the communists who were patrolling the streets and checking the buildings maybe communism might have been stopped early on...but he doesn't condemn his fellow Russians for not taking that heroic stand, just deeply laments that they didn't. As scholars have written since WW II any nation could become, under the right circumstances, like the Germans during that period. Let's condemn the evil doers, but not broad brush all those who were fearful of their own lives in a totalitarian state, especially when there was absent the total freedom to speak against the government that we in the U.S. take all too much for granted.
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As a Jew who lost many wonderful family members to the concentration camps during WWII, am I supposed to think of the Germans as beneficient, good-hearted people?
The only good Germans during that era were those who fought personally against the Nazis. Standing by, and closing one's eyes, is not admirable. Standing up for one's beliefs is.
I will never rewrite history to the extent that you seem to want, billbarstad. More importantly, you should stop denying reality and accept that most of the German people went along with the Nazis, to the extent of turning in friends and neighbors just to save their own hides.
The destruction of close to 11 million people, six million of them Jews, is testament in itself of what the German people were capable of.
Context matters. Well done.
I'm no expert, but . . . .
This reminds me of how it has been suggested that if we suspect someone in our country of evading taxes, we are to turn them in...if we have proof or not.
shareGerman people went along with the Nazis, to the extent of turning in friends and neighbors just to save their own hides.
The destruction of close to 11 million people, six million of them Jews, is testament in itself of what the German people were capable of.
Gribfrit2, Your Anti-Semitism's showing. I for one, worship a Jew.
"Be sure you're right, then go ahead."
Davy Crockett
Only if you fail Reading Comprehension 101. I was proving the other poster's double standard. I could have used any race/religion/gender/organization etc... to show that all groups are capable of atrocities. The fact that you immediately saw it as anti-Semitic simply shows your own Zionist leanings.
shareExactly. Also, it's not like the Israelis started it... others in the region have been trying to eradicate them, not for 50 years, but for several millennia.
shareI hope you haven't seen Schindler's List. I hear Speilberg does a real hatchet job on those poor Germans.
And I hope I'm not giving too much away, but The TenCommandments makes Egyptians look bad too.
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!" C. M. Burns
A fine thing....This was 1944, the war was raging, Nazi atrocities were being found out, hatred of Nazis was at its Zenith. Of course there were anti German feelings conveyed in this movie! And with good cause!
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