Nazi Past Of Berlinale Founder Alfred Bauer Did Not Influence Festival Structure Under His Directorship, Concludes New Expanded Study
21.10.2022 - 16:13
/ deadline.com
The Nazi past of the Berlinale’s founding director Alfred Bauer, which only publicly emerged in 2020, did not influence its structure and program under his directorship from 1951 to 1976, a new study by the festival has concluded.
The joint expanded report, carried out in partnership with the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (LfZ), follows a preliminary joint investigation, commissioned in response to revelations in the German newspaper Die Zeit in early 2020 that Bauer had played a significant role in the filmmaking apparatus of the Nazi regime.
The new study was set in motion to ascertain whether Bauer’s previous Nazi sympathies had influenced the editions of the festival that he led. The Berlinale will hold a public panel on November 2 to discuss the findings of the report.
“We wish to thank the LfZ for the extensive, detailed research on Alfred Bauer. Since 2020, there has been the certainty that Bauer held a significant position in Nazi filmmaking and that he was able to continue his career in the cultural scene of the young Federal Republic through clever concealment,” said Berlinale co-heads Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
“The current study by the IfZ demonstrates this, but also comes to the conclusion that this did not lead to a Nazi ideological characterization of the festival programme. The view of the festival’s history has been sharpened, and this confirms once again how essential it is to keep critically reflecting on one’s own history”.
Entitled “Showcases in the Cold War. New research on the history of the Berlinale in the Alfred Bauer era (1951–1976)”, the new LfZ study noted that rumours regarding Bauer’s career under National Socialism were already circulating during the 1950s, but
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