Did Hitler personally watch the 1943 Titanic propaganda film?
- Thread starter Dan Kappes
- Start date
This is probably rather elementary, but I wonder if Hitler was familiar with
or had even heard of the Titanic incident ?
I will have to admit that I hadn't heard about Titanic until I happened to see the 1953 movie .
I also don't remember anything about it from History classes. from Elementary School to College.
History was one my favorite classes.
I once thought of studying to be a History Prof.
LOL
I didn't remember much about it again until the 1997 movie came out , which lead to the 1958 "A Night To Remember".
I will also have to admit that most, if not all, that I have learned about Titanic has been from this very website.
So I am wondering if I am in the minority of one who had never even heard of the Titanic or if there are others ?
Maybe Hitler ?
Goebbels must have been somewhat familiar with the history of TItanic ?
P.S.I have seen both the 1953 and 1997 Titanic movies on the "big screen, first run movies" in movie theaters.
"A Night To Remember" on DVD..(As sort of an afterthought after seeing the 1997 movie.)
The 1929 "Atlantic" also on DVD for the same reason.
And the 1943 German movie on the Internet. (Purely out of curiosity.)
or had even heard of the Titanic incident ?
I will have to admit that I hadn't heard about Titanic until I happened to see the 1953 movie .
I also don't remember anything about it from History classes. from Elementary School to College.
History was one my favorite classes.
I once thought of studying to be a History Prof.
LOL
I didn't remember much about it again until the 1997 movie came out , which lead to the 1958 "A Night To Remember".
I will also have to admit that most, if not all, that I have learned about Titanic has been from this very website.
So I am wondering if I am in the minority of one who had never even heard of the Titanic or if there are others ?
Maybe Hitler ?
Goebbels must have been somewhat familiar with the history of TItanic ?
P.S.I have seen both the 1953 and 1997 Titanic movies on the "big screen, first run movies" in movie theaters.
"A Night To Remember" on DVD..(As sort of an afterthought after seeing the 1997 movie.)
The 1929 "Atlantic" also on DVD for the same reason.
And the 1943 German movie on the Internet. (Purely out of curiosity.)
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There was a rather famous hoaxer who claimed to be the Titanic's Third Officer in Germany--Max Dittmar-Pittman. He claimed that when the British third officer had taken ill that Captain Smith, a previous acquaintance of his, had asked him to fill in. He invented wild tales like four lifeboats capsizing on launch and other insane fabrications, but because of the language barrier and national mistrust in the 1920s, many people in Germany believed him and he had a popular time on the lecture circuit for a while before he was found out as a fraud. Despite being proved to be a fraud, many of the elements of his story appear to be identical to the elements of the plot in the 1943 Titanic movie. Anyway, Hitler might well have heard the Dittmar-Pittman stories.
"This is probably rather elementary, but I wonder if Hitler was familiar with
or had even heard of the Titanic incident ?"
I'm sure he had heard of the Titanic disaster. Hitler was living in Vienna in 1912 trying to sell his paintings. Titanic was big news the world over. He probably saw a copy of this or other newspapers (below). Also Hitler was a big fan of movies..especially Hollywood productions and watched them often. Whether he saw the 1943 version I don't know. From the outbreak of WW1 untill Walter Lord wrote his book Titanic had largely been forgotten by the general public so its not surprizing that you and most others from that time period had not heard of her.
http://www.europeana-newspapers.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10310089496_21b6e8f242_c.jpg
or had even heard of the Titanic incident ?"
I'm sure he had heard of the Titanic disaster. Hitler was living in Vienna in 1912 trying to sell his paintings. Titanic was big news the world over. He probably saw a copy of this or other newspapers (below). Also Hitler was a big fan of movies..especially Hollywood productions and watched them often. Whether he saw the 1943 version I don't know. From the outbreak of WW1 untill Walter Lord wrote his book Titanic had largely been forgotten by the general public so its not surprizing that you and most others from that time period had not heard of her.
http://www.europeana-newspapers.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10310089496_21b6e8f242_c.jpg
Thanks very much Steven -
You have made a very good point !
On second thought, I do believe now , many thanks to your comments, that Hitler and those of his generation would have been familiar with the Titanic tragedy.
As I mentioned , I don't even remembering any mention of the word "Titanic" from classmates , etc. In my generation nor from any in my family.......parents, aunt's , uncle's , cousins, etc.......even grand-parents. Also I have lived all my life in Dallas County, Texas , USA , and there was probably little interest or knowledge about the Titanic here.I would have to do a little research,. but I do feel certain it would have made the headlines on The Dallas Morning News .
When I saw the 1953 movie, if it wasn't for the printed remarks at the beginning of the movie that it was based on the historic records cited, I might have even thought the whole movie was just another fictional Hollywood epic and based on some book or work of fiction.
This probably puts me in the generation gap with Jim Currie and others (no offense intended...LOL) ....but one of the family jokes is that one of the reasons that the 1953 "Titanic" is one of my favorites is that in 1953 Robert Wagner and I were about the same age.
Another reason was that the movie was about a ship and I was in the Navy and had some sea duty. The movie was in its first run in a downtown San Diego theater and I went to see it when I had Liberty that weekend.(I think I have previously mentioned this. LOL.) The Seaplane Tender USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14) was based at North Island Naval Air Station at that time.
This is just another weird idea of mine. But just stretching your imagination a bit, do you suppose if anyone had read Morgan Robertson's "Futility" might have thought the 1953 movie might have been just the Hollywood movie version of the book ?
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"This is just another weird idea of mine. But just stretching your imagination a bit, do you suppose if anyone had read Morgan Robertson's "Futility" might have thought the 1953 movie might have been just the Hollywood movie version of the book ?"
Well I kind of doubt it. I think that book like Titanic had largely been forgotten too by 1953. I don't even remember hearing about it until the interwebs came along and the Titanic craze from Cameron's movie took off and it was brought up then. I'm sure some of the more educated researchers here knew about it before but I would bet 99% of the rest of the population never heard of it before.
Well I kind of doubt it. I think that book like Titanic had largely been forgotten too by 1953. I don't even remember hearing about it until the interwebs came along and the Titanic craze from Cameron's movie took off and it was brought up then. I'm sure some of the more educated researchers here knew about it before but I would bet 99% of the rest of the population never heard of it before.
By 1943 Hitler was mostly consumed by the war and had little time for relaxing with films like he did from 1933-39. His leisurely leadership style pre-war had given way to a punishing work schedule as he wanted to be involved in any aspect of the war that he could. He would often be in meetings with his generals late into the evening hours. He remained on friendly terms with Goebbels til the end, but I doubt he had time to watch a film about the Titanic wreck. I’m sure he appreciated the propaganda, though.
Judging by the positive review he left on IMDB.com I'd say Hitler quite liked it.
Thats true. By then he was getting more and more whacked out on drugs and was keeping strange hours. But for the allies that was probably a good thing as he was doing more harm to his side than good. I read somewhere that the allied leaders stopped a plan to asassinate him because they were afraid someone more talented would take over and prolong the war.
While I have no doubt that Hitler knew about the Titanic at least in terms of the basics, there's no evidence he saw the film. Or, for that matter, if many did in its initial run; by the time it was released Germany was being systematically flattened by Allied bombing raids and there weren't many cinemas left standing, let alone showing new premieres.
Personally, I find it more tantalizing to consider the rumors Hitler personally saw The Great Dictator.
Personally, I find it more tantalizing to consider the rumors Hitler personally saw The Great Dictator.
Yeah, I'm a millennial, so my generation learned about the Titanic right away because the Cameron film came out in 97 and I learned about the Titanic in middle school. But some baby boomers learned about the Titanic in school, because my dad's friend who is in his 50s said he read Walter Lord's A Night to Remember in school.
Even if Hitler never watched The Great Dictator or the 43 Titanic film, I'm sure he heard about them, as they were each propaganda films, and of course everyone who was alive in 1912 would have heard some things about the Titanic disaster just like most people living today know about 9/11 cause that's a more recent disaster, and lots of people remember where they were when that happened.
S
SmileyGirl
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I think he did watch The Great Dictator. Chaplin was definitely on his wanted list.
If this article is correct you are right about that. Chaplin films were banned by the reich but we all know the rules didn't apply to the leaders.
Charlie Chaplin Made Hitler Cry – War Is Boring – Medium
Charlie Chaplin Made Hitler Cry – War Is Boring – Medium
