Tangenten

The Book

The GDR based its legitimation essentially on the anti-fascism it practised and the associated idea of coming to terms with the past. This also played an important role in the mass media of film and television.

This documentary is dedicated to the portrayal of Jewish life, the persecution of Jews, anti-Semitism, the traces of the past in the present as well as developments in the Middle East - especially the Israel-Palestine conflict - in GDR cinema and television. The annotated collection of material illustrates the roots, strategies, variables and constants that existed in the audiovisual media with regard to these topics.

For each film, each television programme, the volume contains information on content and contributors, including persons from politics and history who appear in the films or programmes, are addressed. Feature films, animated films and documentaries of DEFA and GDR television are treated equally; journalistic television programmes, newsreels and television magazines are included with many references to literature. In addition, there are short biographies of German-Jewish artists, authors, journalists or persons in leading positions who have participated in the films and broadcasts or are the subject of them.

Samples:

•  Table of Contents (53 KB)
•  Foreword by Ralf Schenk, Managing Director DEFA Foundation, March 2016 (38 KB)

The Author

Elke Schieber, born 1947 in Quedlinburg. Studied film and television studies, then editor at the magazine "Film und Fernsehen", dramaturge at the DEFA Studio for Newsreels and Documentary Films, also author and director, head of the collections of Filmmuseum Potsdam. Lectures, exhibitions, publications and essays on German film history, especially on DEFA. Lives in Kleinmachnow near Berlin.