Cinema Goes to War: The German Film Policy in Greece During the Occupation, 1941–44

Abstract

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Greece remained neutral. General Metaxas had created a Greek version of the Third Reich (a fascist dictatorship) in 1936 but was opposed to German or Italian domination and refused to allow Italian troops to enter Greece in 1940. In October 1940, after a farcical ultimatum, Italy invaded Greece from Albanian territory. Greek resistance proved stronger than expected and when the Italian troops were driven back into Albania, Nazi Germany came to Mussolini’s rescue in April 1941. The ensuing occupation of Greece, in which Bulgarian troops also took part, plunged the country into abject misery, the conditions of which included an acute food shortage.1 Until the Italian armistice of September 1943, Italian troops remained the principal occupying power in Greece, although the Germans controlled the key economic areas. The German Wehrmacht took over the occupation of Greece after the Italian withdrawal. One year later, in October 1944, Germany ‘strategically retreated’ from Greece.2KeywordsFilm IndustryGerman ProductionGerman AuthorityAmerican FilmGerman SoldierThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.