Shooting Chicken Embryos: The Making of Ludwig Gräper’s Embryological Films, 1911–1940

Abstract

In 1939 and 1940 the Reich Office for Teaching Films (Reichsstelle für den Unterrichtsfilm [RfdU]), the film organization of the National Socialist German government, published three educational films on the early development of the chicken embryo. They were the result of Ludwig Gräper’s (1882–1937) experimental investigations of the embryology of birds. In the course of his research, the German embryologist continuously made, used, and reused film material for epistemic and educational purposes. The history of the production of these films is an early example of the ways in which film was introduced into the experimental life sciences. Gräper’s films were experimental in three ways: as recordings of his experiments, as part of his experimental system, and as a new way to secure funding for his work.