Black and white, photographic scene still from the movie, “Hitler, Beast of Berlin" The photograph depicts a group of men in baggy prisoner uniforms and caps, flanked by a Nazi guard and an officer in uniform. The guard on the left is holding a baton, while the officer on the right is grabbing the wrist of one of the prisoners. The prisoners are looking anxiously at something above the camera, while the two Nazis are smiling. They are inside a building, with the shadow of a large, paned window in the background. There are pinholes in the corners, and the upper right corner is torn. The edges are creased and worn from handling, especially on the left. On the back, there are inscriptions in pencil and black ink, and smudges throughout. From right: Hans Schumm as Schaefer, Allan Ladd as Karl Bach, others unidentified back, top center, handwritten, pencil and black ink : HITLER, BEAST / OF BERLIN / ALAN / LADD back, center, handwritten, pencil : Hells Devils back, center inverted, handwritten, black ink : 7-473
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The scene still was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Overall: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
Scene still from the American feature film “Hitler, Beast of Berlin,” originally released by Producers Pictures Corporation in October 1939, and re-released in 1942. Scene stills are photographs taken on or off the set of a motion picture and are then used as marketing and advertising tools. After encountering opposition from censorship boards, the film was alternatively called “Goose Step,” the title of the adapted novel, and eventually released as “Beasts of Berlin.” In the film, Hans Memling, his wife, and his brother-in-law are members of an underground Nazi-resistance movement. He is arrested and ends up in a camp as a political prisoner. Hans and the other prisoners are interrogated, beaten, and forced into slave labor at the hands of Nazi guards. This was the first American film to depict a simulated concentration camp in Germany. The film also includes newsreel footage of military marches and of Adolf Hitler himself. While it acknowledged a pervasive isolationist mentality, “Beasts” also appealed to the American values of democracy and freedom. Press materials encouraged a sensationalist marketing strategy while official statements claimed that the film was not propaganda. Prior to its release, “Beasts of Berlin” received numerous sanctions from the censors at the Production Code Administration (PCA). This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Scene still from the film “Hitler, Beast of Berli" (1939)