RAD labor in July 1943

RAD labor in July 1943 

Private film by Herbert Apfelthaler. Title card reads “Soldaten der Arbeit” with a Nazi insignia. Another title card briefly reads “Ein Ferrania Film der Hera / von: H. Apfelthaler. / Mitwirkende: Führer und Mannschaft des RAD Abt S/343 Schönering.” Nazi insignia. Title card: “Student u. Handwerker, Bauernsohn u. Lehrling, zu einer Gemeinschaft zusammengeschweißt, arbeiten unter dem Zeichen des Reichsarbeitsdienstes.” View of houses on the other side of a river. A mini-bus drives down the road on the side of the river. Young blond men, part of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD), ride in the car. The car stops in a town and the men, wearing uniforms and Nazi armbands, disembark. They march in line. They stand in a field and take off their hats and shirts. Piles of neatly folded uniforms sit on the grass. They do manual labor on a railroad. Title card reads: “Bei Rodungsarebeiten:” Young RAD soldiers do manual labor in a field. Title card reads: “Beim Verschoenern des Eigenen Lagers:” More manual labor with wheelbarrows. Shots of nature. The Nazis paint wooden houses. Title card reads “Beim Bauern:” Horses pull a cart. Various shots of manual labor. Title card reads: “So steht Ihr Schulter an Schulter beim gleichen Werk, bei der gleichen Arbeit, geeint unter demselben Zeichen:” A Nazi insignia. Title card: “Ende.” 

This film is featured in the Ephemeral Films Project: National Socialism in Austria. Watch the historic film through an innovative film player showing contemporary images, geographical mapping, and shot-level analysis at efilms.ushmm.org. 

Herbert Apfelthaler was born in Vienna as a son of the tire dealer Friedrich Apfelthaler. From 1931-1941, he goes to school in Vienna, and becomes a member of Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) around 1942/43. His father dies in 1947. In 1951, he married Hedy. Around 1964, he turns to the company Eumig as a movie adviser and head of the Eumig Filmstudios and establishes his own film studio (Schmalfilmzentrum Rosenhügel; by 1970 Film- und Viedozentrum Rosenhügel). He remarried in 1984 to Angelika. He died in Vienna in 2008. Herbert's father Friedrich founded a commercial firm for car tires and car components and was an ambitious film amateur and member of the Klub der Kinoamateuere Österreichs (DdKÖ).