MA, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

This thesis analyzes the use of film in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia as extensions of propaganda and sociopolitical indoctrination within both regimes. Moreover, this thesis analyzes the ways in which each respective nation's concept of homeland ('Heimat' in German, 'Rodina' in Russian) coincided with political thought. Through this, both regimes utilized cinema as a platform for propagating ideas of homeland via the portrayal of the perfect citizen of their regime. This study demonstrates this through the analysis of Nazi German and Soviet Russian films of similar content, themes, and production dates. This study thus argues that a homeland, as demonstrated through select films produced by each regime between the years of 1933-1945, is comprised of its people, whom each State attempted to mold into perfect citizens. Although ideas of what defined the perfect citizen varied between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, many similarities between them are to be drawn. Dissecting these similarities allows for greater academic understanding of the atrocities and events that occurred throughout the twentieth century in the name of both schools of thought.

Committee: Valerie Weinstein Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Sunnie Rucker-Chang Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: European Studies