Disney’s Education for Death

 

 

One of Disney’s darker information films created during the Second World War is that on ‘An Education for Death: The making of a Nazi.’ This 1943 Disney production takes the audience through the dark childhood and upbringing of a boy named Hans, displaying the process from innocence, too a brain washed solider marching to war and death. Before discussing the narration of this film I think it is important to identify the motivations and overall message first. The tone of the film is strange as although at the end of the message is that these indoctrinated soldiers march to their death against the allied forces, there is undoubtedly moments of understanding and sympathy, especially for an ill Hans and his mother who are threatened by the anonymous Nazi, representative of the German state. In 1943 the allied were much more confident than they had been in 1942. Although D day was yet to come, Britain and America had won against Rommel the Desert Fox in North Africa and prepared for the invasion of Sicily, while the Russian had halted the German advance and now begun the bloody task of pushing them back to Berlin. With this in mind the film looks to the future and by telling the story of Hans the American government in collaboration with Disney hope to disconnect and absolve the ordinary German citizen and soldiers of association with Nazism, as they knew many were pushed into accepting their doctrine through fear and indoctrination.

 

The story of Hans begins with his parents registering his birth with the anonymous German official who first checks their heritage as any person with Jewish Grandparents were considered Jews themselves. The official then checks the banned names list, headed by Franklin and Winston the leaders of the Western Allies and after being satisfied that Hans is not banned he hands Hans’ mother a hereditary passport with spaces for twelve children. Under the Nazis mothers who had eight children were award the Motherhood cross (1^st Class order) while in 1942 the Gold Cross with Diamonds was created for mothers of 12. These military honours were awarded on the 12^th of August each year, the date being significant as it was the date of Hitler’s mother’s birthday.

 

The German fairy tale shows the Nazi idealised rise of Hitler, however Disney were very clever by using lightening as Hitler attempts to push ‘German’ on his horse. In doing so Disney alludes to the unforeseen events of the Wall Street Crash and the death of President Hindenburg, two events which favoured Nazi politics and advance to power. The story of the rabbit and the fox told to Hans in school that was designed to teach children the importance of race superiority and the survival of the fittest amongst man. The children can be seen in their Hitler youth uniforms, a militarist children’s organisation set up to instil the teaching of Nazism and soldiering into children from an early age. The teacher is also shown in a uniform which could mean one of two thing. The first that he is a leader/ instructor in the Hitler Youth, or it could be a comical reference to the fact that all teachers in Germany had to be a member of the Nazi Socialist Teachers League.

 

At the end the audience watches Hans grow into a solider of the Wehrmacht but as the narrator describes, he sees, says or no more than the party want, the culmination of his education, for death. Once again I return to the films suggestion of sympathy and motivation. The film seems to again suggest that for children like Hans who have grown up under the Nazi regime and had taken up arms were not to blame. Instead these once innocence were warped by ideology and as the films says, ‘in him is planted no seed of laughter, hope, tolerance or mercy. For him only marching and hailing, hailing and marching.’