Ich klage an (English: I Accuse) is a 1941 Nazi German pro-euthanasia propaganda film directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner[1] and produced by Heinrich Jonen and Ewald von Demandowsky.
Ich klage an | |
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Directed by | Wolfgang Liebeneiner |
Produced by | Heinrich Jonen |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Friedl Behn-Grund |
Edited by | Walter von Bonhorst |
Music by | Norbert Schultze |
Production company | Tobis Filmkunst |
Release date |
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Running time | 125 min |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Language | German |
It was banned by Allied powers after the war.[2]
A beautiful young wife suffering from multiple sclerosis pleads with doctors to kill her.[3] Her husband, a successful doctor himself, gives her a fatal overdose and is put on trial, where arguments are put forth that prolonging life is sometimes contrary to nature, and that death is a right as well as a duty.[4] It culminates in the husband's declaration that he is accusing them of cruelty for trying to prevent such deaths.[5]
This film was commissioned by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels at the suggestion of Dr. Karl Brandt, to make the public more supportive of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program.[6] Key scenes from the film were personally inserted by Victor Brack, one of the prominent organisers of the program and later a convicted war criminal. The actual victims of T4 were in fact killed without their consent, or that of their families.[7] Indeed, one cinema goer is alleged to have compared the film to the program and naively asked how abuses could be prevented from creeping into it.[8]
The SS reported that the churches were uniformly negative about the movie, with Catholics expressing it more strongly but Protestants being equally negative.[9] Opinions in medical circles were positive, though there were doubts, especially though not exclusively in cases where patients thought to be incurable had recovered.[10] Legal professions were anxious that it be placed on a legal footing, and in the few polls that were commissioned, the general population were said to be supportive.[11]
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