''Ewiger Wald'' is a 1936 German film directed by Hanns Springer and Rolf von Sonjevski-Jamrowski. The film's international English title was ''Enchanted Forest''. Commissioned by

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...

's cultural organization

Militant League for German Culture The Militant League for German Culture (German: ''Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur'', ''KfdK''), was a nationalistic anti-Semitic political society during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. It was founded in 1928 as the ''Nationalsozialistische Ge ...

in 1934 under the working title ''Deutscher Wald–Deutsches Schicksal'' (''German Forest – German Destiny''), the feature-length movie premiered in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in 1936. Intended as cinematic proof for the shared destiny of the German woods and the German people beyond the vicissitudes of history, it portrayed a perfect symbiosis of an eternal forest and a likewise eternal people firmly rooted in it between

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

times.

Plot

In accordance with Rosenberg's anti-

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

beliefs, the first section on

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

displays various customs and rituals of an asserted

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

forest religion like a

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

dance or funerals in

treetrunk coffin A treetrunk coffin is a coffin hollowed out of a single massive log. Such coffins have been used for burials since prehistoric times over a wide geographic range, including in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. History Treetrunk coffins wer ...

s. Further, it depicts the forest sheltering ancient Germanic tribes,

Arminius Arminius (; 18/17 BC–AD 21) was a chieftain of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, in which three Roman legions under th ...

, and the

Teutonic Knight The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

s, facing the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

, being chopped up by war and industry, and being humiliated by black soldiers brought into Germany by the French occupation army. The years of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

appear to be disastrous for people and forest alike. The film culminates in a National Socialist

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

celebration filmed at the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Lustgarten The Lustgarten (, ''Pleasure Garden'') is a park in Museum Island in central Berlin at the foreground of the ''Altes Museum''. It is next to the (Berlin Cathedral) and near the reconstructed (''Berlin City Palace'') of which it was originally ...

.Pierre Aycoberry ''The Nazi Question'', p11 Pantheon Books New York 1981

Cast

Günther Hadank Eugen Reinhold Günther Hadank (20 October 1892, Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the ...

(voice) * Heinz Herkommer (voice) *

Paul Klinger Paul Karl Heinrich Klinksik (14 June 1907, Essen – 14 November 1971, Munich) was a German stage and film actor who also worked in radio drama and soundtrack Dubbing (filmmaking), dubbing. Family life His father, a civil engineer, was Karl Heinr ...

(voice) * Lothar Körner (voice) *

Aribert Mog Aribert Mog (3 August 1904 – 2 October 1941) was a German film actor who played in a mixture of leading and supporting roles during the 1930s. He was a member of the Militant League for German Culture and the National Socialist Factory Cell O ...

* Kurt Wieschala (voice)

Production

''Ewiger Wald'' was produced by the Culture Group and co-directed by Hanns Springer and Rolf von Sonjevski-Jamrowski.

Release

The film premiered at the UFA Palace in Munich on 8 June 1936. It was re-edited to reduce its length and this version was accepted by the censors on 20 August, and premiered in Oldenburg on 28 August.

References

Works cited

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewiger Wald 1936 documentary films 1936 films 1930s German-language films German black-and-white films Nazi propaganda films Films based on poems German documentary films Films of Nazi Germany Black-and-white documentary films Films about neopaganism Paganism in Europe 1930s German films Films scored by Wolfgang Zeller