Nazisploitation
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of
exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...
and
sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit se ...
that involves
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
committing
sex crimes Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...
, often as camp or prison overseers during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Most follow the women in prison formula, only relocated to a
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
, an
extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...
, or Nazi
brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
, and with an added emphasis on
sadism Sadism may refer to: * Everyday sadism, the derivation of gratification from the physical pain or humiliation of another person * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliatio ...
,
gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...
, and
degradation Degradation may refer to: Science * Degradation (geology), lowering of a fluvial surface by erosion * Degradation (telecommunications), of an electronic signal * Biodegradation of organic substances by living organisms * Environmental degradation ...
. The most infamous and influential title (which set the standards of the genre) is a Canadian production, ''
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS ''Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS'' is a 1975 Canadian nazisploitation film about a sadistic and sexually voracious Nazism, Nazi prison camp commandant. The film is directed by American filmmaker Don Edmonds and produced by David F. Friedman for Lionsga ...
'' (1974). Its surprise success and that of ''
Salon Kitty Salon Kitty was a high-class Berlin brothel used by the Nazi intelligence service, the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD), for espionage purposes during . Created in the early 1930s by Katharina "Kitty" Schmidt, the salon was taken over by Nazi secre ...
'' and ''
The Night Porter ''The Night Porter'' () is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological war drama film co-written and directed by Liliana Cavani. It stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, with Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti and Isa Miranda in supporting roles. ...
'' led European filmmakers, mostly in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, to produce similar films, with just over a dozen being released over the next few years. Globally exported to both cinema and VHS, the films were critically attacked and heavily
censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...
, and the sub-genre all but vanished by the end of the 1970s. In Italy, these films are known as part of the "il sadiconazista" cycle, which were inspired by such
art-house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...
films as
Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...
's ''
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' (), billed on-screen as ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' (), is a 1975 political art horror film directed and co-written by Pier Paolo P ...
'' (1975), and
Tinto Brass Giovanni "Tinto" Brass (born 26 March 1933) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. In the 1960s and 1970s, he directed many critically acclaimed avant-garde films of various genres. Today, he is mainly known for his later work in the Erot ...
's ''
Salon Kitty Salon Kitty was a high-class Berlin brothel used by the Nazi intelligence service, the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD), for espionage purposes during . Created in the early 1930s by Katharina "Kitty" Schmidt, the salon was taken over by Nazi secre ...
'' (1976). Prominent directors of the genre include
Paolo Solvay Luigi Batzella (San Sperate, 1924 – San Sperate, 2008) also known as Paolo Solvay was an Italian film director, editor, screenwriter and actor. He made numerous low-budget genre films. Life and career Luigi Batzella was born in San Sperate, ...
('' La Bestia in Calore'', also known as ''The Beast in Heat'' and ''SS Hell Camp''),
Cesare Canevari Cesare Canevari (13 October 1927 – 25 October 2012) was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Milan, Canevari began his career shortly after World War II as a stage actor, occasionally also appearing in films i ...
(''
Last Orgy of the Third Reich ''Gestapo's Last Orgy'' () is a 1977 Italian Nazi exploitation film directed and co-written by Cesare Canevari and starring Daniela Poggi. Plot Conrad von Starke is driving down a road, listening to a war crimes trial on the radio. He stops ...
'', also known as ''L'ultima orgia del III Reich'', ''Gestapo's Last Orgy'' and ''Caligula Reincarnated as Hitler''), and
Alain Payet Alain Payet (17 January 1947 – 13 December 2007 in Paris as a result of cancer), also known under the pseudonyms John Pardaillan, John and Frederick Brasil Amor, James Gardner, James Gartner and Alain Garnier, was a film director of Frenc ...
(''
Train spécial pour SS A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
'', also known as ''Special Train for Hitler'' and ''Helltrain''), all from 1977.


History

Italian directors pioneered a blend of sexual imagery and Nazi themes. This can be found as early as 1945 in ''
Rome, Open City ''Rome, Open City'' (), also released as ''Open City'', is a 1945 Italian Italian neorealism, neorealist war film, war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Sergio Amidei, Celeste Negarville and Federico Fellini. Set in Rom ...
'' by
Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
. Another Rossellini film, ''
Germany, Year Zero ''Germany, Year Zero'' () is a 1948 film directed by Roberto Rossellini, and is the final film in Rossellini's unofficial war film trilogy, following ''Rome, Open City'' and '' Paisà''. ''Germany Year Zero'' takes place in Allied-occupied Germa ...
'' (1948), connects Nazism with
pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...
. The controversial art-house production '' The Damned'' (1969), directed by
Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...
, about the rise and fall of a German industrialist family in the Third Reich, is also a major influence on the genre. The film features an orgy of homosexual SA-Men and depicts one of the main characters as a troubled multiple pervert posing in a transvestite outfit, molesting little girls, and committing incest with his mother. Other early examples that combine sexual themes and Nazism include the West German productions ''
Des Teufels General ''The Devil's General'' () is a 1955 black and white West German film based on the Des Teufels General (play), play of the same title by Carl Zuckmayer. The film features Curd Jürgens as General Harras, Marianne Koch, Viktor de Kowa, Karl John ( ...
'' (''The Devil's General'') (1955) by
Helmut Käutner Helmut Käutner (25 March 1908 – 20 April 1980) was a German film director active mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. He entered the film industry at the end of the Weimar Republic and released his first films as a director in Nazi Germany. Käu ...
and ' (''Ordered to Love'') (1961). The French art-house film ''
Vice and Virtue ''Vice and Virtue'' () is a 1963 war drama film directed by Roger Vadim and inspired by some of Marquis de Sade's characters. It stars Annie Girardot as Juliette (Vice), Robert Hossein as the sadistic German officer and Catherine Deneuve, in her ...
'' (1963), directed by
Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, s ...
, is a stylized retelling of the
Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...
's '' Justine'' set during the Nazi occupation of France. This is a subtle and satirical rendering that only hints at the sexual depravity explicit in the original novel. The critically acclaimed 1964 film ''
The Pawnbroker ''The Pawnbroker'' (1961) is a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant which tells the story of Sol Nazerman, a concentration camp survivor who suffers flashbacks of his past Nazi imprisonment as he tries to cope with his daily life operating a pawn s ...
'' includes a flashback scene showing nude women kept in a concentration camp brothel. The Italian
Giallo In Italian cinema, (; : ; from , ) is a genre that often contains Slasher film, slasher, thriller (genre), thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, Sexploitation film, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural, supernat ...
thriller ''
In the Folds of the Flesh In the Folds of the Flesh () is a 1970 Italian / Spanish giallo film produced and directed by Sergio Bergonzelli. The screenplay was co-written by Fabio De Agostini and Bergonzelli, from a story outline by Mario Caiano. Ferdinando Merighi and Juan ...
'' (also known as ''Nelle pieghe della carne'', 1970) has a similar flashback sequence with unrealistically attractive nude women being herded into a Nazi
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
. However, the earliest full-blown
sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, Low-budget film, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition o ...
film set in a Nazi camp was ''
Love Camp 7 ''Love Camp 7'' is a 1969 American women-in-prison Nazisploitation B-movie directed by Lee Frost (credited as R.L. Frost) and written by Wes Bishop and Bob Cresse, the latter of whom also portrays a sadistic camp commandant. Plot Two officers ...
'' (1969). The film can also be viewed as a precursor to the similarly themed
women in prison Approximately 741,000 women are incarcerated in correctional facilities, a 17% increase since 2010 and the female prison population has been increasing across all continents.Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...
's ''
The Big Doll House ''The Big Doll House'' is a 1971 American women-in-prison film starring Pam Grier, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Brooke Mills, and Pat Woodell. The film follows six female inmates through daily life in a gritty, unidentified tropical prison. ...
'' (1971). ''Love Camp 7'' established the pattern for the many films that followed. The story resembles a "true adventure" pulp yarn from a
men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically were promoted as ...
magazine of the period (''Man's Story, Men Today, World of Men'', ''Man's Epic'', et al.). In order to rescue a Jewish scientist, two female agents infiltrate a Nazi
Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...
camp, where prisoners are kept as sex slaves for German officers. There are scenes of boot-licking humiliation, whipping, torture, lesbianism, and near-rape, culminating in a violent and bloody escape. The stock characters include a cruel and perverse commandant, a lesbian doctor, sadistic guards who freely abuse the prisoners, and a sympathetic German who tries to help the captive women. The theme of Nazi sexual abuse continued in the sleazy, violent drive-in programmer ''The Cut-Throats'' (1969) and ''Torture Me, Kiss Me'' (1970), a low-budget, black-and-white B-movie about sadistic Nazi officers tormenting female civilians (including fetishistic flogging scenes) in occupied France.


The ''Ilsa'' influence

Producer
David F. Friedman David Frank Friedman (December 24, 1923 – February 14, 2011) was an American filmmaker and film producer best known for his B movies, exploitation films, nudie cuties, and sexploitation films. Life and career Friedman first became interest ...
had a small acting role in ''Love Camp 7''. He went on to produce ''
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS ''Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS'' is a 1975 Canadian nazisploitation film about a sadistic and sexually voracious Nazism, Nazi prison camp commandant. The film is directed by American filmmaker Don Edmonds and produced by David F. Friedman for Lionsga ...
'' in 1974. ''Ilsa'' was unique in that the camp commandant was a sexy, sex-crazed woman played by the busty and frequently nude
Dyanne Thorne Dyanne Thorne (October 14, 1936 – January 28, 2020) was an American actress, stage performer, and vocalist. She was known for her stage work in Las Vegas and as the lead actress in the ''Ilsa'' film franchise which began with ''Ilsa, She Wol ...
. Between sex scenes, Ilsa subjects her male and female inmates to horrific scientific tests, much like
Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (; 16 March 19117 February 1979) was a Nazi German (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, often dubbed the "Angel of Death" (). He performed Nazi hum ...
's notorious
Nazi human experimentation Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on prisoners by Nazi Germany in its concentration camps mainly between 1942 and 1945. There were 15,754 documented victims, of various nationalities and age groups, although the t ...
at
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
. Some of the tests on hypothermia and pressure-chamber endurance were factual. Others were pure fantasy. For example, to prove her theory that women can endure more pain than men, Ilsa has a male and female prisoner flogged to death. The character is also loosely based on "The Witch of Buchenwald",
Ilse Koch Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who committed atrocities while her husband Karl-Otto Koch was commandant at Buchenwald concentration camp, Buchenwald. Though Ilse Koch had no official position in the N ...
, the wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Koch was known for having perverse sexual dalliances with the prisoners and was rumored to have had
lampshades made from human skin There are two notable reported instances of lampshades made from human skin. After World War II it was claimed that Nazis had made at least one lampshade from murdered concentration camp inmates: a human skin lampshade was displayed by Buchenwald ...
. ''Ilsa'' includes the standard elements of sadism, degradation, whipping, sexual slavery, graphic torture, and a bloody finale with Ilsa shot dead and the camp set ablaze. The film was a surprise hit on the drive-in theater and
grindhouse A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a f ...
circuit. Ilsa was resurrected for three profitable sequels that ignored her Nazi origins and are closer to the women-in-prison genre. As a freelance mistress-for-hire, she became ''
Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks ''Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks'' is a 1976 sexploitation women in prison film, the first sequel to ''Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS''. The film was directed by Don Edmonds. Plot Three crates arrive at the harem. Inside each is a gagged, buxom, ...
'' (1976), commander of a 1953 gulag in '' Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia'' (1977), and the warden of a corrupt Latin-American prison in ''
Ilsa, the Wicked Warden ''Ilsa, the Wicked Warden'' (originally released as ''Greta: Haus Ohne Männer'', and also known as ''Greta, the Mad Butcher'', ''Ilsa: Absolute Power'', and ''Wanda, the Wicked Warden'') is a 1977 Canadian sexploitation film directed by Jess Fran ...
'' (1977).


Nazi films from Italy and France

Meanwhile, European filmmakers were creating their own lurid Nazi movies with Ilsa-type villains. In 1977,
Malisa Longo Malisa Longo (born Maria Luisa Longo; 13 July 1950) is an Italian actress, model and writer. Life and career Born Maria Luisa Longo in Venice, Italy, she moved to Rome at a young age where she started a career as a model. She entered the Miss ...
starred in '' Helga, She Wolf of Stilberg'' as a black-booted, leather-clad, sexually sadistic commander of a prison camp for women. That year, Longo also starred in the ''Salon Kitty''-inspired ''
Fräulein Devil ''Fräulein Devil'', also known as ''Captive Women 4'', ''Elsa: Fraulein SS'' and ''Fraulein Kitty'', is a 1977 France, French Nazi exploitation film. Plot This stars Malisa Longo as the cruel Nazi Germany, Nazi Elsa, a former Prostitution in Germ ...
'' (also known as ''Elsa: Fraulein SS'') as Elsa, a former hooker with a penchant for S&M, who manages a Nazi brothel train. This was filmed
back-to-back Back to Back or back-to-back may refer to: Film and theatre *Back to Back (film), ''Back to Back'' (film), a 1996 American action film *Back-to-back film production, the practice of making two films as a unified production *Back to Back Theatre, ...
with ''Hitler's Last Train'' (also known as ''Special Train for the SS'', ''Helltrain'' and ''Love Train for the SS'', 1977). These films, plus ''Nathalie: Escape from Hell'' (1978), were produced by the French studio Eurociné. One of the most notorious films in this genre is '' La Bestia in Calore'' (also known as ''SS Hell Camp'' and ''The Beast In Heat''), produced in Italy in 1977. German actress Macha Magall played Dr. Ellen Kratsch, another icy blond Nazi who is sexy, yet thoroughly evil. This film, with its extensive and graphic scenes of torture, brutality and rape, was initially banned in England. A milder, edited version was released in the U.S. as ''SS Experiment Camp 2''. Magall was also in ''
SS Girls ''SS Girls'' () is a 1977 Italian Nazisploitation film by director Bruno Mattei. The film is about a brothel where traitors of the Nazi high command are eradicated. To help the brothel out, a Nazi commander, involved in intelligence work, enlists ...
'' (1977), another story set in a Nazi brothel. The Nazi exploitation subgenre presented an opportunity for Italian studios to make very low-cost horror pictures whilst tapping a previously ignored market; the exploitation war film. The Italian films are different from "Ilsa" in many ways, for instance, they focus on far more extreme aspects of human abuse. The films of 1976 include: Sergio Garrone's '' SS Experiment Camp'' (also known as ''SS Experiment Love Camp''), depicting soft-core sex scenes and the castration of an SS officer. ''SS Hell Camp'', Luigi Batzella's second Nazi film, featured a sexually-crazed mutant created by an Ilsa-like Nazi scientist. ''
SS Girls ''SS Girls'' () is a 1977 Italian Nazisploitation film by director Bruno Mattei. The film is about a brothel where traitors of the Nazi high command are eradicated. To help the brothel out, a Nazi commander, involved in intelligence work, enlists ...
'', directed by
Bruno Mattei Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including Women in prison film, women in prison, nunsploitation, Zombie films, zombi ...
, is a blatant copy of ''Salon Kitty''. Mattei also made ''Women's Camp 119'' starring
Lorraine De Selle Lorraine de Selle is an Italian-born former actress noted for her work in Italian genre cinema during the 1970s and 1980s. Having worked with directors such as Joe D'Amato, Fernando di Leo, Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi, she remains bes ...
. This film depicts horrific scientific experiments performed on prisoners based on actual documents. '' SS Special Section Women'' stars
John Steiner John Steiner (7 January 1941 – 31 July 2022) was an English actor. Tall, thin and gaunt, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed on-stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but was best known to audiences for his roles ...
as a sex-crazed SS Commandant whose love for a Jewish girl causes him to be castrated as punishment. ''Achtung! The Desert Tigers'', from
Luigi Batzella Luigi Batzella (San Sperate, 1924 – San Sperate, 2008) also known as Paolo Solvay was an Italian film director, editor, screenwriter and actor. He made numerous low-budget genre films. Life and career Luigi Batzella was born in San Sperate, ...
, is interwoven with stock footage and scenes at a Nazi camp in the desert where tortures abound. 1977 saw the release of '' Gestapo's Last Orgy'' (also known as ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich'' and ''Caligula Reincarnated as Hitler''), which depicts a love affair between a camp Commandant and a prisoner. ''SS Camp 5: Women’s Hell'' is ''SS Experiment Camp's'' sister film featuring the same cast and crew. '' Red Nights of the Gestapo'' is a soft-core sex film with SS soldiers abusing women in a castle. '' Nazi Love Camp 27'', starring Sirpa Lane as a Jewish girl forced into a brothel, is notable for its hardcore sex scenes and for being written by famed scripter
Gianfranco Clerici Gianfranco Clerici (; born 29 July 1941) is an Italian writer of numerous screenplays for Italian film and television productions. He has collaborated with several directors of exploitation cinema, including Lucio Fulci and Ruggero Deodato. Many ...
. By the end of the decade the genre had run its course.


Nazi pornography

Adult films also exploited Nazi scenarios in a string of sadomasochistic "roughie" pornographic films in the 1970s and early 1980s. Examples include the
Mitchell brothers Brothers James Lloyd "Jim" Mitchell (November 30, 1943 in Stockton, California – July 12, 2007 in Petaluma, California) and Artie Jay Mitchell (December 17, 1945 in Lodi, California – February 27, 1991 in Marin County, California) were Ameri ...
' ''Hot Nazis'', ''Hitler's Harlot'' (1973), and 1980's ''Nazi Love Island'' (also known as ''Prisoner of Paradise'') with John Holmes and Seka. One of the last entries, ''Stalag 69'' (1982), stars
Angelique Pettyjohn Angelique Pettyjohn (born Dorothy Lee Perrins; March 11, 1943 – February 14, 1992) was an American actress and burlesque queen. She appeared as the drill thrall Shahna in the '' Star Trek: The Original Series'' episode "The Gamesters of Trisk ...
as an Ilsa-type SS officer. The story was largely a remake of ''Love Camp 7'', bringing the cycle back to its origins. The genre remained mostly dormant for the next two decades. In 2006, Mood Pictures, a Hungarian producer of S&M films, released ''Gestapo'', ''Gestapo 2'', and ''Dr. Mengele'' in 2008, all of which are set in a Nazi prison camp and pay homage to ''Ilsa'' and the Italian exploitation films.


Present

In 2007, as part of
Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
and
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
's tribute to exploitation cinema, ''
Grindhouse A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a f ...
'', director
Rob Zombie Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
created a trailer for a fake film called ''Werewolf Women of the SS'', starring
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Nicolas Cage, various accolades, including an Academy A ...
and
Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, he has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He has ...
. According to Zombie, "Basically, I had two ideas. It was either going to be a Nazi movie or a women-in-prison film, and I went with the Nazis. There's all those movies like ''
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS ''Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS'' is a 1975 Canadian nazisploitation film about a sadistic and sexually voracious Nazism, Nazi prison camp commandant. The film is directed by American filmmaker Don Edmonds and produced by David F. Friedman for Lionsga ...
''; ''
Fräulein Devil ''Fräulein Devil'', also known as ''Captive Women 4'', ''Elsa: Fraulein SS'' and ''Fraulein Kitty'', is a 1977 France, French Nazi exploitation film. Plot This stars Malisa Longo as the cruel Nazi Germany, Nazi Elsa, a former Prostitution in Germ ...
''; and ''
Love Camp 7 ''Love Camp 7'' is a 1969 American women-in-prison Nazisploitation B-movie directed by Lee Frost (credited as R.L. Frost) and written by Wes Bishop and Bob Cresse, the latter of whom also portrays a sadistic camp commandant. Plot Two officers ...
''—I've always found that to be the most bizarre genre." On December 18, 2007, Zombie posted an entry on his
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page, asking if people would want to see a
feature-length A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...
version of ''Werewolf Women of the SS''. ''
Iron Sky ''Iron Sky'' is a 2012 comic-science-fiction action film directed by Timo Vuorensola and written by Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko.
'' and ''
Nazis at the Center of the Earth ''Nazis at the Center of the Earth'' (known as ''Bloodstorm'' in the United Kingdom) is a 2012 American direct-to-video science fiction war film produced by The Asylum that stars Dominique Swain and Jake Busey. It was released on April 24, 2012 ...
'' (both released in 2012) are in a similar vein.


Themes

Most of the Nazi exploitation films have
stalag In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war" (officers were kept i ...
settings with young female inmates like '' Women's Camp 119''. Their tormentors are female or male
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
officers in SS uniforms, usually speaking with a fake German accent and irrelevant or mispronounced
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
words, who often use "experiments" as excuses to implement sadistic physical violence (perhaps inspired by the work of people like
Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (; 16 March 19117 February 1979) was a Nazi German (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, often dubbed the "Angel of Death" (). He performed Nazi hum ...
, who performed medical experiments that often killed people). There are scenes of sexual conduct or, more routinely, exposed nude bodies of the victimised inmates. The level of violence depicted in these films may often reach the
gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...
level. This genre mainly focused on female SS officers. It presented them as lusty as well as buxom women, such as Dyanne Thorne's Ilsa, who also sexually abused their male prisoners (mainly in non-statutory female-on-male rape fashion). As the setting is a Stalag (
prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...
), not a concentration camp, the prisoners are mainly Allied soldiers, not Jewish civilians. There are also many films that do not follow the conventions of Nazi exploitation, such as ''Bordel SS'' (1978) of
José Bénazéraf José Bénazéraf (8 January 1922 – 1 December 2012) was a French filmmaker and producer who specialised in erotic films. Life and career Bénazéraf was born in Casablanca, French Morocco on 8 January 1922. After completing his studies ...
(one of the very few Nazi exploitation films to hold the dubious honor of having actual hardcore sex) and ''
Salon Kitty Salon Kitty was a high-class Berlin brothel used by the Nazi intelligence service, the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD), for espionage purposes during . Created in the early 1930s by Katharina "Kitty" Schmidt, the salon was taken over by Nazi secre ...
'' (1976) of
Tinto Brass Giovanni "Tinto" Brass (born 26 March 1933) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. In the 1960s and 1970s, he directed many critically acclaimed avant-garde films of various genres. Today, he is mainly known for his later work in the Erot ...
. These films are not usually considered as "prototypical" Nazi exploitation films and qualify more for the "
art house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...
" subgenre. However, because of the vague term, even the film ''Il portiere di notte'' (''
The Night Porter ''The Night Porter'' () is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological war drama film co-written and directed by Liliana Cavani. It stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, with Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti and Isa Miranda in supporting roles. ...
'') (1974) by
Liliana Cavani Liliana Cavani (born 12 January 1933) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. Cavani became internationally known after the success of her 1974 feature film ''Il portiere di notte'' ('' The Night Porter''). Her films have historical concerns ...
that (in the opinion of many) lacks the exploitation motive, may be deemed one such film. Laura Frost's book ''Sex Drives: Fantasies of Fascism in Literary Modernism'' (2002) () says that the genre is part of a problematic attempt to link political deviance (i.e.
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
,
militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
,
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
) with sexual deviance (i.e.
sadomasochism Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...
,
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
,
transvestism Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...
,
pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...
).


Legal status in Britain

Sometime in the early 1980s, Nazi exploitation films made their way onto the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
market, made popular by the growing
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
home video technology. With major
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
studios steering clear of the new format, it was left to small, domestic companies to populate the shelves with tapes. A small company from
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
GO Video Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * '' Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position ...
, purchased the rights to an Italian film named ''SS Experiment Camp''. The company ran a marketing campaign with full-page ads showing a naked woman hanging from her feet, a
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
dangling from her wrist and an SS commander looming in the background. Advertisements for the film in
video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...
stores became a target for protestors, who picketed such stores and petitioned for the film to be banned. After the Video Recordings Act, most of the Nazi exploitation films (labelled 'Nazi Nasties') were denied
BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works (su ...
classifications. The following Nazi exploitation films were taken off the shelves: * '' SS Experiment Camp'' (''SS Experiment''/''Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur'') * '' The Beast In Heat'' (''SS Hell Camp''/''La Bestia in Calore'') * '' Gestapo's Last Orgy'' (''Last Orgy of The Third Reich''/''Caligula Reincarnated as Hitler''/''L'ultima orgia del III Reich''). This was most recently, in 2021, refused a DVD release by the
BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works (su ...
. * ''
Love Camp 7 ''Love Camp 7'' is a 1969 American women-in-prison Nazisploitation B-movie directed by Lee Frost (credited as R.L. Frost) and written by Wes Bishop and Bob Cresse, the latter of whom also portrays a sadistic camp commandant. Plot Two officers ...
'' * ''
Deported Women of the SS Special Section ''Le deportate della sezione speciale SS'' (internationally released as ''Deported Women of the SS Special Section'', ''SS Special Section Women'' and ''Deported Women'') is a 1976 Italian erotic-drama film directed by Rino Di Silvestro. The film ...
'' (''Le Deportate della sezione speciale SS'') *'' Nazi Love Camp 27'' was refused a cinema certificate in 1977. Of the above films, only ''SS Experiment Camp'' is now available in the
U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...


Israeli literature

In Israel specifically, during the 1960s, " Stalag fiction" was pocket books whose stories focused on the unique features of this genre. The phenomenon took ground in parallel to the 1961
Eichmann trial The Eichmann trial was the 1961 trial of major Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann who was Operation Eichmann, captured in Argentina by Israeli agents and brought to Israel to stand trial. Eichmann was a senior Nazi party member and served at t ...
. Sales of this pornographic literature broke all records in Israel as hundreds of thousands of copies were sold at kiosks. They were inspired by
Ka-tzetnik 135633 Yehiel De-Nur (; ''De-Nur'' means 'of the fire' in Aramaic; also Romanized ''Dinoor, Di-Nur''), also known by his pen name Ka-Tsetnik 135633 (), born Yehiel Feiner (16 May 1909 – 17 July 2001), was a Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor, whos ...
's ''
House of Dolls ''House of Dolls'' () is a 1953 novella by Ka-tzetnik 135633. The novella describes "Joy Divisions", which were groups of women imprisoned in the concentration camps during World War II who were kept for the sexual pleasure of other inmates. ...
'', the experiences of a Jewish girl prostituted in the "Joy Division" ( Block 24) of the
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
camp, the factuality of which is disputed.


See also

* :Nazi exploitation films *
Nazi chic Nazi chic is the use of style, imagery, and paraphernalia in clothing and popular culture related to Nazi Germany, Nazi-era Germany, especially when used for taboo-breaking or shock value rather than out of genuine support of Nazism or Nazi ideol ...
*
Nazi zombies Nazi zombies are a Horror fiction, horror Trope (cinema), trope found in films, video games, and comic books. Nazi zombie narratives usually feature undead Nazi soldiers resurrected to fight for the Third Reich. The book ''Nazisploitation!: The N ...
* Holocaust pornography, Stalag fiction *
World War II in popular culture There is a wide range of ways in which people have represented World War II in popular culture. Many works were created during the years of conflict and many more have arisen from that period of world history. Some well-known examples of books a ...
*
Waffen-SS in popular culture The ''Waffen-SS'', the combat branch of the paramilitary Schutzstaffel, SS organisation of Nazi Germany, is sometimes portrayed uncritically or admiringly in popular culture. The activities of HIAG, a German lobby group founded by former high-ra ...
* Nazi imagery in Thailand *
Nazi memorabilia Nazi memorabilia are items produced during the height of Nazism in Germany, particularly the years between 1933 and 1945. Nazi memorabilia includes a variety of objects from the material culture of Nazi Germany, especially those featuring swastik ...
* Murderabilia


References


Further reading

* Buttsworth, Sara, and Maartje Abbenhuis (eds.) ''Monsters in The Mirror: Representations of Nazism in Post-War Popular Culture''. Westport:
Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...
, 2010. * Evers, Florian.''Vexierbilder des Holocaust''.
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 ...
: L.I.T. Verlag, 2011. * Magilow, Daniel H., Elizabeth Bridges, and Kristin T. Vander Lugt (eds.) ''Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture''.
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
: Continuum, 2011. * Roy, Pinaki. “''Incarcerated Fantasies'': Women in Nazisploitation Films”. ''Portrayal of Women in Media and Literature''. Eds. Nawale, A., S. Vashist, and P. Roy.
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
: Access, 2013 (). Pp. 23–33.


External links


Popfiction.com
Nazi Exploitation Cinema

Analytical essay on Nazi exploitation films {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazi Exploitation Film genres