This is a remarkable story via WaPo: Ship in German ‘Titanic’ film sank, killing far more than the real one.
The 1943 “Titanic,” made by the Nazis during the height of World War II to show off the Germans’ superior morals and moviemaking skills, was actually the country’s third take on the disaster, following “In Nacht und Eis (Shipwrecked in Icebergs)” (1912) and “Atlantic” (1929). With this latest retelling, the filmmakers sought to frame the ship’s sinking as the fault of imperialist Western arrogance.
[…]
With a 4 million reichsmark budget — the equivalent of roughly $180 million today — the German “Titanic” was one of the most expensive films of the 20th century, though it’s not obvious from the results on-screen. The ship, for example, is alternately tilted and level after the collision, and censorship by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who commissioned the film, may be responsible for some of the awkward dialogue.
[…]
The movie’s twisting of facts to suit the Nazis’ agenda meant major creative differences behind the scenes. Selpin, frustrated with the interference of military officials on set and the fact each day’s rushes had to be sent to Berlin for approval, made remarks critical of the Nazi regime. He was denounced by the film’s screenwriter to the authorities, arrested, interrogated by Goebbels, and found hanged in his prison cell the next morning.
The film had to be completed by an uncredited director, Werner Klinger. On the night before its scheduled premiere, the British Royal Air Force bombed the theater that was housing the movie’s answer print.
The whole piece is worth a read and is just an insane example of an authoritarian regime, high on its own ideological supply, trying to use art to further its goals. It is both comedic and sinister.
The worst part of the tale, by far, is the later usage of the ship in question as essentially a concentration camp at end of the war. These are the thousands killed as noted in the headline (which is confusing because it makes it sound like they died making the movie).
On May 3, 1945, three days after Adolf Hitler’s suicide, it was holding a reported 6,000 prisoners from the Neuengamme concentration camp, driven there by Nazis anxious to conceal their atrocities from the advancing Allies. (Some estimates put the number of prisoners as high as 7,000.)
Hence, this is ultimately a story of the utter evil of that regime.
