Kevin Prenger's Blog

Righteous behind Barbed Wire is my latest book translated into English. It was published in November 2024 and is available through Amazon and others.

In Germany, there are few reminders of human rights activist Armin T. Wegner and Auschwitz survivor Ludwig Wörl. In the Nazi period, both of these non-Jewish Germans stood up for their Jewish compatriots, actions for which they were honored after the war as Righteous among the Nations by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Center, Yad Vashem.

Unlike the Righteous from neutral, hostile or German-occupied countries, Wegner and Wörl opposed the policy of their own government headed by dictator Adolf Hitler. Although they were citizens of the ‘perpetrators’ nation’, they stood up for the victims. In that way they showed themselves as immune to anti-Semitism and the murderous lust many compatriots either did not resist or, worse, took part in.



In addition to caring about the fate of Jews in Germany, Wegner and Wörl had another thing in common: they were themselves victims of persecution by the Nazis and were political prisoners in Hitler’s concentration camps. How did they get there, and what did they do to defend their fellow Jews from Nazi hatred?

Righteous Behind Barbed Wire: Armin Wegner & Ludwig Wörl

Over een paar dagen verschijnt mijn negende boek, getiteld 'Van kinderwieg tot soldatengraf'. Het gaat over onderwijs en indoctrinatie van de jeugd in nazi-Duitsland.

Al vroeg in de oorlog werd gewaarschuwd voor het gevaar van geradicaliseerde nazi-jeugd. In de laatste oorlogsmaanden verdedigden Duitse tieners hun verwoeste vaderland. Van jongs af aan was hen geleerd dat het hun roeping was te strijden en te sterven voor hun land en hun geadoreerde leider, Adolf Hitler.

Al in 1941 beschreef de Amerikaanse onderwijzer en journalist Gregor Ziemer hoe Duitse kinderen van hun geboorte tot hun volwassenwording onder controle stonden van de nazi-dictatuur. Hun hele opvoeding was erop gericht ze klaar te stomen om hun Führer te dienen. De jongens als soldaten in de strijd, de meisjes aan het thuisfront als moeders van toekomstige soldaten.

Geen schoolvak bleef bespaard van nazi-beïnvloeding. Daarnaast werden Duitse kinderen niet alleen met gedrukte media, muziek, radio en film, maar ook met poppenkastvoorstellingen, gezelschapsspellen en speelgoedsoldaatjes gewonnen voor het nationaal-socialistische gedachtengoed, de bijbehorende rassenwaan en oorlogsfanatisme.

Ook de toenmalige jongeren zelf komen aan het woord. En hoe verging het de Duitse jeugd na de ineenstorting van het Derde Rijk? Kwam Gregor Ziemers vrees uit dat de gehersenspoelde jongens en meisjes een bedreiging voor de rechtsstaat zouden vormen?

Een boek met een waarschuwing voor deze tijd. De nazi-jeugd werd grootgebracht met anti-intellectualisme, ultranationalisme en feitenvrije haat. Tegenwoordig worden democratische samenlevingen hierdoor opnieuw bedreigd.

ISBN: 9789089757067 / uitgever: Just Publishers / 304 pagina's / verwacht: eind september

From 4 to 18 March 1945, Kolberg was besieged by troops of the Red Army and the Polish People's Army. The German seaside resort on the Baltic coast had not seen war since 1807.


Postcard of Kolberg from 1901. All ships carrying evacuees leaving the harbour in 1945 passed the harbour entrance. By then, the lighthouse had already been replaced by a more modern version, which was detonated by the Germans during the siege because it was an easy landmark for enemy artillery. Source: Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag Meißen / Wikimedia Commons

Back then, the siege by Napoleon's troops had ceased after an armistice was signed between France and Prussia. The propaganda film 'Kolberg' about this siege, premiered as recently as January 1945, was supposed to encourage Germans to hold out even now.

They would not succeed, but until 17 March almost the entire civilian population was evacuated from the city by fishing, merchant and naval vessels by sea.

On TracesOfWar.com can read an excerpt from my book ' Hitler’s Last Chance: Kolberg' about this evacuation.: https://www.tracesofwar.com/news/1251...

Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg: The Propaganda Movie and the Rise and Fall of a German City

January 30, 1945 Hitler's last propaganda film went into premiere. The title of this film directed by German director Veit Harlan is ‘Kolberg’. The subject is the 1807 siege of the German city of the same name on the Baltic coast by Napoleon's troops. The Prussian army, supported by a civilian militia, had then held out for months against the besiegers. The film story was intended to inspire and encourage Germans in early 1945 to keep up the fight. The Allies had repulsed the German Ardennes offensive and were preparing to cross the Rhine. The Red Army was about to reach the Oder River and only needed to cover about 40 miles as the crow flies before reaching the outskirts of Berlin. The final battle for Nazi Germany had begun. The film and the rise and fall of the German town of Kolberg is the subject of my new book, ‘Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg: The Propaganda Movie and the Rise and Fall of a German City’. I would like to share an excerpt with you. It is about the 'making-of' of the film.



Filming of the movie started on 22 October 1943. Not only did Harlan have a top cast at his disposal, he wasn’t lacking in means of production either. While German society was entirely geared to war production, Harlan could have anything at his disposal he thought necessary for producing his movie. In a decree of 4 July 1943 Goebbels had promised him a production budget of RM 4 million. This would be exceeded considerably, according to some estimates up to RM 8.5 million, although in 2011 a historian published a detailed calculation showing the total cost as RM 7.6 million [1], at the time still a huge amount. In comparison, Jud Süß was produced on a budget of RM 2 million and Der Große König on RM 4.8 million. Assuming that 1 Reichsmark is equivalent to about US$ 4.5 in our time, the cost of Kolberg amounted to $ 34 million. In Hollywood terms perhaps this was not very spectacular, but for comparison the most expensive Dutch movie Black Book (2006) was produced on a budget of nearly $ 21 million.

Apart from this gigantic budget, Goebbels also authorised Harlan to ‘withdraw soldiers in any desired number from their service and training’. Moreover, Goebbels had assured him that ‘wherever necessary, all branches of the Wehrmacht, state and party’ would be at his disposal because the movie stands ‘in service of our mental waging of the war’. After the war Harlan would boast that he had been given control over generals: ‘If they said no, they said yes.’ [2] It is often claimed, for instance in a special edition about the movie of UFA magazine [3], that no fewer than 187,000 soldiers would be deployed to act as walk-on actors, for instance as soldiers of Napoleon. Some of them would even have been withdrawn from the Eastern Front, just for the movie. In addition, 4,000 navy personnel of the Torpedoschule in Kolberg would be deployed. All these numbers, however, are a gross exaggeration. In order to place them in perspective: on 6 June, D-Day, 156,000 Allied soldiers crossed the Channel to take part in the Normandy landings, a massive operation. Is it possible that an even larger number of German military would have been deployed by Harlan to act as extras? Hitler and the army leadership would never have permitted such huge numbers to be withdrawn from an already weakened front, just like the leadership of the Kriegsmarine had refused previously to cooperate in Narvik. Some mass scenes were included in the movie, such as for Napoleon’s attack on Kolberg, but far fewer extras were needed for that. The exorbitant number was nothing but propaganda and the number of 5,000, mentioned by a camera operator, is a lot more plausible. [4] In any event, the Torpedoschule only had a training capacity of 1,000 so the number mentioned of 4,000 isn’t credible either. [5]

The deployment of thousands of soldiers as extras is remarkable nonetheless in times in which really every healthy adult, male and female, was to be employed in the war effort, in other words the Total War. In order to make the movie, many carpenters were deployed to make set pieces and thirty pyrotechnicians were responsible for the special effects during the shooting of the battle scenes. [6] In addition, there were production chiefs, camera operators, production assistants, light and sound technicians and all those other crew members necessary to produce the movie. All these workers were exempt from service in the army or from working in the war industry. Participation in this production was a lot more pleasant and safer than being deployed as a soldier at a steadily collapsing front or as a worker in an arms factory that could be attacked any day by Allied bombers.

It wasn’t just manpower alone, because two to three thousand horses were used as well, although these figures seem to be somewhat exaggerated. The animals were used by the actors and extras who played members of Napoleon’s soldiers or commander Schill and his cavalrymen. Among the horse-riding actors there also were Cossacks from the army of Russian general Andrey Vlasov, who had defected to the Germans. During the shooting of scenes with horses, stuntmen let themselves fall from galloping horses and subsequently tried to avoid the beating hoofs. Whether or not the numbers of horses were truly in the thousands, these animals couldn’t be taken from the front either. The German army was much less mechanised than the Blitzkrieg tactics might suggest, and as far as logistics were concerned it still depended heavily on horse power. During the war the Wehrmacht had, on average, 1.1 million horses [7] at its disposal, which were used by the cavalry and to pull guns, field kitchens, supply wagons and other vehicles. Harlan, of course, used only a fraction of the total number, but for many a struggling farmer in Germany whose horses were confiscated by the army, it must have been galling to hear that the movie-maker could dispose of so many noble animals at his leisure.

After the war Harlan declared that, using the authorisation by Goebbels, he could dispose of as much wood as he could need to construct ‘gigantic’ buildings, by which he meant the set pieces. At that time wood was an indispensable commodity for the armament industry and was used to produce ammunition containers, for instance. But, in his own words, the director ‘could lay his hands on any material’. He whistled up ‘numerous freight cars loaded with salt’ in order to convert Kolberg harbour into a snow-covered landscape. Money was never an issue, he said. Open air filming didn’t only take place in the resort itself but also in Treptow, 19 miles to the west and a little further inland. In addition, Harlan had a large part of the old city rebuilt in Groß-Glienicke near Berlin in order to ‘subsequently fire at [the buildings] with Napoleon’s guns and burn them down’. [8]

During the filming in and around Kolberg, actor Hanz Lausch also found out that neither cost nor efforts were too much. One moment he thought he heard God’s voice speaking to him from above. On closer inspection, it turned out to be Harlan giving instructions by megaphone from a balloon. Scenes were also shot from this balloon, as well from a vessel offshore. Some of the images were shot using six cameras located in different positions. Pyrotechnicians created clouds of ‘black and white smoke’ over the town. ‘They fired blanks into the air, the flashes being effectively reflected by the black and white clouds.’ Furthermore, in the low-lying areas around Kolberg, Harlan had ditches dug, flooding the historical inundation area with water from the Persante, making it look like Kolberg was surrounded by water. ‘That way, Kolberg became an impregnable fortress for the time being,’ so the movie-maker said. [9] In one scene Harlan claimed to have used the original Emperor’s crown of Charlemagne with the corresponding sceptre and royal apple as props for the scenes that were shot in the Babelsberg studios. The interior of the Imperial Palace had been recreated here. The crown, adorned with diamonds, was transferred from Nuremberg escorted by twenty police officers. According to Harlan’s biographer Franz Noack, a replica could have been used on the set or the original could have been filmed in its depository. [10] In any case, the original specimen survived the war in a bunker in Nuremberg and is now safely deposited in Vienna. [11] The costumes, including uniforms of French and Prussian soldiers, were taken from wardrobes in theatres all over occupied Europe. [12]

Those who were involved in the movie might have been spared the misery of the front line or dangerous work in the war industry, but the days of shooting weren’t a holiday either. For camera operator Gerhard Huttula, participation in the movie was ‘the most embarrassing experience of my entire professional career’. According to him, it was ‘sheer torture’ and ‘this man Harlan was a fanatic, really. He didn’t care about any of his co-workers at all.’ [13] Reportedly, five extras died during the filming. Actor Jaspar von Oertzen, who played Prince Louis Ferdinand von Preußen (but whose scenes were deleted from the movie), recalled after the war that two men had died when charges exploded in the water. He declared: ‘What was so horrible and disgusting for me was after the two had died, filming continued nonetheless. Ambulances had been alerted but immediately afterwards, a major scene was recorded. It was terrible but there was a war on.’ [14]

Apparently there had been cut-backs in medical support, because star actress Kristina Söderbaum is said to have rendered first aid to extras off camera. [15] Safety precautions were taken, though, during the open air shooting at Groß-Glienicke, which would have been interrupted several times by air raid alerts. Trenches had been dug to provide shelter during enemy bombardments. Although involvement in the movie wasn’t riskfree, in war time this was relative. Actor Hanz Lausch, who had served in 6. Armee previously and had been injured, enjoyed it as if it were a holiday. [16] Regarding his relative youth – he was born in 1920 – without the movie he would have had to return to the front without a doubt. According to Kurt Meisel, who played Claus Werner, they were ‘all eager to dodge military service. When you were involved in the movie, you were exempted.’ [17]

Despite the fact that on 6 June 1944 the Allies had landed in Normandy and were advancing westwards, and the Red Army was pushing the Wehrmacht back eastwards to within the borders of the Third Reich, recording of the movie proceeded undisturbed. Söderbaum told British historian Laurence Rees that she had learned from Wilfred von Oven, Goebbels’ personal press adjutant, that the minister had told him ‘that it was more important that the soldiers act in his film rather than fight at the front – which was no longer worth doing since we were in the middle of total collapse’. Personally she thought it ‘ridiculous to be filming when the enemy was coming nearer and nearer. One knew about the war and everything that was happening. Then to stand in front of the camera, I felt like a monkey.’ [18]

1. Noack, F., Veit Harlan: The Life & Work of a Nazi Filmmaker, p. 222.
2. Eitner, H-J., Kolberg – Ein pruissischer Mythos 1807/1945, p. 158; Kutz, J.P., ‘Veit Harlans Kolberg: Der letzte "Großfilm" der Ufa’, 2008, p. 2.
3. Rother, R., ‘Kolberg’, UFA Magazin, nr. 20, p. 3.
4. Grob, N. & Beyer, F. (red.), Stilepochen des Films: Der NS-Film, p. 387.
5. Noack, F., Veit Harlan: The Life & Work of a Nazi Filmmaker, p. 222.
6. Maack, B., ‘Propagandawaffe Agfacolor - Goebbels' Farbenlehre’, Spiegel Online, 17-02-2011.
7. ‘German Horse Cavalry and Transport’, Intelligence Bulletin, March 1946, op: http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ge....
8. Kutz, J.P., ‘Veit Harlans Kolberg: Der letzte "Großfilm" der Ufa’, 2008, p. 3.
9. Ibid.
10. Noack, F., Veit Harlan: The Life & Work of a Nazi Filmmaker, p. 222.
11. Schäfer, H., Deutsche Geschichte in 100 Objekten, p. 77.
12. ‘Vorschau für Kolberg’ (documentary), Arte, 1998.
13. Giesen, R., Nazi Propaganda Films: A History and Filmography, pp. 171-172.
14. Knopp, G., De Oorlog van de eeuw (documentary), part 9, 2005.
15. Noack, F., Veit Harlan: The Life & Work of a Nazi Filmmaker, p. 222.
16. Ibid., p. 223.
17. ‘Vorschau für Kolberg’ (documentary), Arte, 1998.
18. Rees, L., Their Darkest Hour, p. 243-244.

Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg: The Propaganda Movie and the Rise and Fall of a German City

In 1944, Christmas was celebrated for the sixth time since the Second World War had broken out on September 1, 1939. Men who often shared the same religious background fought each other to the death in sharp contrast with the old Christmas message of Peace on Earth. Christmas under Fire, 1944: The Last Christmas of World War II tells about this last war time Christmas. Below an excerpt from this book. This part is about how Christmas was used in Nazi propaganda.


Soldiers of the Volkssturm celebrate Christmas 1944 in a bunker in Eastern Prussia. On the table mail from the home front. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J28377 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

On Christmas Eve in a ward in a German hospital, an Oberleutnant lay motionless in bed. It was warm and quiet in the room where he was being treated for the severe injuries he had sustained on the Murmansk front. As he lay there in the corner near the stove, his head on a white pillow, it looked as if he were already dead. His eyes in a pale face were shut, and life seemed to be slipping away from him. All of a sudden, the door of the room was carefully opened and the dark room was lit by the cheerfully shimmering candles in a small fir tree. The soft sounds of German Christmas carols sung by children came closer and closer. As if by miracle, the eyes of the injured soldier opened. Laboriously, he raised himself to see where the light and the singing were coming from. While staring at the lights in the tree, his thoughts went back to past Christmas Days at home. A little smile appeared on his face. "He wants to live," so the story continues, "to live for the Heimat (fatherland) so far away but never so close as in this fateful moment, by the light of the Christmas tree. … And he feels joyous and happy: in this holy moment his fate returns from the frontier of death to within range of life itself. He will be cured.

This story about a miraculous healing by the light of a Christmas tree was published in 1944 in the propaganda bulletin "Deutsche Kriegsweihnacht" (German War Christmas). Starting in 1941, each year prior to the Christmas holidays, the department of culture of the propaganda office of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party) issued a compilation of Christmas stories for adults and children, this one being the last. The 1944 issue contained Christmas stories from the front during World War I, such as one about a soldier in France who, while on patrol close to enemy lines, risked his life while fetching a Christmas tree in order to celebrate Christmas. Furthermore, it contained letters to and from the front, poems and folk songs, all of course along the lines of the Nazi Christmas celebration. For the children, it contained fairy tales of Snow White and Mother Holle by the Grimm brothers.

Speeches by the master of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, could not be left out of course. A posthumously published contribution of an ode to the German Christmas celebration was included: National Socialist writer and poet Kurt Eggers died in 1943 at the Eastern front serving with the Waffen-SS. He argued Christmas was not about "giving love" and "legends from the far away Jewish land" but about "freedom, honor and justice." He described the Christmas tree as the symbol of the "grandeur of the struggling and defiant life that in danger and in need holds out against any fearsome and difficult situation." According to him, Christmas became "the celebration of victory and the required willingness to fight. ... We therefore do not celebrate our Weihnachtsfest in the sentimental mood, contained in so many strange Christmas carols, but in the hard and inflexible knowledge that we, as the perennial torch bearers, are destined to carry the light of freedom in the world."

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There are 61 days left for Christmas 2020! If you already want to get in the mood and if you are interested in the Second World War, I would like to recommend my book Christmas under Fire, 1944: The Last Christmas of World War II. Available at Amazon.com.

Bastogne in Belgium, Christmas 1944. Plagued by biting cold and the nerve-wracking sound of exploding mortar bombs, American soldiers sang Christmas carols. They ate their meagre rations, yearning for well-laid Christmas dinner tables and roasted turkey.

On the Eastern front, German military assembled to listen to Christmas music on the radio, if they had a little respite from the bloody battle against the advancing Red Army. After reading the latest mail from Germany, they wiped away their tears, thinking of their families back home.

In liberated Paris as well as in other European cities, Christmas was celebrated no matter how limited the circumstances may have been. In the major cities in the western part of the Netherlands, occupied by the Germans, civilians scraped the very last bits of food together for a Christmas dinner that could not appease their hunger.

POWs in camps all over the world looked forward to Christmas parcels from home. Even in Nazi concentration camps, inmates found hope in Christmas, although their suffering continued inexorably.

'Christmas Under Fire, 1944' describes the circumstances in which the last Christmas of World War II was celebrated by military, civilians and camp inmates alike. Even in the midst of war’s violence, Christmas remained a hopeful beacon of western civilization.