Serial Number: 21029
Title: Professor Mamlock (1938)
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Country of Origin: US
Genre: Private Gallery - The 30's
Subject: Holocaust
Size: STILL 8x10
Condition: EX
Card Number: N/A
Price: $NOT FOR SALE
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Actors/Actresses: Semyon Mezhinsky, Oleg Zhakov |
Notes: Directors: Gerbert Rappaport, Adolf Minkin; This film has a very interesting pedigree. It was made in the Soviet Union but tells a story about Professor Mamlock, a respected Jewish surgeon living in the Weimar Republic, pre-Nazi Germany. As the Nazis come to power in the early 30’s, life for Jews became more and more difficult. Throughout this time, Professor Mamlock tries to ignore the growing persecution of his people, remains a-political, and avoids dealing with the rampant Anti-Semitism all around, concentrating instead on his work as a doctor. In fact, when he learns that his son Rolf, tries to do something about the current situation and joins the Communist Party, the Professor kick him out of the house. His posturing did not help him. One day the SA yanked him out of his hospital, painted large JUDE on his doctor’s robe and paraded him around the city. He was forbidden to work as a doctor. Broke and humiliated he tries to address a crowd about the impending disaster the Nazis are leading the country towards, and the necessity to rise up and resist, but is shot and killed in the process. The film is based on a 1933 play, written by Friedrick Wolf, a German Jew. It was translated and played in many countries, including the United States, a Yiddish version in Poland, and a Hebrew version in the Habima theater in Tel Aviv, Palestine. The director, Gerbert Rappaport was a German Jew who accepted an invitation to help lead the Soviet cinema. Both he and Wolf were communist. So while it is true that this movie is one of the earliest to deal with Anti-Semitism, and draw attention to the mistreatment of Jews under the Nazi regime, it was just as much an attempt to show the world that only Communism can stop Nazi menace. |
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