When I first heard of the extensive line of Disney animated films that were banned in the U.S., I became overwellingly interrested. Knowing how Disney always plays off like the wholesome image, it was nice to see some faulties they made. Alas, I first saw "De Fueher's Face (1943)" and I was stunned that this was ever made! Donald Duck, supporting a Swastika armband, shouting "Heil Hitler!" and claiming to be a Nazi??? That was shocking news! Ultimately, I thought the film was pro-Nazi (there are of course, one of the many rumor of Walt Disney was that he was a Nazi supporter during the war). Thus, after you see the short, you realize it's making fun of Hitler's reich and that it's actually Allied propaganda (mostly for the good ol' USA). "De Fueher's Face", nevertheless, was comical and I couldn't count the number of times I've laughed so hard. This, however, isn't a comedy, but very dramatic and tragic.
The short, "Education for Death", based off the novel "Education for Death: The Making of a Nazi" (which is unsurprisingly out-of-print, even though Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is still a best seller) is a dramatic look at the dealing with Nazi Germany and formification of a 'Good Nazi' (and that's "good" meaning a Ayran filled with Hate and prejudice). While it's very politically incorrect if watched now a days, back then, it was pretty much Americans' only look through the eyes of a Hitler follower
The film loosely travels along the lines of the famous anti-war epic, "All Quiet on the Western Front (1930" by which instead of the First World War, it's somewhere near the second. The story starts off with a German mother and father, regestering their newborn baby boy to the fascist government of Germany. They name him Hans. There is then a little segment that's really meant to lighten the tone of the film which some slapstick comedy, involving a Nazi 'retelling' of "Sleeping Beauty", in which Democracy represents the wicked witch, Germany represents Sleeping Beauty and...of all people...Adolf Hitler, as Prince Charming. In the twisted and hilarious short, sleeping beauty is an overweight Germanic opera singer and Hitler is shown as a skimpy, snorting wannabe, who struggles trying to get the fat woman up onto his horse. We then cut back to the main story. Hans is now 7 years old and is apart of the Hitler Youth. At one point, he becomes sick and his mother is unable to tender and cuddle him because the state strictly forbids making future soldiers weak and emotional. After Hans gets better, he returns to class to which the subject is 'weaker species'. The teacher, a 'Brown-shirt' Nazi, draws a little cartoon on the chalkboard about a little cottontail Rabbit who runs away from a hungry Fox. It doesn't take a genius to know that the Rabbit represents "Jews" and the Fox is an "Aryan Race". Hans, not understanding the point, feels sorry for the rabbit. The teacher throws a fit and punishes Hans for disobdience. Hans' anger becomes rabid and feels pure hatred towards the rabbit. Immediately following is a series of shots, involving Hans with a Nazi book burning rally, the destruction of a Catholic church (smart move, knowing that if it was a Synagog, this film would never had seen the light of day) finally ending with the Hitler Youth, "Marching and Heiling, Marching and Heiling!". The youth then transform into teenagers, marching and heiling. Eventually, Hans becomes a full grown up SS Stormtrooper, in which he is ready for battle. The eerie final shot in the film shows the troops marching off in the distance, but then they all fade into tombstones, marking from miles and miles. "And now his Education is complete. His Education for Death"
This is a shocking and disturbing film that I recommend showing in History classrooms, in a form of the history of propangada or wartime efforts for victory. To an interresting extent, the entire cartoon (I don't like calling it that, because it's much more than a cartoon) is entirely spoken in German, with the exception of the Narrator. It's kind of sad in the end, but true none the less. Of course, the basic point of the film is not very acurate: The Third Reich ruled Germany for only 12 years (1933-1945), so little Hans would only be 12, or 11, by the time the rule ended. But again, the film was made DURING THE WAR! Also, in the regestration scene, the parents show identification showing that their ancestors were "pure Aryan", whatever that means. Still I recommend it. I wish Disney would stop being so uptight and just release the classic film they had during and after the war, instead of fearing protest for racial or offensive content. It is, after all, history in animation.
