Veit Harlan | |
|---|---|
 Harlan in 1939 | |
| Born | (1899-09-22)22 September 1899 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 13 April 1964(1964-04-13) (aged 64) Capri, Italy |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses | |
| Children | 5, includingThomas Harlan |
| Relatives | Peter Harlan (brother) Christiane Kubrick (niece) Jan Harlan (nephew) |
Veit Harlan (22 September 1899 – 13 April 1964) was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the high point of his career as a director in theNazi era; most notably his antisemitic filmJud Süß (1940) makes him controversial. While viewed critically for his ideologies, a number of critics consider him a capable director on the grounds of such work asOpfergang (1944)[citation needed].
Harlan was born inCharlottenburg,Berlin, the son of the writer Walter Harlan and his wife Adele, nee Boothby.[1] His elder brotherPeter was a multi-instrumentalist and musical instrument maker. After studying underMax Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, afterWorld War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1934 he starred in the Berlin premiere ofEugen Ortner's tragedyMeier Helmbrecht, but it was a critical disaster and he later described it as his lowest point as an actor.[2] Shortly afterwards he directed his first play, the comedyMarriage on the Panke, at theTheater am Schiffbauerdamm.[3]
In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singerDora Gerson; the couple divorced in 1924. Gerson later was murdered atAuschwitz with her family. In 1929, he marriedHilde Körber, having three children with her, then divorcing her for political reasons related to the influence ofNazism. One of their children,Thomas Harlan, became a writer and director in his own right. In 1939, Veit Harlan married the Swedish actressKristina Söderbaum, for whom he wrote several tragic roles that included dramatic suicide scenes, increasing their popularity with the German cinema audience. Harlan had two children with Söderbaum.
Film criticDavid Thomson asserts that Harlan, having just started directing in 1935, was able to attract Goebbels' attention only because so much directorial talent had emigrated from Germany after the Nazis had taken power.[4] By 1937,Joseph Goebbels had appointed Harlan as one of his leading propaganda directors. His most notorious film wasJud Süß (1940), made for anti-Semitic propaganda purposes in Germany and Austria. In 1943 it receivedUFA's highest awards. Karsten Witte, the film critic, provided a fitting appellation for Harlan calling him "the baroque fascist". Harlan made the Reich's loudest, most colorful and expensive films.[5]
After the war Harlan was charged with participating in the anti-Semitic movement and aiding theNazis. He successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work, that he was obeying their orders, and that he should not be held personally responsible for the content. In 1949, Harlan was charged with crimes against humanity for his role as director ofJud Süß. The Hamburg Criminal Chamber of the Regional Court (Schwurgericht) controversially acquitted Harlan of the charges. This decision was upheld by the court of the British occupation zone. Both acquittals remain controversial to this day since the ruling judge had previously worked as a judge for the Nazi regime and since Harlan's works had been proven to have contributed hugely to spreading the antisemitic sentiment in Germany, which enabled the Holocaust. Nazi camp guards who watchedJud Süß, Jewish survivors told the court, had become crueller towards inmates afterwards, clearly affected by the propaganda contents which made them hate Jews more (although this allegation could not be proved). The film was deemed in one court to be unsuitable and highly problematic and to have contributed to enabling antisemitism and genocide, but neither Harlan nor his antisemitic supporters who insulted Jewish victims in the courts were ever sentenced.[6][7][8]
In 1951, Harlan sued for an injunction against Hamburg politicianErich Lüth for publicly calling for a boycott ofUnsterbliche Geliebte (Immortal Beloved). The District Court in Hamburg granted Harlan's suit and ordered that Lüth forbear from making such public appeals. However, the lower court decision was overturned in 1958 by theFederal Constitutional Court because it infringed on Lüth's right to freedom of expression (Lüth-Urteil [de]). This was a landmark decision because it clarified the importance of the constitutional civil rights in disputes between individuals.
Harlan made a total of nine films between 1950 and 1958. He died in 1964 while on vacation in Capri.[9]
Veit Harlan's sonThomas (1929–2010), an author and film director, created a semi-documentary film titledWundkanal (Wound Passage), in which his father, played by a convicted mass murderer, is forced to undergo a series of brutal interrogations into his war crimes.[10] Thomas Harlan's final publication, issued posthumously,Veit, was a memoir in the form of a letter to his father, continuing the investigation into Veit Harlan's complicity in the Nazi regime.[11]
In 1958, Veit Harlan's nieceChristiane Susanne Harlan married filmmakerStanley Kubrick, who was Jewish. She is credited by her stage name Susanne Christian in Kubrick'sPaths of Glory (1957). She said she was ashamed to come from a "family of murderers" but was relieved that Kubrick's Jewish family accepted her despite her ties to Harlan.[12] They remained married until Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999.
Susanne Körber, one of his daughters from his second wife Hilde Körber, converted to Judaism and married the son of Holocaust victims.[13] She committed suicide in 1989.[13]
In 2001,Horst Königstein [de] made a film titledJud Süß – Ein Film als Verbrechen? (Jud Süß – A Film as a Crime?).
The documentaryHarlan – In the Shadow of Jew Süss (2008) by Felix Moeller explores Harlan's motivations and the post-war reaction of his children and grandchildren to his notoriety.[13]
The decision was appealed and the High Court of the British Zone decided to hear the appeal. Norbert Wollheim, a Holocaust survivor, had testified against Harlan in the trial but refused to appear for the appeal. Instead, he denounced "post-National Socialist justice" for degrading "the process of cleansing post-Hitler Germany of its criminals". He felt that the Cold War imperative that the past was indeed past offered too sweeping an amnesty for people who should have been held accountable. In the appeal, the prosecution again had no success. The jury court pronounced Harlan free of all criminal liability in its decision of April 29, 1950.
