Top 10 Reasons Why Hitlerjunge Quex is Better Propaganda than Kuhle Wampe

10. Continuity Editing, enough said.
9. Younger cast.
8. Heini is much cuter than Fritz.
7. “Quex” also sounds cooler than “Comrade”
6. The death of the mother is always a good plot element (watch Disney’s Bambi if you don’t believe me)
5. In a country that is being forced to pay reparations to the rest of the continent, internationalism is probably not going to be very popular.
4. Big budgets > Small budgets
3. Fairs are great scenes for movies (watch James Dean in East of Eden).
2. Heinrich George
1. Heini and Ulla’s steamy onscreen kiss.

All joking aside, Hanz Steinhoff’s film Hitlerjunge Quex is an excellent example of how the Nazi party was able to gain the support of the German youth through various forms of propaganda. The film, unlike Kuhle Wampe, was made as a feature film and was meant to be entertaining. The plot of Hitlerjunge Quex is certainly more compelling, and the characters are easier to relate to. Propaganda like this film (and even more egregious forms too) were very successful with the younger generation of German citizens. As Alice Hamilton writes about in her article, the support of the youth was unquestionable. As she says, the Nazi government paid exacting attention to details that were very adolescent in character. Newspapers, for instance, gave more coverage to the upcoming Olympic games than to the upcoming Economic Conference, and instead of focusing on policies for helping unemployment, the Party cared more about reorganizing the sport clubs so as to debar Jews and Social Democrats. The Nazi party’s message to the youth was also much more positive (also more twisted, admittedly) than that offered by the Communists. “Hitler,” as Hamilton writes, “made each insignificant, poverty-stricken, jobless youth of the slums feel himself one of the great of the earth, since the youth was a German...". Additionally, although both the Nazis and the Communists published a great deal of propaganda, the Nazis were ultimately more effective because their message was simpler and more explicit. One barely needs to see more of the movie than the opening credit “Hitlerjunge Quex,” to know that the movie was pro-Nazi. Kuhle Wampe, on the other hand, was more subtle and was filmed so as to prompt the audience to ask questions pertinent to real issues. A nice idea, to be sure, but for the masses of discouraged German youth who knew little about politics or economics, all they wanted was a little hope and entertainment.