Plan for Destruction

This short subject from MGM that came out in 1943 was at the time a reminder we still had a long way to go for total victory. That was the message that Lewis Stone conveyed as narrator. It was a collective feeling in the German body politic that they were sold out by the ruling classes and made to bear the brunt of the onus of starting World War I. There was enough guilt on that to go all around.

A name that few Americans knew about a retired German general and university professor Karl Haushofer is identified as the intellectual father of the Nazi movement. This was wartime and not a time for subtleties. The real Haushofer was the professor of Rudolf Hess who introduced him to a rightwing activist named Adolf Hitler whom he felt would be in sympathy with Haushofer's ideas on an expansive and expanding and dynamic Germany. In German they called that Lebensraum.

The story of the real Haushofer was far more fascinating than what you see here and in the one dimensional portrayal that Frank Reicher gives him. He never joined the party, he had too many differences with them. Chiefly on their anti-Semitism and that would be natural since he married a woman whose father was Jewish. She had to be given the status of honorary Aryan due to whatever strings Rudolf Hess could pull.

Haushofer's son was picked up and executed in the Von Stauffenberg conspiracy. There's a lot more, but you get the idea this is not a short subject that has stood the test of time.

I didn't love Lewis Stone's narration here, not least because he kept referring to Britain/British and England/English which always strikes me as lazy writing. That said, though, it's still quite an interesting assessment of the forward-planning skills of former Imperial general Karl Haushofer (Frank Reicher). Following his defeat in the Great War he took up an academic position that not only facilitated his planning for the future domination of the world by a revitalised Germany but that also provided him with lots of fertile young and impressionable minds to indoctrinate. His former assistant Rudolph Hess (George Lynn) suggests to him that he meet a prisoner with a small moustache and the rest is history. It mixes some dramatic elements with some news actuality to deliver to American audiences an idea of just how meticulously the Nazis had planned their "Politik" agenda and at how this could all too readily impact on the USA, however geographically detached the maps might suggest it is. There is a positive message for the audience here suggesting that by uniting against the Axis powers, there are some sunlit uplands ahead - but there is more work to be done.

Back when World War 2 was going on, people were mostly in constant terror of what may or may not happen regarding the Axis powers. By 1944 Germany was clearly going to lose, but even by then, the possibility of them snatching victory from the jaws of total ruin never disappeared. Whether it be the introduction of a new type of aircraft, new technology or even the development of a nuke, germany had to be subdued and be forced to stay down or else they would resist in any way they could. This film from 1943 dramatizes Hitler's plans for global conquest (even though it's debatable he even wanted that) and how the Allies began to push back against their plans and fight back once their industries were in full swing. The film goes over how disappointed the german public was with their leadership in the wake of the First World War, in which germany was to take sole responsibility for laying waste to Europe and getting millions of people killed. Karl Haushofer, a professor at the University of Munich, teaches a geographic ideology called Geopolitik that would later become central to Hitler's ideas of The Reich's anticipated expansion. Karl says how because of germany's geographic location, it is destined to be the master not only of Europe, but of the entire world and possibly beyond simply because of its central location on what was considered the most advanced and important continent. As a bonus, if germany controls enough land to its east, west and wherever else it sees fit, it would effectively nullify the formidable navy of Britain, germany's enemy, since germans would no longer need to use vulnerable ships to import crucial materials. Being in control of such a huge area that is self-sufficient in terms of goods is a godlike advantage. After the lecture is over, Karl is approached by a student named Rudolf Hess, Hitler's future deputy. He wears a uniform associated with the NSDAP (Nazi Party) which is not in power yet, as Hitler has been imprisoned for his failed Putsch at a Munich Beer Hall some time earlier. Karl is aware of this and ridicules Hess for "being on the wrong side of history", proclaiming that Hitler is a joke and will achieve nothing. Hess is adamant that Karl meet Hitler in prison so his mind will change. Although he will never become a National Socialist party member, Haushofer will eventually have employees in contact with some of nazi germany's most feared organizations (including the Gestapo) and tourists from germany covertly retrieve secret information about countries they visit in order to probe them for any kind of weaknesses that Hitler can later take advantage of. Even places like Norway that belong to roughly the same racial group as germany are eventually invaded and controlled, all under the pretense of trying to build an extremely powerful united european empire. By 1939, germany had illegally sent its forces to reoccupy lands taken from them during the last war and even annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, putting Karl's policies into practice for all the world to see. Britain and France made clear that they would fight if Poland was attacked, but by now Hitler didn't care. After the invasion, the world believes that any territory Hitler wanted would soon be his, due to the speed with which poland was defeated. However, once the germans attack Russia, Geopolitik begins to falter for the first time. Originally confident they would be in Moscow within 3 weeks, entire german armies are bogged down in mud and horribly cold weather, fighting an enemy that never seems to give up. This shows everyone that the germans aren't invincible, but Karl still believes germany has an ace up its sleeve. Germany hoped that its alliance with Japan would turn out to resemble a giant pincer movement, with germany swinging down to North Africa in order to seize the vital Suez Canal and japan rampaging through China. Once the two powers linked up near central Asia, russia would be strangled. Not to mention, this would mean America would now have to deal with a Pacific dominated by japan and an Atlantic dominated by germany. The rest of the film shows how while Haushofer thought his plans of world conquest would succeed, he didn't take into account how the more you advance, the stronger people's will to resist. Because of this, germany and her allies will continue to be attacked from every direction both by the soldiers and civilians of places they wish to take over. This film was ok. I've heard the synopsis of ww2 countless times by now, but at least this was able to tell me about a person I never heard of. Haushofer is not on the list of most infamous figures of the third reich and was never even officially a nazi, but as this film shows, he influenced how Hitler felt about and viewed new territory.

A MGM Short Subject.

At the end of World War One, a Munich general turned professor begins to develop Germany's PLAN FOR DESTRUCTION for the next global conflict.

This fascinating little film will serve as a primer to the Nazi theory of geopolitics, by which they hoped to control all the lands around them & bring about their eventual domination of the entire world. A very interesting sidelight shows how the Nazis went about gathering massive amounts of information about their potential enemies.

MGM's fatherly Lewis Stone is the Host/Narrator; Frank Reicher does a fine job playing Professor Karl Haushofer.

After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood went to war totally against the Axis. Not only did many of the stars join up or do home front service, but the output of the Studios was largely turned to the war effort. The newsreels, of course, brought the latest war news into the neighborhood theater every week. The features showcased battle stories or war related themes. Even the short subjects & cartoons were used as a quick means of spreading Allied propaganda, the boosting of morale or information dissemination. Together, Uncle Sam, the American People & Hollywood proved to be an unbeatable combination.

Plan for Destruction (1943)

*** (out of 4)

MGM, Oscar nominated documentary short about how Germany's defeat in WW1 led to Hitler trying to take the world over in WW2. This documentary offers quite a bit of information in its 22-minute running time. Most of the stuff is over-dramatic but that's just a part of these WW2 shorts from this period. Lewis Stone stars.

It's also interesting to see how they looked at war issues back then compared to today.

If you're interested in this film then Turner Classic Movies usually plays it during their "31 Days of Oscar" festival.