Plan for Destruction

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" was included in the "Crime Does Not Pay" DVD collection from Turner Entertainment. However, this film really does not appear to be a part of the set and bears no similarity to the other films in the series. It really is just a wartime propaganda short from MGM--albeit a well made one.

The film is narrated by Lewis Stone and is a film showing the progression of Germany from the end of WWI to the power-made nation it was in 1943. However, it looked at this in an unusual manner--focusing on an actual but mostly forgotten general and college professor, Karl Haushofer (played by the familiar character actor Frank Reicher). Haushofer's notion of 'goepolitik' was that Germany was destined to rule the world and his teachings fit in wonderfully with the Nazis. However, the short-term benefit of such a policy is more than balanced by the resolve of the united nations of the US, Soviet Union, etc. according to this film.

This is clearly a WWII propaganda film that's meant to strengthen the resolve at home in the war effort. And, for what it is, it's pretty good. A novel way of assessing the Nazis, that's for sure.

This is well-produced, but not based on historical fact. The amount of influence Haushofer had on Hitler's viewpoint is very debatable, although there is no argument that he did have some influence. And there never was am 'Institute of Geopolitics' - that was dreamed up by the scriptwriter. Haushofer had a half-Jewish wife, was never a member of the party, and spent some time in a concentration camp. He is on record as a supporter of Hitler. To what end, no one knows. One of his sons died in the July 20th plot against Hitler. Haushofer and his wife committed suicide in 1946. The idea of Lebensraum that he professed was psychological rather than physical - Hitler's vision was different from that of Professor Haushofer. This film is propaganda, and works well in that genre. This film is propaganda, and works well in that genre.

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.

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.