The Spanish Civil War (1936-39), though confined to Spain, involved the armed forces of several other nations and volunteers from many more. Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union provided extensive military assistance and men from all over Europe and the United States joined the Loyalist's International Brigades. Most of the movies about the war tend to sympathize with the Republican (i.e., Loyalist) cause, especially those made during or shortly after the war, such as "Blockade" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls." The Nationalists and their allies also made films but these seldom have been shown outside of Spain, Nazi Germany, or Fascist Italy.
The Germans faced a special problem in the years immediately after the war as their ideological opponents in Spain had become their allies with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939. Films which criticized the USSR were abruptly withdrawn from circulation or had their production suspended. The radio journalist William L. Shirer observed this trend and made the following entry in his diary on February 4, 1940:
"A big German film company completed last summer at the cost of several million marks a movie based on the exploits of the German Condor Legion in Spain. It was a super-film showing how German blood had been shed in the holy war in Spain against Bolshevism. Hitler, Goring, Goebbels, Himmler, saw it, praised it. Then came the Nazi-Soviet pact last August. The film is now in storage. It was never shown to the public." [excerpt from Shirer's "Berlin Diary"]
Presumably the film he was referring to was "Im Kampf gegen den Weltfeind: Deutsche Freiwillige in Spanien." The picture hardly measures up to Shirer's "super-film" tag. "In Battle Versus the Enemy of the World: German Volunteers in Spain" is a routine war documentary, interesting primarily in that it presents events from the Nationalist perspective, rather than that of the Loyalists.
The entire war is covered, from the initial German commitment in 1936 (flying Franco's troops from Spanish Morocco to the front in Spain) to the fall of Madrid in March 1939. The Legion's triumphant return to Germany is also shown, including excerpts of speeches by Goring in Hamburg and Hitler himself in the Berlin Lustgarten. Some of the combat footage appears to be staged, especially an aerial dogfight sequence, but the majority is authentic.
In one extremely interesting scene International Brigade prisoners are interrogated in English ("Why did you come here to kill us?). The soldiers, from France, Britain, and the United States shrug and then are asked where they're from ("New York", "Ohio"). Who were these men? Did they survive to return home? Are any still alive?
Later, the German liner "Wilhelm Gustloff" is shown steaming into Hamburg, crowded with returning Legionaires. Six years later this ship would be sunk in the Baltic by a Soviet submarine, taking over 7,000 refugees to their deaths. The Condor Legion's own losses in Spain were probably less than one-tenth that figure.
"Im Kampf . ." was directed by Karl Ritter, who specialized in films which glorified Germany's military might. Ritter's work included "Legion Condor" which might have been the movie Shirer was referring to, though the documentary seems the stronger candidate, especially as Rentschler's authoritative "Ministry of Illusion" lists "Condor" as unfinished.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War, World War Two, Franco's Spain, or war documentaries.
