Reichsfilmdramaturg

With the film law dated from 16 February 1934, the position of a Reichsfilmdramaturg (the Reich's dramatic adviser for films) was attached to the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. His task was to pre-check all planned film productions.^[1]

Contrary to the Film Review Office, which censored films already produced, the Reichsfilmdramaturg should prevent that inappropriate films being produced. It was therefore only possible to start the shooting of a film after the film's plot, manuscript and screenplay were approved by him.

The film industry was o.k. with the pre-check, as it prevented commercial damages through later censorship. The pre-check also allowed to get a cheap credit from the Filmkreditbank. This bank was set up to help financing films.^[2]

The following persons were Reichsfilmdramaturg:^[3][4][5]

• Willi Krause (known as Peter Hagen as writer), since February 1934
• Hans-Jürgen Nierentz (1936–37)
• Fritz Hippler
• Kurt Frowein
• Ewald von Demandowsky