Critics and leaders of liberal groups, including Norman Thomas, were strongly impressed today by a preview showing of March of Time’s latest film release, “Inside Nazi Germany — 1938,” which portrays strikingly such aspects of German life as persecution of Jews and Church, world-wide Nazi propaganda methods, forced labor, restricted diet and intensive preparations for war.
Prior to showing of the picture, scenes of which are said to have been smuggled out of Germany, Louis de Rochement, producer, announced attempts by the German Consulate General here to have allegedly inaccurate sequences eliminated were rebuffed. Mr. de Rochement charged the consulate with attempting to impose upon March of Time the “invisible censorship with which every United States motion picture producer is familiar,” that of having protested films banned in all countries which have friendly trade agreements with the protesting country.
March of Time announced it had been notified by the Chicago Police Board of Censors that exhibition of the film would not be permitted in that city on the grounds that it was unfriendly to the Hitler Government and likely to create public resentment against a nation friendly with the United States. A board member, Miss Edith Kerr, reportedly cited a city ordinance permitting a ban on any film which exposes a class of citizens “to contempt, derision or obloquy, or tends to produce a breach of the peace.” March of Time is protesting the ban, terming it a “direct attack on the principles of a free press.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
