Stories of “Infidelity”: Nazi Ibsen Adaptations and the Norwegian Press

Abstract

Considering the shocking themes, feminism, and critique of idealism in Henrik Ibsen's plays, the fact that only adaptations of Ludwig Ganghofer's homeland novels premiered more often in the Nazi era presents puzzling paradoxes to film historians and readers of Ibsen alike (Drewniak 1987, 562; Holt 2020, 303). How did it come to be that this revealer of social ills and lies was used by a film industry notorious for its deceitful propaganda? Ibsen's independent women, like Nora and Lona Hessel, can hardly be imagined as role models for the 'Aryan housewife.' Minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who orchestrated film production in Nazi Germany, preferred Knut Hamsun and considered Ibsen outdated, according to his diaries. This Zeitgeist notwithstanding, a 'wave' of five Ibsen adaptations premiered in Germany between 1933 and 1945-a period that saw a marked decrease in Ibsen adaptations globally (Törnqvist 1994, 205).Despite starring the biggest male film stars of the era and being produced by some of the top talent remaining in the German film industry, the Ibsen adaptations in the Third Reich have mostly languished in film historical obscurity. One likely reason is the relative unavailability of the films, which for the most parts are hidden in archives, unavailable in official versions on the commercial market. In a recent PhD dissertation on Ibsen and Nazi cinema, I erroneously claim that none of these adaptations premiered in Norway (Holt 2020, xxvi). In fact, four Nazi era adaptations screened in Ibsen's homeland during the 1930s and 40s: Fritz Wendhausen's Peer Gynt (1934), Detlef Sierck's Stützen der Gesellschaft (Pillars of Society, 1935), Hans Steinhoff's Ein Volksfeind (An Enemy of the People, 1937), and Harald Braun's Nora (A Doll's House, 1944). 1 Whereas both the dissertation, most research on Nazi cinema, and previous research on Ibsen in this era is delineated spatially and temporally within the confines of the Third Reich, this article examines the critical reception of Nazi cinema's Ibsen adaptations in a transnational perspective. 2 In order to do so, I will present some relevant aspects of the Ibsen adaptations as analyzed in the dissertation: plot summaries, brief comparisons with Ibsen's plays, and merely the overt ideological projects of 1 The first Ibsen adaptation to premiere in the Third Reich was Hans Hinrich's Das Meer ruft (The Lake Calls, 1933), an adaptation of "Terje Vigen" (1862). It never screened in Norway and is not discussed in this article.2 Thanks to Øivind Hanche and the National Library of Norway for presenting clippings of 31 reviews from Oslo newspapers. Hanche has also provided important background information for this article. Moreover, I am grateful for excellent comments from two anonymous reviewers.