Der Holocaust im fernen Spiegel: Der Prozess von Tisza-Eszlar (1882/1883) in den Filmen Der Prozeß und The Vicious Circle (1947/48)

Abstract

The article analyzes the two films Der Prozess by G. W. Pabst and The Vicious Circle by William L. Wilder which both describe the infamous ritual murder process of Tisza-Eszlar and the pogrom against the Hungarian Jews in 1888. Incidentally, both films were shot in 1947/48 in Austria and in the United States. Although based on different sources, both films were inspired by the tragedy Die Sendung Semaels by the German-Jewish dramatist Arnold Zweig on the same topic in 1913. Many of the artists involved in both films had been persecuted by the Nazis and were expelled from Germany in 1933. For them it was a matter of concern to make a picture against antisemitism. The films draw parallels between the Hungarian pogrom and the persecution and annihilation of the Jews by the Nazis. (HGA; in German)