Kuhle Wampe or: Who Owns the World?/Whither Germany (Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt?) (1932)
Directed by Slatan Dudow & Bertolt Brecht
At-A-Glance
Length: 74 mins
About this Piece
Written by legendary Marxist author Bertolt Brecht, Kuhle Wampe shows the effects of massive unemployment following the world economic crisis of 1929. Documenting the struggles and despair of countless workers competing for far too few jobs, it is an unadorned depiction of the consequences of unemployment and homelessness, that feels very relevant today. Resulting in the mobilization of the working class, the film culminates with a protest march accompanied by Hanns Eisler’s workers chorus “Solidarity Song.” The film was banned shortly in 1932 and finally completely banned by the Nazis in 1933.