Inside the Last German Newsreel of World War II | March 22, 1945

On 22 March 1945, just weeks before the imminent collapse of the Third Reich, what would become the final edition of the Deutsche Wochenschau, the regime’s renowned cinematic newsreel programme, was broadcast in the territories still under German control. During the early years of the war, these newsreels—consolidated in June 1940 into a single state-produced cinematic newsreel—had served to announce victories, military advances and strategic successes. However, by the spring of 1945, the situation had become entirely different. The military situation had reached a critical point. With the Western Allies already advancing deep into German soil after successfully crossing the Rhine at Remagen, and the Red Army firmly established on the western bank of the Oder River, barely seventy kilometres, or forty-five miles, from the Reich capital, the tone and content of the newsreel had changed markedly. In this regard, a key question arises: what message did the regime’s propaganda seek to convey in its final newsreel: did the rhetoric of the so-called ‘final victory’ still persist, or had the narrative shifted to focus exclusively on the resistance and survival of the German people? Today, we will examine the main segments of this final Wochenschau and what its content revealed about the internal situation in the Reich during its final weeks. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 02:13 – Bomb Disposal in Berlin 03:35 – The Panzerfaust and Total Mobilisation 04:25 – Hitler and the Hitler Youth 06:28 – The Volkssturm and the Defence of Eastern Cities 08:18 – The Role of the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic 09:03 – Propaganda on Atrocities Attributed to the Red Army 10:01 – Fighting on the Oder Front and in Stettin 10:50 – Conclusion Music used in this video: Music used in this video: Haunted Mind by Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström & Anna Dager Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... End of Luck by Max Anson Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... Shutdown Rupture by Jon Björk Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... Fatal Flaws by Howard Harper-Barnes Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... The Secret Life of Filmon by Farrell Wooten Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... The Investigator by Dream Cave Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... They Broke Out by Farrell Wooten Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/t... References: German WWII Archive. (2024). Last German Newsweek- No. 755- 22 March 1945 (full newsreel) [Video]. YouTube:    • Last German Newsweek- No. 755- 22 March 1945