Research on film culture in the General Government has not yet addressed the issue of Germans going to cinemas. This article aims to ll this gap. But the topic is particularly interesting from a comparative perspective, both in relation to the film offerings in cinemas for Germans and Poles and the film tastes of the two audience groups, which in the period before the outbreak of the World War II were characterized by distinct preference profiles. This article compares the film offer and film preferences of Germans and Poles in Krakow, which was the capital of the General Government. This issue is presented against the background of more recent research on the functioning of cinemas and film distribution in the Third Reich, as well as archival material relating to the General Government.
Artykuł dotyczy oferty filmowej i popytu na filmy w kinach dla Polaków w okupowanym Krakowie podczas II wojny światowej. Dane z publikacji Owoc zakazany (1987) Jerzego Semilskiego i Jerzego Toeplitza, dotychczas będące głównym źródłem wiedzy na ten temat, zostały zweryfikowane, uzupełnione i wprowadzone do arkuszy kalkulacyjnych, dzięki czemu była możliwa ich ponowna analiza, między innymi z wykorzystaniem metody POPSTAT. W ten sposób potwierdzono, że do marca 1943 r., gdy filmy polskie były obecne w repertuarach kin, właśnie je najchętniej oglądała krakowska publiczność. Przeanalizowano także dane na temat frekwencji w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie, co pozwoliło sformułować wniosek, że poziom z 1938 r. osiągnęła ona przypuszczalnie w 1942 r. Rozważania zaprezentowano na tle najnowszych ustaleń dotyczących funkcjonowania kinematografii Trzeciej Rzeszy (rola mechanizmów rynkowych i ukierunkowanie na widza), a także jej ekspansji w krajach okupowanych.
EN
The article concerns the film offer and demand in cinemas for Poles in Nazi-occupied Kraków during World War II. Data from the publication Owoc zakazany [Forbidden Fruit] (1987) by Jerzy Semilski and Jerzy Toeplitz, hitherto the main source of knowledge on the subject, were verified, supplemented, and entered into spreadsheets, which made it possible to re-analyse them, i.a. using the POPSTAT method. Thus, it was confirmed that until March 1943, when Polish films were present in the repertoires of Kraków cinemas, they were the most watched films. Data on attendance in the General Government were also analysed, leading to the conclusion that it was likely to reach the 1938 level in 1942. These considerations are presented against the background of the latest findings concerning the functioning of Third Reich cinematography (the role of market mechanisms and audience-orientation), as well as its expansion in the occupied countries.
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