Kurt Maetzig

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Kurt Maetzig (25 January 1911 – 8 August 2012) was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany.

He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR.

After his retirement he lived in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and had three children.

Early life

Kurt Maetzig was the son of Robert Maetzig and Marie Maetzig (née Lyon). He was born and grew up in the Charlottenburg borough of Berlin. His mother came from a wealthy family of tea merchants. He gained an insight into the film industry from an early age as his father was the proprietor of a factory that produced film copies there. During the First World War, he stayed with his grandmother in Hamburg. After the end of the war, he moved back to Berlin, where he completed his secondary education at the Leibniz-Oberrealschule. He then enrolled at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he studied chemistry, engineering and political and business economics. He also studied sociology, psychology and law for a year at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In the late 1920s, Maetzig worked at his father's factory during the holidays, gaining experience in all areas of film production. He began shooting his own films in 1932, and three years later he ran his own cartoon workshop, where he also worked on titles and opening credits for short films.

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Career

After completing his dissertation, he obtained his PhD from TUM in 1935. He worked at several companies, including his father's, where he worked on film technology and photochemistry, and also gave lectures on copying techniques and film fidelity. However, his work permit was suspended by the Film Chamber of the Reich in 1937 due to his mother's Jewish origins.

Maetzig became a member of the unlawful Communist Party in 1944, during the Second World War. After the war, he returned to Berlin, where he co-founded "Filmaktiv," whose aim was to organise a revival of film production. In 1947, he founded DEFA, a state-owned film studio, where he spent time as a producer on documentaries and feature films. In 1946, he became the DEFA's artistic director. He was also the first director and editor of the weekly newsreel "Der Augenzeuge" (English: The Eyewitness).

Ehe in Schatten, Maetzig's first film, was released in 1947. It was the most well-received film of the war period, with over 12 million viewers in total. Die Buntkarierten (1949), which was entered into the Cannes Film Festival, Ernst Thälmann films (1954-55), and the science fiction film Der schweigende Stern (1960). Some of Maetzig's films have been described as East German propaganda, particularly his two-part series on Ernst Thalman (Ernst Thälmann - Führer der Klasse), although East German authorities have barred nearly all his films from production from 1965-66. After the 11th plenum of the SED's Central Committee for being too critical of the country's internal social problems, he produced Das Kaninchen bin ich (1965), one of twelve films banned in East Germany.

In 1976, he became a film director. He died in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, on August 8, 2012.

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Awards

• 1949 Bambi (prize) for Ehe im Schatten
• 1949 National Preis II. Klasse for Ehe im Schatten and Die Buntkarierten (with others)
• 1950 National Preis I. Klasse for Der Rat der Götter (with others)
• 1954 National Preis I. Klasse for Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse (with others)
• 1959 National Preis II. Klasse for Das Lied der Matrosen (with others)
• 1961 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden in Silver
• 1968 National Preis I. Klasse for Die Fahne von Kriwoj Rog (with others)
• 1986 Findling Award for his life's work
• 1986 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden in Gold