German Newsweek No. 753- 5 March 1945

The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945. The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany. With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 shown under the title of “The German Newsweek“. It was one of the most important aspects of German propaganda. Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as private TV ownership was extremly rare during WWII. Over 700 episodes were produced, and many of the historical WWII footage we nowadays have comes from the Wochenschau. This is issue No. 753 from March 5th, 1945. It shows footage from the Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin on the occasion of his 80th birthday, footage from RAD-leader Konstatin Hierl visiting female auxilaries and awarding the Knights Cross to RAD-members, an Interview with Colonel Rudel in a hospital, footage from Volkssturm preparing defenses in Berlin, new German submarines, combat footage from the Western Front, from German soldiers who managed to break out of Budapest, various footage from the Eastern front, a visit of Propaganda Minister Goebbels at the Oder Front and of destroyed Soviet tanks. - Subtitles made by me.