{{short description|1945 film by Frank Capra}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Your Job in Germany | image = Your Job in Germany film Opening titles (1945).jpg | caption = | director = {{nowrap|[[Frank Capra]] {{small|(uncredited)}}}} | producer = | writer = {{nowrap|[[Dr. Seuss|Theodor S. Geisel]] {{small|(uncredited)}}}} | narrator = [[Dana Andrews]] | starring = | music = | cinematography = | editing = | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1945}} | runtime = 12 minutes 49 seconds | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }}
'''''Your Job In Germany''''' is a [[short film]] made for the [[United States War Department]] in 1945 just before [[Victory in Europe Day]] (VE). It was shown to US soldiers about to go on [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupation duty in Germany]]. The film was made by the military film unit commanded by [[Frank Capra]] and was written by Theodor Geisel,<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Judith |author2=Morgan, Neil |title=Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-41686-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/drseussmrgeisel00morg/page/110 110–113] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drseussmrgeisel00morg/page/110}}</ref> better known by his pen name [[Dr. Seuss]]. The narration is by [[Dana Andrews]].
== Content == [[File:Your Job in Germany 111-OF-8.webm|thumb|''Your Job in Germany''|300x300px]] The film was produced by the [[US Army Signal Corps]]. It was criticized by one commentator as a "bitter and angry [[Anti-German sentiment|anti-German]] propaganda film" that characterized the post-war German mind as "diseased".<ref name="Robert Niemi p.84">Robert Niemi, "History in the media: film and television history in the media", p.84</ref>
The film urged against [[fraternization]] with the [[German people]], who are portrayed as thoroughly untrustworthy. It reminds its viewers of [[Germany]]'s history of aggression, under "[[Fuehrer]] Number 1" [[Otto von Bismarck]], "Fuehrer Number 2" [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] and "Fuehrer Number 3" [[Adolf Hitler]]. It argues that the German youth are especially dangerous because they had spent their entire lives under the [[Nazi]] regime.
The policy of [[Fraternization#Military non-fraternization|non-fraternisation]]{{spaced ndash}}where US soldiers were forbidden to speak even to small children{{spaced ndash}}was first announced to the soldiers in the film:
{{blockquote|The [[Nazi party]] may be gone, but Nazi thinking, Nazi training and Nazi trickery remains. The German lust for conquest is not dead. ... You will not argue with them. You will not be friendly. ... There will be no fraternization with any of the German people.<ref name="Judith Morgan">Judith Morgan, Neil Morgan, ''Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: a biography'', p. 111–113.</ref>}}
The basic theme that the German people could not be trusted derived from the peace policy that emerged from the [[Second Quebec Conference]].<ref name="Judith Morgan"/>
== Reception == The movie was first screened to the top US generals, including [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and [[John C. H. Lee]]. [[George Patton]] reportedly walked out of the screening he attended, saying "Bullshit!"<ref name="Judith Morgan"/>
== ''Hitler Lives'' == Jack Warner, head of [[Warner Brothers]], subsequently secured the rights to the movie and turned it into the short documentary ''[[Hitler Lives]]'', which was released commercially on December 29, 1945, and won the 1946 [[Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject|Academy Award (Oscar) for Documentary Short Subject]].<ref name="Robert Niemi p.84"/><ref>Todd Peterson, "Theodor Seuss Geisel: author and illustrator", p.47.</ref>
== In popular culture == Numerous sentences from the film's narration are incorporated [[wikt:verbatim|verbatim]] as lyrics in the single "Don't Argue" by [[Cabaret Voltaire (band)|Cabaret Voltaire]] from their studio album ''[[Code (album)|Code]]'' (1987).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hollings |first=Ken |title=Cabaret Voltaire |journal=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |date=January 2002 |issue=215 |url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/212/print |archive-date=2008-04-24 |access-date=2011-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424093842/http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/212/print |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== See also == * ''[[Our Job in Japan]]'', a companion film to ''Your Job In Germany'' also written by Geisel * ''[[Here Is Germany]]'' * ''[[Death Mills]]'' * [[List of Allied propaganda films of World War II]] * [[Sonderweg]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb title|0038264}} * {{Internet Archive short film|id=YourJobInGermany1945|name=Your Job In Germany (1945)}} * [http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/document/8285/nachkriegspropaganda.html?d=IMAGE%2CSPON_VIDEO%2CPDF&k=capra&f=ORIGINAL_PUBLICATIONDATE&o=DESCENDING&s=0&r=24&z=24&cp=0&c=1 Online version of film] at ''Der Spiegel'' website.
{{Dr. Seuss}} {{Frank Capra}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Your Job In Germany}} [[Category:1945 films]] [[Category:American World War II propaganda shorts]] [[Category:United States Department of War]] [[Category:Anti-German sentiment in the United States]] [[Category:Films with screenplays by Dr. Seuss]] [[Category:Germany–United States relations]] [[Category:Articles containing video clips]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:Films directed by Frank Capra]] [[Category:American war films]] [[Category:1945 war films]] [[Category:American short documentary films]] [[Category:1945 short documentary films]] [[Category:1945 American films]]