History
- 1912 to 1932.
- 1933 to 1945.
- 1946 to 1990.
- 1990 to 2004.
- 2004 to present.
"We are downright willingly in Babelsberg and Berlin; we would be very pleased to be here very soon again. Babelsberg is an incredible place to make films and I can’t say it enough, how we enjoy it to be here. We are intensely looking for new opportunities to produce further films here"
Joel Silver, Producer "V for Vendetta", "Speed Racer", "Ninja Assassin"
History
1933 to 1945
From 1933-1945, more than 1,000 feature films are shot at the studio and on the lot.
The economic recession at the end of the 1920s drove UFA close to bankruptcy. After the Nazis took power in 1933, the "Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda" commissioned a number of Nazi-propaganda pictures. The production of entertainment still remained the Studio's main function, in order to distract the German audience from the terrors of war. During this era, the studio produced pictures such as Münchhausen (Baron Munchhausen) and Feuerzangenbowle. The stars of the time are Zarah Leander, Heinz Rühmann and Hans Albers.
Due to Joseph Goebbel's decree that entertainment is part of the war effort, the German film industry kept production going until the last days of the war in 1945. In August of 1945 the studio lot became subject to allied law and was occupied by the soviet military administration until 1947.