Heinrich Mann's satirical novel
der Untertan, with its attack on
Wilhelmine conservatism, was held in high esteem by the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany; it was entered into the schools' curriculum, and the cultural establishment viewed it as vital for re-educating the populace. Director
Wolfgang Staudte first suggested adapting the novel to the screen in 1946; while visiting
London for the premiere of
The Murderers Are Among Us, he was approached by a local critic, Hans H. Wollenberg, who told him he should direct a picture based on the book. After returning to
East Berlin, Staudte discussed the idea with officials from the
DEFA studio, who approved of it. Yet since such a work would have had to receive the permission of the author, who resided in
California, no steps were taken to realize it. During 1949, as Mann was elected President of the
Academy of the Arts and planned his emigration to the
German Democratic Republic, DEFA concluded to resume the project. On 23 September 1949, a letter from the studio requesting his approval to make the film was sent to Mann, whose positive reply reached East Germany on 24 October. Staudte was not the first chosen to direct
der Untertan:
Falk Harnack and even
Erich von Stroheim were considered by the studio. He received the nomination after rejecting making
The Axe of Wandsbek, which was turned on to Harnack. It was his first full-length adaptation of a literary work. The director declared that in making the film, he sought to "depict the compliance of certain people, which since 1900 had propelled this country through two World Wars until Germany's downfall in 1945. This is a further indictment on my part of such persons, which I expressed already in
The Murderers Are Among Us." Principal photography commenced in the
Babelsberg Studios on 1 March 1951. While working on the film, Staudte was almost completely exempt from interference by state censors: the establishment regarded the picture as highly important, and did not subject it to the demands of the
Anti-formalism campaign which began in the GDR at the time. However, on one occasion party functionaries demanded to remove a scene in which a man and a woman embraced each other, claiming it would "have a negative influence on workers' morality." ==Reception==