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Im Sommer 1993 fanden Kinder im Stößensee bei Berlin 35mm-Filmrollen - teilweise fragmentarisches medizinisches Filmmaterial der Reichsstelle für den Unterrichtsfilm mit Aufnahmen von kranken und behinderten Menschen. Die anfängliche Ratlosigkeit der Fachleute löste sich zunächst in der Überzeugung auf, dass es sich hier um 'apolitisches wissenschaftliches Unterrichtsmaterial' handle. In dieser Studie wird dagegen der Versuch unternommen, das Material in einen breiteren ideologischen und politischen Kontext einzubetten, die Rolle der verantwortlichen Institutionen und die Ethik des deutschen Unterrichtsfilms im Lichte nationalsozialistischer Rassenideologie und "Eugenik" zu erhellen und nicht zuletzt die Biographien der Menschen vor und hinter der Kamera zu verstehen.

In the summer of 1993 children living in the suburb of Berlin-Spandau repeatedly found 35mm film clippings nearby in Lake Stößensee. The film reels showed fragmentary medical images of handicapped children and adults which, as it turned out, had been produced by the Reich Office for Educational Films during the Third Reich. Most experts, after an initial confusion about the discovery, came to the conclusion that the material was "apolitical scientific teaching material". This study, however, locates the material, for the first time, in its broader ideological and political context, explores the organisation and responsible institutions, and investigates the culture of German medical ethics as depicted in medical films in the light of Nazi racial policies and eugenics. Behind the apparent scientific neutrality of the film material, its alleged objectivity and technical accuracy, the study attempts to find out about the lives of those behind and in front of the camera's eye. Their biographies are key in understanding some of the history of this neglected film genre. The material presented shows that the idea of 'educational film' as a value-neutral means for school and university instruction is misleading, and that further research into the structures and mechanisms of Nazi racial education is necessary.