Erwin Leiser
Illustration — Erwin Leiser SFL Erwin Leiser (May 16, 1923 – August 22, 1996) was a Swedish director, writer, and actor. He is best known for his documentary Mein Kampf (film) (1959), based on Nazi footage from secret archives and depicting Nazi atrocities.
Erwin Leiser
- Born
- 1923 · Berlin.
- Died
- 1996 · Zurich.
- Nationality
- Germany · Sweden · Switzerland
- Occupation
- screenwriter · film producer · director · filmmaker · opinion journalist · documentarian · writer
- Fields
- Nazism · propaganda · politics · history
- Education
- Lund University
- Known for
- Nazi Cinema
- Languages
- German
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wikidata · Q96424 · wikipedia · Erwin Leiser
In this article
Early life and education
Early life and education
Erwin Leiser studied at Lund University. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is Nazism, propaganda and politics. Places of work recorded in the authority are Malmö and Stockholm. Works named in the authority record are Nazi Cinema.
Born and raised in Berlin, he fled to Sweden at the age of 15 to escape the Nazi Party. He graduated from the University of Lund and worked as a journalist and a drama and literary critic.
Career
Career
Leiser was born in Berlin on 16 May 1923 and fled Nazi Germany in 1938; he settled in Sweden, studied at Lund University and began his professional life as a journalist and a drama/literary critic in the 1950s. From 1959 Leiser began documentary filmmaking, using archive and newsreel footage to show the rise of National Socialism and the role of cinema and propaganda in the Third Reich. His film Mein Kampf (film) (1959) used German and Allied footage and received international distribution. During the 1960s and 1970s, Leiser produced documentaries of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and Nazi cinema. In 1967 he served on the jury of the 28th Venice International Film Festival. In 1974 he wrote Nazi Cinema, about film and propaganda in Nazi Germany.
Filmography
Filmography
• Mein Kampf (film) (1959) • Den blodiga tiden (1960) • Eichmann und das Dritte Reich (Eichmann – dödens agent) (1961) • Välj livet (1963) • Deutschland, erwache! (1968) • Zum Beispiel Fritz Lang (1968) • Keine Welt für Kinder (1972) • Ich lebe in der Gegenwart – Versuch über Hans Richter (1973) • Leben nach dem Überleben (1982) • Die Mitläufer (1985) • Hiroshima – Erinnern oder Vergessen? (1985) • Following the Fuhrer (1986) • Die Welt im Container (1987) • Hitlers Sonderauftrag Linz (1987) • Eldprovet – novemberpogrom 1938 (1988) • 1937 – Kunst und Macht (1992) • Alla var med i Hitlerjugend (1992) • Die UFA – Mythos und Wirklichkeit (1993) • Pimpf war jeder (1993) • Tio bröder var vi … (1995) • Otto John: eine deutsche Geschichte (1995) • Feindbilder (1995) • Hela mitt liv har varit en konst: en film om Otte Sköld (1996)
Death
Death
Erwin Leiser was buried in Zürich's Israelitischer Friedhof Oberer Friesenberg.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Berlin.
Birth place
Zurich.
Death place
Selected publications
• Leiser, Erwin. *A Pictorial History of Nazi Germany*. Penguin, 1962. *
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Erwin Leiser, revision 1370677301 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Erwin Leiser 16. Mai 1923 - 22. August 1996. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
- 2.Erwin Leiser
- 3.Erwin Leiser from All Movie Guide, via New York Times
- 4.Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Erwin Leiser.
- 5.Filmportal.de. Erwin Leiser – Biography.
- 6.TCM. Erwin Leiser.
- 7.IMDb. 28th Venice International Film Festival (1967) – Jury.
- 8.Leiser, Erwin. Nazi Cinema. Macmillan. 1974.
- 9.Leiser, Erwin. Nazi Cinema.
- 10.alemannia-judaica.de. Zürich: Jüdischer Friedhof - Oberer Friesenberg.
References
Citations
References
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People, houses and institutions
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People, houses and institutions
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Citizenship
1- SwedenPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 27 August 2026.
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