First Seize His Books

Duration: 33

Creator: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: sound

Description: Abridged from The Mortal Storm. Portrays the denial of academic freedom in a totalitarian state. Illustrates the fate of a professor of a small German university when he refuses to accept Hitler's race theories. Shows the change in his students' attitude toward him, his removal to a concentration camp, and the burning of university books. Ends with a scene of his dining room, empty but for voices that speak of peace and freedom of inquiry., Teaching Film Custodians classroom film of excerpts from the 1940 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film, “The Mortal Storm”. Dramatizes the suppression of academic freedom and its effect upon students as the writings of a Jewish professor are burned in Nazi Germany and he is sentenced to a concentration camp.

Complete Record: Abridged from The Mortal Storm. Portrays the denial of academic freedom in a totalitarian state. Illustrates the fate of a professor of a small German university when he refuses to accept Hitler's race theories. Shows the change in his students' attitude toward him, his removal to a concentration camp, and the burning of university books. Ends with a scene of his dining room, empty but for voices that speak of peace and freedom of inquiry., NOTE: Two (or more) records have been merged together to create this data.