Beyond the Surface of “Atrocity Image” : Fabrication and Circulation of the Nazi Film Red Mist (1942–1954) Article - Mai 2019

This article examines Red Mist (1942), an antisemitic and anti-Bolshevik Nazi propaganda film. The film featured photos and footage taken by the Soviets during the annexation of Latvia in 1940, but also by civilians in the Baltic countries and by Germans during the Nazi occupation. Different versions of Red Mist re-purposed and weaponized these visuals. The film was intended as an indictment of Bolshevik atrocities committed in the Baltic countries, appealing to the antisemitism in the population. This article analyses the fabrication of the film and its versions. It also sheds light on its post-war re-uses. After the Second World War, the film was re-edited in the USA and, in the same time, examined by the Soviet political police. This exploration of the film’s international path is based on hitherto unseen visual and textual archive materials.