History Film / TheCityWithoutJews

* PragmaticVillainy: The Chancellor backtracks on the expulson of the Jews when it becomes clear that it made things worse.

''The City Without Jews'' wasn't really warning about the rise of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany in particular (Nazis were politically irrelevant in 1924), but was rather about antisemitism in general, which always seems to be politically relevant. The film was a commercial success at the time, although it's often been criticized for soft-pedaling the novel's anti-racism message. Hugo Bettauer, author of the original book, [[DisownedAdaptation disowned the film]]. Still, the movie was anti-racist enough to piss off the nascent Nazi movement, who frequently protested it, often violently. Bettauer himself was murdered by a young Austrian Nazi party member in 1925.

* BrokenAesop: Despite its ostensibly pro-Jewish message, the film contains some anti-Semitic stereotypes, notably when Leo uses trickery to secure the vote that will let the Jews back into the city. While the movie is obviously siding with him, his actions there don't exactly undermine the stereotype about Jews being sneaky and underhanded.

''The City Without Jews'' (German title: ''Die Stadt ohne Juden'') is an Austrian silent film from 1924. It was based on a novel by the same name, released two years earlier.

''The City Without Jews'' wasn't really warning about the rise of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany in particular (Nazis were politically irrelevant in 1924), but was rather about anti-Semitism in general, which always seems to be politically relevant. The film was a commercial success at the time, although it's often been criticized for soft-pedaling the novel's anti-racism message. Hugo Bettauer, author of the original book, [[DisownedAdaptation disowned the film]]. Still, the movie was anti-racist enough to piss off the nascent Nazi movement, who frequently protested it, often violently. Bettauer himself was murdered by a young Austrian Nazi party member in 1925.

''The City Without Jews'' isn't really about the rise of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (Nazis were politically irrelevant in 1924), but rather about anti-Semitism in general, which always seems to be politically relevant. The film was a commercial success at the time, although it's often been criticized for soft-pedaling the novel's anti-racism message. Hugo Bettauer, author of the original book, [[DisownedAdaptation disowned the film]]. Still, the movie was anti-racist enough to piss off the nascent Nazi movement, who frequently protested it, often violently. Bettauer himself was murdered by a young Austrian Nazi party member in 1925.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cwj.jpg]]
Undoubtedly, one of the all-time cases of HarsherInHindsight.

''The City Without Jews'' isn't really about the rise of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (Nazis were politically irrelevant in 1924) despite the eerie foreshadowing that can be perceived in it, but rather about anti-Semitism in general, which always seems to be politically relevant. The film was a commercial success at the time, although it's often been criticized for soft-pedaling the novel's anti-racism message. Hugo Bettauer, author of the original book, [[DisownedAdaptation disowned the film]]. Still, the movie was anti-racist enough to piss off the nascent Nazi movement, who frequently protested it, often violently. Bettauer himself was murdered by a young Austrian Nazi party member in 1925.

The movie takes place in a FictionalCountry called the Republic of Utopia, which bears a suspicious resemblance to {{UsefulNotes/Austria}} in the early 1920s. Contray to its name, Utopia is not a utopia. In fact, it's in the midst of an economic crisis, with hyperinflation spiraling out of control.[[note]]Although it's the UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic that's infamous for hyperinflation, it also occured in Austria during the same period.[[/note]] Anti-Semitic rabble-rousers insist that those dastardly Jews are obviously to blame for this, and the government decides to expel the Jews. That's bad news for Lotte Linder and her Jewish boyfriend Leo Strakosch, who will now have to be separated. The Jews are sent away to live in "Zion," apparently present-day {{UsefulNotes/Israel}}, but Leo sneaks back into Utopia, disguised as a French Catholic, so that he and Lotte can continue to be together. Meanwhile, without the Jews, Utopia's economy craters. Eventually, the government realizes its mistake, votes to let the Jews come back, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Unfortunately, not so in RealLife, in which [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust some six million Jews were too dead to come back afterwards]], not to mention [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII all the other destruction caused by the Third Reich]]. Actually, ''The City Without Jews'' isn't really about ThoseWackyNazis, who were politically irrelevant in 1924, but rather about anti-Semitism in general, which always seems to be politically relevant.

The film was a commercial success at the time, although it's often been criticized for soft-pedaling the novel's anti-racism message. Hugo Bettauer, author of the original book, [[DisownedAdaptation disowned the film]]. Still, the movie was anti-racist enough to piss off the nascent Nazi movement, who frequently protested it, often violently. Bettauer himself was assassinated by a Nazi thug in 1925.

* TrainStationGoodbye: In a retroactively disturbing scene, the Jews are sent off in trains after being expelled from Utopia. Many part at the train station, including Lotte and Leo.

Once considered a [[MissingEpisode lost film]], a surviving copy of the movie was found in 1991 and a better copy was found in 2015.

Once considered a [[MissingEpisode lost film]], a surviving a copy of the movie was found in 1991 and a better copy was found in 2015.