Disclaimer:
This historic German film was produced during WWII as propaganda in support of the National Socialist regime. It is presented in its original form as an historical document so that students, educators, researchers and the general public can see how the Nazi regime justified its criminal activities. The political symbols of the regime, including the flag, swastika and eagle, may appear on screen. Periscope Film absolutely condemns the Nazi regime and affirms that it committed grave atrocities, war crimes, and crimes against humanity before and during WWII. These include the tragic, mass extermination of millions of innocent civilians. We preserve these films in part so that these terrible events and victims are not forgotten.
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” — Winston Churchill
This short, silent German film dates from the late 1930s. The title of the film essentially translates to “Basic Training” or “Melee School”. The film shows German soldier trainees / recruits dressed in white training shorts, running through the forest, performing calisthenics and exercises with medicine balls, exercising on parallel bars and gymnastics horses, participating in short sprint races (2:43), etc. At (2:50), a trainee throws a potato masher type hand grenade. At (3:05) is a mass boxing event with gloves, followed by gloveless sparring at (3:28). At (3:36) two men fight in a boxing ring. At (3:40), recruits in full uniform are shown practicing disarming techniques in hand-to-hand fighting. At (4:03), quick load and firing exercises with rifles are demonstrated.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
