Nazi

"Nazis. I hate these guys."

―Indiana Jones^[src]

The Nazis were members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (commonly shortened to Nazi) of Germany, which rose to political power of the country in the early 1930s. Led by Adolf Hitler, they believed in Aryan racial superiority, and rejected democracy, which prompted a desire to manifest itself through the control of other countries, and the purging of "inferior" races, which they believed had weakened Germany and whom they blamed the disastrous outcome of World War I. As the Nazi party grew in power, they set up a paramilitary group, the Schutzstaffel (SS) which was directly loyal to Hitler, unlike the regular German military. The SS was seen as part of the Master Race, even purer than regular Germans.

File:Hitler.jpg

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

History

The Nazis ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 as a fascist state, calling it the Third Reich. Under the leadership of Hitler, Germany rebuilt itself into a strong industrial and military power, and began to flex its muscle in the international community, trying to build a greater Germany by annexing neighboring lands with German populations. Nazi Germany started World War II by invading Poland, which caused the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. During World War II, the SS carried out much of the "Final Solution", which resulted in the deaths of 12 million Jews, Serbs, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally or physically impaired, intellectuals, communists, dissidents and others seen as undesirable by the Third Reich.

Indiana Jones recognized the growing threat of the Nazis, both to archaeology and to the United States of America. He frequently found himself in conflict with Nazi agents and archaeologists, who saw him as a threat to their goals; they wanted to use historical and mystical artifacts to support their theories of racial superiority or to gain mystical powers to use on behalf of their goals of conquest. Nazi ideology, ambitions, and finances also lured many foreigners to work on their behalf, such as Rene Belloq, a Frenchman, and Walter Donovan, an American (though it is noteworthy that both held a very low opinion of their employers, seeing them as "necessary evils" rather than genuine partners). After defeating Hitler's plans in several archaeological races, Jones would again face them in World War II, this time as a member of the American Office of Strategic Services which sent him on several missions to Europe with his friend George McHale.

Nazis in the world of Indiana Jones

Sieg Heil — Nazis gathering in Berlin in 1938.

Individuals

See Nazi and Nazi military personnel

Groups

Ahnenerbe - Ancestral Heritage Branch
Gestapo - State Secret Police
Luftwaffe - Air Force of Nazi Germany
Schutzstaffel
Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection
Wehrmacht

Behind the scenes

The Nazis appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark and in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They later went to appear in many other Indiana Jones installments, like comiccs, novels and video games.

In the films, apart from the important Nazi characters like Colonels Herman Dietrich and Ernst Vogel, many Nazi soldiers (including the agents of the Gestapo) were portrayed by uncredited stunt performers.

The Nazis, along many other groups and tribes, like the Thuggee and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in addition to existing in the Indiana Jones universe, also existed in the real life, along with its leader Adolf Hitler. The Nazis were active since 1933 until 1945. Since the Nazi Germany's defeat at the World War II and the end of The Holocaust, the Nazi ideas were prohibited in Germany and in other European countries. However, until today, is still present the Neo-Nazism, an ideology that seeks to revive Nazi ideas.

According to George Lucas, his decision to convert Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom into a prequel film of Raiders of the Lost Ark was because he didn't wanted the Nazis to be the villains anymore, replacing them with the Thuggee cult.^[1] However, he later changed his mind, because he accepted to use the Nazis again during the early development of the third film, period in which Chris Columbus wrote the Indiana Jones and the Monkey King script, which featured two Nazi leaders named Lieutenant Mephisto and Sergeant Gutterbuhg (who has a mechanical arm).^[2] However, Columbus' story was rejected by Lucas for being "too unrealistic" and the third film became Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

During the early development of the fourth film, Frank Darabont's first draft of his script Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods featured some Nazis in South America seeking revenge against Indiana Jones due the deaths of René Emile Belloq, Arnold Ernst Toht, etc. However, Spielberg rejected the script because he didn't wanted to satirize the Nazis anymore after directed Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.^[3] Darabont's third draft featured a Neo-Nazi German doctor named Von Grauen, who ends up losing his life at the end of the script after asking an alien to resurrect the Nazi glory, causing a fake Adolf Hitler to take away his life as a prize.

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

↑ [1]
↑ [2]
↑ The Complete Making of Indiana Jones

[1] [1]

[2] [2]

[3] The Complete Making of Indiana Jones

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