March-2010 MAC/CIN Page-148 9780230_238572_11_cha10 10 Cinema Goes to War: The German Film Policy in Greece During the Occupation, 1941–44 Eirini Sifaki When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Greece remained neutral. General Metaxas had created a Greek version of the Third Reich (a fascist dictatorship) in 1936 but was opposed to German or Italian domination and refused to allow Italian troops to enter Greece in 1940. In October 1940, after a farcical ultimatum, Italy invaded Greece from Albanian territory. Greek resistance proved stronger than expected and when the Italian troops were driven back into Albania, Nazi Germany came to Mussolini’s rescue in April 1941. The ensuing occupation of Greece, in which Bulgarian troops also took part, plunged the country into abject misery, the conditions of which included an acute food shortage. 1 Until the Italian armistice of September 1943, Italian troops remained the principal occupying power in Greece, although the Germans controlled the key economic areas. The German Wehrmacht took over the occupation of Greece after the Italian withdrawal. One year later, in October 1944, Germany ‘strategically retreated’ from Greece. 2 It is against this complicated political, military and economic background that one must understand why Nazi Germany heavily influenced Greek cinema, but, unlike other occupied countries it never fully colonised the indigenous film industry which partly explains why Italian films remained relatively popular. This chapter seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of Third Reich cinema by looking at the German film policy in occupied Greece. The main archival source of this research is the Greek film magazine Kinimatographikos Astir, which became a forum for dialogue between professionals of the film industry. Even though the Greek press was subjected to strict censorship, this publication enables us to analyse the commercial relations that the representatives of the Propaganda Ministry held with domestic film companies. The Second World War represents a considerable break through regarding film consumption, as films were imposed by the German authorities. In 148