For the Rights of Mankind (1934)

For the Rights of Mankind (1934)

This is a 1934 German historical film directed by NSDAP member Hans Zöberlein and starring Hans Schlenck, Kurt Holm, Ernst Martens, Beppo Brem. Zöberlein was a decorated World War I veteran, a Freikorps member, an early NSDAP member, an SA stormtrooper who had participated in the 1923 Munich Beer Hall Putsch, and a best-selling author. His first film, Stosstrupp 1917 is one of the great World War I pictures, and Um das Menschenrecht, a direct sequel to it. Following its December 28, 1934 premiere, the film was shortened for general release. This version contains the deleted footage, restoring Um das Menschenrecht to its original length.

Armistice: November 11, 1918. World War I ends, but there is no peace in Germany. Proletarian revolution has erupted in Munich, and unemployed frontline soldiers volunteer as paramilitary Freikorps (Free Corps) groups to save the Fatherland from the Soviet-backed Red menace. The spirit of the German Frontkamaraden explodes across the screen, reigniting the turbulent era of Munich's Soviet Republic and its reactionary, fiercely patriotic Freikorps foes. The superb Munich battle scenes are well staged-street by street, building by building-for Zöberlein had cast many actual Munich war veterans for these sequences. The Freikorps prevail, remaining true to their comrades who fell defending Germany in WWI.