Sunday, October 1, 2023

6th German Shooting Competition in Tyrol (September 1943)


Video and caption from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZPiUjVhj0Q

During the Third Reich, shooting as a sport, and shooting competitions, were promoted by the Regime, with huge state-wide shooting competitions being held in various regions.
The goal was to get people, especially young boys and men, interested into shooting, to prepare them for their future life as soldiers.

These festivals and competitions, because they were considered important for the war effort, continued well into 1945.

This is a short film about the 6th State Shooting Competition in Tyrol, which was held from 4th to 18th July 1943. The film itself was released in September 1943.

Remarks:
00:25 Innsbruck is a large city in Austria and capital of Tyrol.
00:33 Sadly, I wasn’t able to find many details about Uli Ritzer, except that he apparently continued producing films after the war, there are three movies listed for him in the IMDB database, all from the 1950s.
00:45 AGFACOLOR is the name of a series of color films produced by the Afga company in Germany, first introduced in 1932. Especially the 1936 variant of it, Afgacolor Neu (New) is considered one of the best color movie technology of its time.
00:53 The State Shooting Competition in Tyrol was held between 4th and 18th July 1943.
00:59 Tyrol-Vorarlberg was the official name of the region. The gau was in western Austria, bordering Switzerland and Italy. It consisted of (Northern) Tyrol and Voralberg, with the capital city being Innsbruck. In 1939, it had a population of 331,000 people.
01:13 The Standschützen were originally a kind of volunteer militia in Tyrol, formed in the 15th century out of members of shooting clubs and was used in various conflicts, such as the War of the First Coalition (1796-1797), the Franco-Austrian War (1859) or the Austro-Prussian War(1866). By the time of this movie, and nowadays, they are only used as representational formation and are no longer an active wartime unit.
01:46 Franz Hofer was Gauleiter (Regional Governor) of the Gau Tyrol-Vorarlberg during the Nazi era. He joined the (Austrian) Nazi Party in September 1931, and became Gauleiter of Tyrol-Vorarlberg in November 1932. Because the Nazi party was banned in Austria, he was sentenced to two years jail time in June 1933, however he escaped to Germany, where he spent the next few years. After the German annexation of Austria, he was again made Gauleiter of Tyrol-Vorarlberg in May 1938. In November 1944, he proposed the idea of the so-called “Alpine Fortress”, e.g. the creation of large fortifications in the Austrian alps. This was however largely just a fantasy, and when the American army closed in, he declared Innsbruck an open city; he was captured by the Americans on May 6th, 1945. After the war, he was sentenced to 3 years and 5 months imprisonment. He stayed in Germany where he died in February 1975, remaining a convinced National Socialist for the rest of his life.
02:00 Franz Defregger (1835-1921) was a famous Austrian artist, known for depicting everyday and historical scenes from his Tyrol native country. Because basically his entire art is focused on themes and persons from Tyrol, he is especially well known there.
04:00 These men are from the RAD, the Reich Labor Service. On parades, RAD men would usually carry their spades as a “parade weapon”
05:12 These are wounded soldiers, who were allowed to attend the parade.
05:37 Meran is a city in South Tyrol.
05:45 Despite South Tyrol being a part of Italy since after WWI, it was and is still part of the (Austrian) culture of Tyrol, and therefore delegations from South Tyrol are featured in this parade.
09:23 The “war of liberation” refers to the failed Tyrol rebellion against the French and Bavarian occupation of Tyrol from April-November 1809. This rebellion was later often glorified.
09:44 A Marketenderin is a female sutler.
11:04 Landesoberschützenmeister is the highest rank of the Standschützen, which was granted to Hofer as he was the Gauleiter of Tyrol.
11:45 The white-red flag with the eagle that flies in the wind on the right side here is the flag of Tyrol.
11:57 I have no idea what these people are doing, and honestly I don’t want to know

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