In August 1932, in the Bund neues Frankfurt group magazine, news appeared of the closure of the Bauhaus in Dessau by the town council, the sign of a political situation that was now coming to a head. Ella Bergmann-Michel was already under police surveillance during the filming of her documentary on street vendors. In the autumn of 1932, during the last free electoral campaign, she walked the streets of Frankfurt with her camera, documenting the streets decorated with banners, the electoral manifestos posted on columns, a march of Nazis in uniform taken overhead from the window of her studio, the endless discussions between people on the street, a large demonstration on the banks of the Main and, finally, a Nazi electoral office. There, she filmed a street fight but was arrested and forced to hand over the film. She managed to save the material filmed beforehand, but was no longer able to edit it. These clips convey a very vivid picture of the conflicts at the time, and the lack of editing gives us the perception of a daily life at risk and the radicalization of the political situation.

Madeleine Bernstorff

I succeeded in documenting the Frankfurt streets and alleys, already adorned with swastika flags and the hammer and sickle as well as with the well-known flag with three arrows. Then I had to stop filming for political reasons. (Filmstrips, photos and reports were published in the next to last issue of the journal “Die neue Stadt”, “Bund das neue Frankfurt”, volume 6, number 10.) It was January 1933.

Ella Bergmann-Michel