Children’s and Youth Films from 1900 to 1945

Children and youths have always been part of the cinematographic audience. They consumed all living images that crossed their vision. From 1905 onwards, cinemas commenced to settle and more and more film theatres established themselves as institutions. This resulted in a growing interest of educators, politicians and parents in the film consumption of the underage population. The demand for regulated film input and intake accelerated, fostering the rise of an instrument of control: censorship. Just like the medium in question, the understanding of censorship changed over the course of time. With regards to this, this article investigates the transformation of censorship and regulations from the German Empire to the Weimar Republic to the National Socialist regime. Ideas and regulations of what children and young people were allowed to view changed. But which films did young people actually consume in and despite the given regulations of the cinema? Which topics and genres interested them in particular? And how did the specific children’s and youth film establish itself gradually?