AMD 3 - German Cartoon from 1943

Guten Tag!

I started by watching a bunch of German Cartoons, but eventually became very interested in one called Der Schneemann (the snowman). It is a cartoon written in 1943 in Nazi Germany, and was originally made to rival Disney's Animations. This particular cartoon was created by Horst von Möllendorff and Hans Fischerkoesen. Der Schneemann is quite a remarkable feat when you think of when it was written, many people have attempted to draw parallels between the story line and Nazi Germany.

The story line is short, as it's only 12 minutes long. A snowman (very Frosty the snowman esque) is awakened when snow falls on him in the shape of a heart. He has a series of adventures and eventually stumbles into a cottage. Here he finds a calendar that reads "Januar", after flipping through it he becomes infatuated with der Monat Juli and hides himself in ein Gefrierschrank (ice chest) hoping to wait out until then. He makes it to Sommer and then proceeds to go outside and frolic. As predicted he beings to melt (german verb : schmelzen), and sings the only words uttered in the whole piece. The most profound line being: "Da ist der Sommer meines Lebens.." ( This is the summer of my Life ).

You can read a synopsis : here