"On the Firing Line with the Germans" Film Annotations (2017)

Very little film was shot in Königsberg, the capitol of East Prussia, probably because there was very little
to comment upon or to photograph. The Russians never invaded the city, so it was clean, prosperous
and probably uninspiring. The journalists visited the public parks with Oberbürgermeister Dr. Siegfried
Körte. According to Lehr de Waal, the city had modern spacious schools, labor shops and houses and
soldiers marching everywhere. But they met one interesting individual who was perhaps far more
significant than the usual generals and politicians. Lehr de Waal reported:
"In one of the military buildings that we entered, we met Professor Hoeftmann who
has done an excellent job in designing and constructing artificial limbs. Who can say
who has benefited more? Is it the man who - despite the loss of both of his arms -
now can use a hammer and a saw? Or is it the captain who had lost his left leg and
after six weeks was ready again to ride a horse and re-enter military service? 8
Figure 9. According to Dr. Josef Schumacher, a number of photographs taken by the correspondents on the trip to East
Prussia were reproduced in Der Grosse Krieg in Bildern. There were indeed a number of pictures, but unfortunately, there
were no photo credits accompanying them, so most cannot be attributed to Durborough, Ries, or anyone else. However, this
shot to the right of the handicapped locksmith, a patient of Dr. Heinrich Hoeftmann, is a near duplication of a shot in
Durborough’s film. Der grosse Krieg in Bildern, no. 7, p.33
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