In the 1930s, Charlie Chaplin was one of the very few film-makers who questioned Adolf Hitler and his party’s legitimacy and the threat they posed to the world.
Working on a satire of Nazism and the persecution of Jews on the eve of World War II was very brave indeed: Chaplin faced financial and political pressure and financed the film alone, against all odds – simply because he felt compelled to defend the oppressed.
When the premiere was held in New York on 15 October 1940, the United States had not yet entered the war. In most European countries, the film was not released until after the Second World War or even after 1989.
The show features unpublished on-set photos and sheds light on the context in which the movie was made, produced and distributed.
The trilingual exhibition (in English, French, and German) features behind-the-scenes footage, scenes of Chaplin directing his actors, deleted scenes, and stories behind the special effects used in the film.
These insights into his filmmaking process also show how his studios operated and reflect the team’s historical research.