The Uniform in the Closet: Mädchen in Uniform in Nazi Germany.

This article highlights the significance of Mädchen in Uniform's (1931) reception in Nazi Germany for feminist, queer, and German film studies. Contrary to popular belief, the Nazi Propaganda Ministry did not ban the film or expunge it from cultural memory. Instead, primary sources show that it was screened and praised, and that it served as an important model for other Third Reich films. Historically and theoretically grounded analyses explain how its pre-1933 reception, as well as its visibility strat egies, circulation, and adaptation after 1933, enabled the film to be "closeted." As a result, the Nazi film establishment could integrate it into their vision through acts of strategic blindness. By illuminating the film's closeted status in the Third Reich, this article complicates scholarly narratives about both Nazi German cinema and Mädchen in Uniform as a lesbian-feminist film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]