Latest digitizations:
- Und was meinen Sie? Wie man Meinung macht (CaLig, 1950s, Advertising and Opinion-forming): Filmstrip + Lecture
- Pilgerreise nach durch Spanien und Portugal nach Fatima (L.S.E, 1950s. A Pilgrimage through Spain and Portugal to Fatima): Filmstrip + Lecture
- Achtung, Rot greift an! (CaLig, 1950s, Anti-Communist Filmstrip by Catholic Producer): Filmstrip + Lecture
This website is dedicated to filmstrips (still film images, film strips, film fixes) from around 1918 to 1980. The majority of our filmstrips come from Germany and were in the possession of church communities or private persons.The archive also contains stocks from Belgium, Ukraine, France, Great-Britain and the USA.In Germany, filmstrips were banned from schools in the 1940s because of pedagogical reasons. In the rest of the World, filmstrips remained the number one visual teaching aid until the 1980s.
The filmstrip archive has been founded in the intention to open this treasure of images and texts of the past to the public. We receive no funding whatsoever, and the archive is free to use.Some of the images used for the filmstrips (photos, drawings, graphics) are older than the surviving filmstrips and provide a fascinating insight into urban life, architecture, costumes and customs in Europe, Asia, America and Africa from a time even before World War I.Filmstrips were also widely used in propaganda and thus convey a vivid picture of nationalist culture and educational policy in the times of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism up to the Cold War.Accompanying booklets are essential to grasp the intention of the filmstrip, especially in cases of propaganda. Sadly, the booklets have not always survived, and interpretation is difficult. If possible, the booklets have been digitized as a searchable pdf.
View digitized filmstrips about many topics under "Examples"!
Our holdings (as of 2/6/2026):
(West-) Germany (1920s to 1950s)
