Today I can report exclusively for the reader of The Bug about a lawsuit just launched in a German court against ABC TV under international copyright law.

The case, brought by a Berlin-based multi-media company Deutsche Filmproduktionsfirma (the German Filmmaking Company) which in the 1940s made the weekly Die Deutsche Wochenschau (The German Weekly Review) newsreels that screened in German cinemas.

Company archivists recently unearthed a short series of other specialised newsreels that were developed by the company in 1943 and screened that year and in 1944.

The six-part series, Küchenschrank (Kitchen Kabinet) starred popular German broadcaster and political commentator, Annabelle Krabbe, who in each episode visited a celebrity who cooked a main meal for them both to enjoy while chatting during its preparation and consumption.

As part of the format, Krabbe took along a dessert to share.

The first episode featured the German leader, Adolf Hitler, (main picture) who as a vegetarian presented Krabbe with a hearty soup as a main meal.

In surviving fragments of the episode, Hitler claims to have made the kartoffelsuppe (German potato soup) himself – minus the usual ingredient of bacon – although surviving production notes in the company archives hint that it had come straight from a can procured by one of his staff members.

Krabbe baked apfelpfannkuchen (apple pancakes) for dessert although Hitler did not appear to eat any of them, but could be seen slyly feeding his share to one of his large hounds under the dining table.

The conversation between the Fuhrer and Krabbe appears somewhat stilted, with lengthy silences from Hitler broken only when he stands and gives a loud and lengthy answer to a question while gesticulating wildly.

The episode become very tense when Krabbe begins quizzing Hitler about his ovens, which he denies any knowledge of even though they are prominent in his kitchen.

In its claim lodged in Germany’s Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice), Deutsche Filmproduktionsfirma alleges that although the 1943 series may itself be out of Copyright according to accepted international law, “the Kitchen Kabinet koncept itself remains the property of this company”.

An ABC statement said the national broadcaster would defend the German lawsuit.

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