Was Pola a Nazi sympathist?
No. Although Pola was under contract to UFA during the Nazi period and was one of Hitlers favorite actresses, Pola was not pro-Nazi. In fact, UFA was trying to inject propaganda into her pictures, but she wouldnt have anything to do with it because she wanted her films to be universal in their appeal. Pola and the Ministry of Propaganda ended up going head to head over the matter, Pola using her clout as Nazi Germanys top box office draw outside of the German homeland and the Ministry of Propaganda using their power to veto the scripts she chose. This continued for a few years with a few pictures like Die Fromme Lge and Die Nacht der Entscheidung (both 1938) slipping through, until in late 1938 Pola decided to let it rest and retired to her home in France, before the Nazi invasion of France and a lack of income drove her out of France and back into the United States.
