| Linen from Ireland | |
| Director: | Heinz Helbig |
| Distributor: | Bavaria Film |
| Runtime: | 98 minutes |
| Country: | Germany |
Linen from Ireland is a 1939 German drama film directed by Heinz Helbig and starring Otto Treßler, Irene von Meyendorff, and Friedl Haerlin.[1] It was part of an ongoing campaign of anti-Semitism in German cinema of the era, and was also intended to discredit the governance of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the time of the film's release in October 1939, Britain and Germany were at war, so it was also useful in creating anti-British sentiment.
It was made as a co-production between the German company Bavaria Film and the Austrian Wien Film which had been created following the Anschluss of 1938. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Robert A. Dietrich and Artur Gunther.
In 1909, in Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Jewish general manager of a large textile company imports cheaper linen from Ireland, intending to drive local manufacturers out of business, which would create mass unemployment among the skilled weavers. The company's elderly owner in Vienna is unaware of the scheme, but eventually it is exposed.