UFA is the Universum Film AG, a German film production company. Founded 1917 in Potsdam-Babelsberg it produced such classic movies like Metropolis or Der Blaue Engel. In 1937 the UFA was nationalized and subordinated to the Reichspropagandaministerium of Joseph Goebbels. After World War II the UFA was separated. In the SBZ (Soviet Occupied Zone) the DEFA was founded and in the BRD in 1953 the Bavaria Filmkunst GmbH, UFA Theater AG and the Universum Film AG were founded.
In 1964 the Universum Film AG was aquired by Bertelsmann and sold again in the Seventies. 1984 Bertelsmann founded the UFA Film- und Fernseh GmbH where it merged all its film and TV companies. The UFA Film- und Fernseh GmbH then was merged in 1997 with the CLT (owner of RTL) into CLT-UFA.