Montage in German Silent Cinema - Text 10
Because of the relatively late adoption of this term in Germany, the profession of the Cutter was only rarely mentioned in silent film credits or advertisements. It appears that it was generally the assistant director who helped the director do the editing, and that only with the new division of labour in sound cinema were the professions assistant director and Cutter separated. In addition, the advent of sound cinema immediately made the work of editing more complex, particularly by necessitating the training of a new professional field of specialists in sound editing (Tonschnitt), who would generally be men.
After the Nazis seized power, the Reichsfilmkammer mandated the German expression Schnittmeister to indicate the profession of Cutter. This latter term did not disappear, however. In film credits, their work would always be indicated as Schnitt.