Hafner's paradise
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hafner's paradise |
| Country of production | Austria / Spain |
| original language | German Spanish |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 74 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Günter Schwaiger |
| production | Günter Schwaiger |
Hafner's Paradise is an Austro-Spanish documentary by Günter Schwaiger from 2007. It depicts the former Waffen SS officer and Holocaust denier Paul Maria Hafner , who found shelter in Spain after the Second World War and adhered to the ideology of National Socialism until his death , confronted with his Nazi past.
content
The documentary is largely a portrait of the former SS officer Paul Hafner, who was 83 at the time of filming. This still represents the National Socialist ideas. The South Tyrolean Hafner was used in various concentration camps during the war . After studying and working, he emigrated to Spain in 1954, where he died in 2010. In the film, he is confronted with images of murdered prisoners, among other things. He is also shown a conversation with Hans Landauer , a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp . This illustrates how Hafner's view of the world gradually loses its substance through the encounter with victims.
background
After months of research, the Austrian producer and director of the film, Günter Schwaiger, met the National Socialist Paul Maria Hafner, who had moved to Spain in 1954, and who was able to live there under Franco without being persecuted.
His previous film Santa Cruz por ejemplo… - The Murder of Santa Cruz was Schwaiger's first discussion of contemporary Spanish history. The shooting of Hafner's Paradise lasted over a year. During this time Hafner's health deteriorated. After watching the aforementioned film about the Holocaust, filming had to be suspended for three weeks because he suffered a nervous disease that made it impossible for him to speak for long periods of time.
The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in early August 2007. It was released in theaters on January 10, 2008 with the Austrian premiere in Salzburg.
Awards
- Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid 2007: Best Documentary