Hare hunting - for sheer cowardice there is no mercy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hare hunting - for sheer cowardice there is no mercy |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1994 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Andreas Gruber |
| script | Andreas Gruber |
| production | Andreas Gruber |
| music | Peter Androsch |
| camera | Hermann Dunzendorfer |
| cut |
Hubert Canaval Eva Schneider |
| occupation | |
| |
Hare hunting - out of sheer cowardice there is no mercy is a feature film. It deals with the events before, during and after the Mühlviertel hare hunt in 1945, during which over 400 defenseless Soviet prisoners of war were killed in February 1945.
The film reached around 123,000 visitors in Austrian cinemas, making it the most successful Austrian film of 1995.
action
According to a fade-in, the film begins one morning in January 1945 . The viewer is made aware of the true events on which the film is based. The first pictures show impressions of the Mauthausen concentration camp , followed by a cut into the interior of Barrack 20 - the “death block” . About 500 Russian officers are sleeping on the floor here, who refused to fight for Germany after their capture when the wake-up call comes. For a long time now, having only been on the lowest food rations, many awake with difficulty, some not at all.
Among the prisoners of war dragging themselves outside into the courtyard are the Russian officers Michail and Nikolai, whose fate is the central theme in the film. It's winter and the men, dressed way too thinly, are trying to warm each other up when a stone falls over the wall. There is a message wrapped around it: Block 20 should be cleared in a month!
The outbreak
In one of the following nights, the outbreak planned due to the hopeless situation is carried out. The prisoners overpower the kapos , make shoes and weapons from the blankets and other items, and say goodbye to those who are too weak to escape. Then they leave the barracks. With chunks of ice and fire extinguishers, the tower guards are kept from targeted shooting, while tables and armchairs are piled up in front of the walls. Only about 150 of the 500 captured officers manage to escape into the night, including Mikhail and Nikolai. Most, however, are still killed in the storage area.
The sirens from the camp wake up the neighborhood at half past three in the morning. The Karner family is one of them. The people who poured out of the houses in search of information were informed by SS-Oberscharführer Strasser via loudspeaker vans that 500 “serious criminals” had broken out of the camp and fled north. All available men from Volkssturm , Wehrmacht on vacation, fire brigade, gendarmerie and HJ have to participate in the pursuit. Under no circumstances should prisoners be taken. The criminals are to be liquidated on the spot.
In the next few minutes, the attitude of many residents in the area becomes clear. Fredl Karner, who is unfit for war due to poor eyesight, looks away when he sees three of the Russians who fled in the place where the SS-Unterführer has just given his speech. Gendarme Birker is also hostile to the hunt, because they would not have done anything to him, “these felons”. The instruction to his group is clear: “Nobody sees or hears anything from us. And we don't even catch any. ” Opposite him, however, are all those who are there with enthusiasm, who are already“ itching ”.
The "hare hunt"
The hunt begins as dusk falls. In front of Frau Landtaler, who is on the way to church, a couple of refugees run out of the forest, the pursuers close on their heels. Her son Fredl is also part of this group, which kills the fugitives in front of the woman and her little daughter. He is the last to trot out of the forest. In the following hours he will witness many such cruel driven hunts, in whose crossfire the hunters themselves get caught.
Finally, Fredl's group also catches one of the prisoners alive. Nobody can just shoot him like that. So Fredl and another man are supposed to take him to the SS guards. They observe a shooting of the arrested refugees and turn around with their prisoner. Hours later they still wander around with him and don't know what to do. Eventually they decide to let him go. Fredl gives the prisoner his jacket, the second a piece of bread, but as Fredl is about to take off his shoes, search parties of the SS appear; the Russian is shot by them.
Meanwhile, Michail and Nikolai have hidden in the church tower with their friend Andrej. From here they can watch their companions being rounded up. While looking for food, they are noticed by the general store dealer Lehmberger, who shoots them; another passerby simply ignores them. You end up in a hall that is used for film screenings and events. Hay is stored in a room above the hall. They hide here until a farmer's wife takes a large part of the hay with a pitchfork and injures the hidden Michail in the process. You leave the church tower. On the run they are separated from Andrej, who is shot.
Finally they end up on the Karner family's farm. While Nikolai lies down to sleep in the hay, Mikhail ends up looking for food in the living room of the courtyard. Mrs. Karner grants him board and lodging despite her husband's objections and fears from Fredl. Mitzi, the daughter of the house, brings clothes and shoes, whereupon Michail's first act is to burn the camp clothing. Then they bring clothes and food to Nikolai in the hay.
To protect his family, Fredl continues on the hunt, which has meanwhile become known as the "rabbit hunt " . Gendarme Birker has now put some of the fugitives in his prison cell. But the convinced National Socialist Lehmberger discovers this and drives the Russians into the courtyard with a revolver, where he shoots them in front of the helpless gendarme.
On the way to the service, which Ms. Karner visits with her youngest daughter Nanni, as always, they encounter SS guards who are heading towards their court. She sends her daughter back so that she can warn Mitzi and that the two girls better hide the Russian refugees. The house search is unsuccessful, but that is not the case everywhere.
During the search, Fredl notices a refugee. He sends his companion Berghammer on and offers the Russian something warm to drink. However, he is surprised. His companion cannot be softened. They deliver the prisoners to the SS. But when Fredl is asked by the SS-Unterführer to shoot the prisoner, he refuses. Berghammer does it for him. Gendarme Birker then has to arrest him and is supposed to take him to the Gestapo in Linz . However, he lets him go. Fredl then hides together with Michail and Nikolai in the attic of the farm.
The weeks after that
Little by little, all the refugees are found. Almost all of them were shot, but the more time goes by, the more often the Russian escapees froze to death or starved to death in the cold winter due to their already weakened condition. After all, nobody is found anymore.
Spring arrives, the "hare hunt" is almost forgotten. Michail and Nikolai are now even helping out on the farm. Then comes the news of the end of the war. Nobody is interested in the fact that Berghammer discovered that the concentration camps were hiding at the Karners' court. Much more important is the destruction of files and uniforms. Lehmberger is found hanged in his room.
In the credits it is stated that only 9 of the 500 Russian soldiers are known to have survived. Mikhail and Nikolai went back home and still live in the former Soviet Union today.
After the credits there is a final scene showing a courtroom. There the judge pronounces the verdict on the former NS-Ortsgruppenleiter of the village, whose male population had to take part in the "hare hunt". He is charged with encouraging the citizens of his village to hunt down the escapees. However, the mayor is acquitted on the basis of many testimony to the contrary, although the court is not convinced of his innocence, according to the verdict.
“The Lord allows us freedom and we provide evidence of what man is capable of, in good and bad. If it does not make it a man that he is able to suffer with his neighbor, it is only cowardice that allows no mercy. I don't recognize many from our parish. "
criticism
“A feature film designed according to authentic facts, which finds eye-catching images for horror without indulging in orgies of violence. A respectable attempt to come to terms with the past, which stimulates reflection and discussion. "
Awards
- Special prize of the jury at the San Sebastian Film Festival 1994
- Audience award at Diagonale 1994
- Culture award of the state of Upper Austria for film art 1994 for Andreas Gruber
- Austrian Film Prize 1995
documentation
In autumn 2006 "Hasenjagd" was released on DVD. Next to the film there is a time table and the 60-minute documentary "Aktion K" by Bernhard Bamberger on it. In it contemporary witnesses have their say, but also images from back then are used to illuminate the escape, but also how people in the Mühlviertel think about their past today.
Web links
- Hasenjagd in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hare hunting - for sheer cowardice there is no mercy at filmportal.de
- Hare hunting on Flimmit
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hare hunting - For sheer cowardice there is no mercy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .