Vollenweider - The story of a murderer

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Movie
Original title Vollenweider - The story of a murderer
Country of production Switzerland
original language German / Swiss German
Publishing year 2004
length 75 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Theo Stich
script Theo Stich
production Lumen film
music Christoph Stiefel
camera Pio Corradi
cut Mirjam Krakenberger
occupation

Vollenweider - The Story of a Murderer is a Swiss documentary by Theo Stich about the murderer Hans Vollenweider .

action

The documentary tells the story of Hans Vollenweider, who was born in 1908 and was guillotined on October 18, 1940 . Even in his youth he was a loner. When the economic crisis hit, he lost his well-paid job as a businessman and came into conflict with the law for the first time in 1934. Attempts are made to purge him with psychiatric accompaniment, but a year later he perpetrates a bank robbery that fails and for which he has to go to prison for two and a half years. Due to his mental health problems, he is classified as unfit for rehabilitation and kept for a further three years.

Because he was well managed, he was taken to the Ringwil work colony , where he managed to escape on June 4, 1939. He then tries to create a new identity and looks for a chauffeur via an advertisement. He selects the one who looks most like him from among the applicants. This is Hermann Zwyssig. On the pretext of wanting to be driven to Lucerne, he shoots Zwyssig on the night of June 15 and assumes his identity. A short time later he ambushes the Zurich postman Emil Stoll and because he does not want to give him the wallet, he shoots him.

In order to be able to pursue a regular life, he applied as a porter in a hotel in Sachseln in Obwalden and was given the position. But since he had given his blood-smeared shirt to be cleaned in a Zurich laundry, they took notice and informed the police in Zurich. This passed the order on to the village policeman of Sachseln, Alois von Moos, who tried to arrest Vollenweider on the evening of June 23rd. He resists the access and the police officer is fatally injured in a scuffle. Vollenweider can be overwhelmed by the host of the hotel and other guests.

background

Hans Vollenweider was the last person in Switzerland to be sentenced to death under civil law. The execution took place on October 18, 1940 in Sarnen by the Lucerne guillotine . Vollenweider fell victim to an unfortunate constellation of jurisdiction and political order.

The documentary, which was shot in 35 mm format , also tries to clarify with the help of contemporary witnesses and psychologists how a man who was considered amiable and helpful could become an unscrupulous murderer .

In addition, the circumstances of the execution are examined, since at the time of execution the death penalty had actually already been abolished and Hans Vollenweider was the last civilian to be executed in Switzerland.

Performances

The film was shown for the first time on April 23, 2004 at the Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon and was then shown in the cinemas of Sarnen , Lucerne , Zurich and Zug . It was broadcast on television on January 18, 2011 on 3sat .

Short version

For the television series crime cases that moved to Switzerland from SF / 3sat 2007, a 35-minute short version of the movie was created.

criticism

In Outnow.ch it ruled on the film: " Vollenweider - The Story of a Murderer is a very exciting documentary that loses none of its drama, despite the known end. The film doesn't judge and it doesn't judge either. It is not denied that Vollenweider was a criminal. How the legal system worked is also not questioned. The film only leaves open whether Vollenweider's execution was justifiable years after the referendum on the abolition of the death penalty and shortly before its introduction in civil criminal law. The judgment was always popular. A very interesting, somewhat different documentary, very well timed with a length of 75 minutes. "

Charles Martig, Film Commissioner for the Catholic Media Service wrote: “Stylistically, 'Vollenweider' is reminiscent of the ' shooting of the traitor Ernst S.' , a milestone in documentary filmmaking in Switzerland. Theo Stich meticulously and meticulously questions places, objects, documents and contemporary witnesses. History is brought to life. The result is a portrait of a murderer with a complex and contradicting personality. "

The short review can be found at Cinema.de : “Filmmaker Theo Stich soberly reconstructs Vollenweider's life and deeds. A food for thought on the question of how we deal with criminals. Conclusion: accurately researched, but unfortunately not exciting. "

Awards

The film won the new Regards sur le crime award from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Bar Association for the first time when it premiered in Nyon.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Program description of ARD on programm.ard.de, accessed on November 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ 2007 - Hans Vollenweider - The Last Civilian Execution , information on the 35-minute short version of the film on the Lumenfilm GmbH website, accessed on March 3, 2017
  3. ^ Film review on outnow.ch, accessed on February 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ movie review by Charles Martig on medientipp.ch, accessed on February 27, 2014.
  5. ↑ Brief review on www.cinema.de, accessed on 29 December of 2019.