Prize for documentary on Austrian’s Nazi past
A FILM about the 1986 campaign to uncover the Nazi-era past of Austrian politician Kurt Waldheim has won a major prize at the Berlinale Internatio nal Film Festival.
Austrian Jewish filmmaker Ruth Beckermann’s documentary, The Waldheim Waltz, had its world premiere this week in Berlin, where it received the €50,000 [£44,070] Glashütte Original Documentary Award.
Ms Beckermann used historical footage, including some from her own archives, to examine the question of whether he lied about his past in order to boost his political career.
Kurt Waldheim served as Austrian foreign minister before becoming secretary-general of the United Nations in 1972.
He was later elected President of Austria for a single term between 1986 and 1992.
Though no crimes of violence were pinned on him, it was widely accepted by the time he died in 2007 that he had lied about his membership of Nazi organizations as a young man.
It also emerged he had
Kurt Waldheim been a member of the Wehrmacht and had, according to a New York Times obituary, put his “signature on documents linked to massacres and deportations” of Yugoslav partisans and Greek Jews.
Ms Beckermann’s documentary digs up an old story and makes it fresh by asking whether Austria has gone far enough, 32 years later, in confronting its own role in Nazi war crimes.
The documentary includes press conferences with heads of the World Jewish Congress, who attempted to uncover the truth about Waldheim, and defensive interviews with Waldheim in both English and German. Jewish film festivals around the world have reportedly expressed interest in booking the film following this year’s Berlinale, which closed on Sunday.
Also honoured at this year’s festival was Katriel Schory, director of the Israel Film Fund since 1999. He was recognized with the “Berlinale Camera” award on February 20 for his achievements in promoting and supporting film by Israelis of all backgrounds and persuasions.