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HafneR's PARADISE
Attention :
Le texte suivant
provient du dossier de presse du producteur
Günter Schwaiger, qui n'est absolument pas un sympathisant
du National-Socialisme. Les propos tenus dans le texte suivant
n'engage que leur auteur.
HAFNER’S PARADISE
A film by Günter Schwaiger
http://www.hafnersparadise.com/
74 min, color-b/w, stereo, DigiBeta, 4/3, OV German/Spanish
AUSTRIA, SPAIN, 2007,
Documentary
Synopsis HAFNER, a former
pig-breeder, ruined inventor, playboy and above all an ex-officer
in the SS, lives in Spain surrounded by Nazi friends and
dreaming of the advent of the Fourth Reich. Proud and
unapologetic, he introduces us into his obscure, grotesque
world, made to his measure and which he haughtily rules. Finally
however reality catches up with him.
About the Film HAFNER’S
PARADISE is a journey through the hidden world of Nazis in
Spain, culminating with a historic confrontation between victim
and executioner.
A historic fact Little has
been heard until now from the perpetrators and accomplices of
the greatest barbarity in man’s history – the Holocaust. Only on
very few occasions has it been possible to enter that world, so
closed and rejected. This film is a fresh proposal, revealing
the life and thinking of a former officer of the feared Waffen-SS
who, even today, appears to inhabit the realm of Himmler and
Hitler, aground in a past going back 60 years.
Paul María Hafner, the protagonist, found in Spain, where he
lives very comfortably, under Franco (and indeed in democracy),
reliable protection from the scrutiny of international justice.
Although he did complete a sentence following the war and has no
reckonings pending in any Court, he is in close contact with
people who are indeed wanted or have been convicted in other
countries because of their anti-Semitic actions and declarations,
or because they have denied the existence of the Holocaust. He
was also a friend of the war criminal León Degrelle.
Executioner and victim...
As the film progresses, Hafner draws us into his dark and
grotesque world, not devoid of humour and irony until, at its
crucial point, he comes face-to-face with the well known ex-member
of the International Brigades Hans Landauer, a survivor from the
Dachau concentration camp. Both were there on 20 April 1945,
Hitler’s birthday – Hafner as SS officer and Landauer as
prisoner…
The beginning It is indeed
fascinating to discover the inner world of a Nazi, revealing as
it does so much of the depths to which man can descend.
But access is not easy. I spent many months reading, studying,
interviewing and, step-by-step, coming closer to this place, so
closed and hostile to anyone not attuned to its ideas.
Eventually, after talking to many people, and creating a degree
of personal trust, I was introduced to Paul María Hafner, who
immediately became the lead player in this film.
However, “Hafner’s Paradise” is not just a psychological
portrait of an extremist; it also makes clear the close relation
between Franco’s Spain and the Third Reich, particularly after
the Second World War, when Spain gave refuge to so many Nazis on
the run.
The protagonist Paul María
Hafner is neither a Martian nor a diabolical being, but an
apparently respectable gentleman living in a smart Madrid
neighbourhood who, aged 84, might be taken for a congenial
grandfather, filled with goodness and affection. Paradoxically,
that view is not completely mistaken. Hafner shakes hands and
smiles at you, fully aware of his aura of charm and grace. Like
anyone, he speaks of good and bad, he plays chess, swims 600
metres every day, and when he goes shopping, you feel like
offering to carry his bags home.
Human beings are tremendously complex and chameleonic. We know
how a concentration camp guard was capable of kissing children
in the morning and then beating a prisoner to death in the
afternoon. It was all a matter of “perspective.”
But how can this be? How can such conflicting feelings coexist
in a single being? What are the moral values underlying such
contradictions? What was that youth like, that so fervently gave
itself up to Hitler? How did they think and how did they act?
What was the effect on them of that brainwashing, and how do
they confront the reality of their acts from today’s
perspective?
Hafner, 2007 Hafner, 1941
As a young man, Hafner entered the SS enthusiastically, totally
convinced that it was an elite body representing the best of
humankind. He fought in the Second World War, during which he
was promoted to officer. Thanks to his commitment, he was chosen
along with other youths for training at the elite SS schools. At
the end of the war, he was sent to various concentration camps
of which however he recalls “very little”, determinedly refuting
the terrible crimes committed there.
The defeat of the Third Reich was an enormous trauma for Hafner,
from which he has not yet recovered. His convictions have simply
become firmer. He is not troubled by the accounts of the victims,
or that National Socialism led the world to disaster. His
fanaticism remains just as intact today as 60 years ago. He was
aided in this by the fact that, under Franco, he did not have to
hide, or repudiate his ideas. That is why Hafner considers
Franco’s Spain “paradise on earth”.
Encounter with Blas Piñar - The subject
Rarely in history have idolatry, fanaticism and irrationality
caused so much damage to so many people as National Socialism.
Thousands of testimonies of victims have left a clear, real
image of the Holocaust and the brutal Nazi machine. Yet there is
very little material which analyses the psychology of the
executioners. Gitta Sereny and Claude Lanzmann have done so,
although their impressive work focuses more on the figure of the
repentant Nazi.
Pero Hafner repents nothing. He is the same today as 60 years
ago, giving an onlooker the feeling of a trip through time, and
facing a youthful SS officer, in the Spring of 1945.
So the question is: why is Hafner speaking out now, when most of
his “comrades” who are still alive refuse to do so?
On the one hand, Hafner is unquestionably highly narcissistic.
He enjoys being the centre of attention and playing the role of
hero as several of his friends are pursued by the law.
On the other hand, I believe that now, as he reaches the end of
his life, there is something inside him that wants to get out,
something that drives him to speak, even if only to record his
convictions and memories. It is impossible to know whether this
conceals a repressed guilty conscience, or a desire to settle
scores, but in any event his decision affords a unique occasion
to peer into a worldview which is as obscure as it is chilling,
as grotesque as it is latent in so many men.
The form The documentary
is not staged in interviews but rather draws on the
protagonist’s daily round. Hafner invites us to accompany him at
all times – from when he gets up and brushes his false teeth, to
where he meets with his Nazi friends. He swims, sings, strips
off, works out, writes, reads and brags...
Although the research for the film lasted more than a year,
during which time I talked to nearly all the historians and
journalists who have dealt with the subject of Nazis in Spain,
it does not use more archive material than was generated by the
shooting itself. The only photos to appear are those shown by
Hafner or some other character, or documents, footage or
recordings produced and offered by the protagonists or the
circumstances.
This creates the sensation of a record which draws just on what
the film alone engenders, making no intent to manipulate but
rather to portray with sensitivity a cruel reality which,
whether we like it or not, forms a part of man’s being.
Conclusion I have seen
this film at once as a challenge and as a duel.
A Challenge because it has confronted me with the forlorn past
of my own origins, with the dark history of my homeland, Austria.
I was however able to do that from the more distant and fresh
standpoint of my new life in Spain, where I have lived for ten
years.
And a Duel because it is deeply difficult to confront someone
who despises what I most value. Conversation with and even
sometimes a feeling of liking for someone who has no compassion
for the pain of others becomes unbearable. Hafner knew it, and
toyed with it. He sought to undermine my will to resist
throughout the filming but, ultimately, his silence says it
all...
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