"HEIL HITLER - The Russians are coming"
Between the Swatiska and the Red Star
"HEIL HITLER - The Russians are coming"
Between the Swatiska and the Red Star
In this documentary people give powerful and unbiased accounts of their personal histories and how they perceived life between the Swastika and the Red Star. The hilly landscape seems vast and open, but below the surface one finds memories of violent acts buried here, experiences that have left their mark on the souls and in the faces of the people. This film digs below the surface.
In the 13 chapters survivors give their own authentic and unforgettable accounts of what happened in the years between 1938 and 1945 and the aftermath of the war. These personal experiences open the door to an unexpected dimension of violence that can still be felt today.
The approach of this documentary is unique because it focuses on the individual histories behind the larger picture. It lifts the carpet of world historical fact and sweeps personal accounts out into the open.
People give powerful and unbiased accounts of their personal histories
Hitler, war, and Russian occupation are topics that were very much a part of my life as I was growing up. Our grandparents told us what they had gone through back then, but our parents – who had still been children at the end of the war – kept their thoughts and feelings to themselves.
At an age when people are most impressionable our parents’ generation was directly confronted with these violent events. And even to this day they have never had the chance to seek psychological care to help them work through what they experienced. They managed to cope through repression or they busied themselves with the immediate demands of everyday life in order to compensate.
Their wounds became scars without ever healing. I was interested in how these people had worked through their experiences after all this time, and how they deal with the past today.
Simon Wieland
Presse Reaktionen auf die Filmpremiere vom 8.5.2010
"Heil Hitler, die Russen kommen" ist ein stiller und unerhört intensiver Film, ein Film, der sich vor allem auf die beeindruckenden Erzählungen seiner Protagonistinnen und Protagonisten verlässt.
Ö1 Journal Panorama vom 10.5.2010
Der Film nimmt keine Schiedsrichterfunktion ein. Er ist Erzählfläche für die kollektiven Erinnerungen. Dass diese Aufarbeitung ein harter, schmerzlicher Prozess ist, merkt man in jeder Minute auf der Leinwand.
Wiener Zeitung vom 11.5.2010
„Ich habe selten so berührende, so weise Erzählungen erlebt!“ Ein aufrüttelndes und (auch) unbequemes Filmprojekt.
Niederösterreichische Nachrichten vom 11.5.2010
NÖN
Eine Produktion der Simon Wieland Film
in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Land Niederösterreich
ORF (Film/Fernseh-Abkommen), Österreichisches Filminstitut,
Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich
Regie und Kamera:
Simon Wieland
Co-Regie:
Andreas Kuba und Robert Weichinger
Wissenschaftliche Beratung:
Gerhard Jagschitz
Recherchen:
Ingrid Fröschl
Musik:
Peter Kaizar
Schnitt:
Jörg Achatz
Produktionsleitung:
Michael Holzinger
Länge: 83 Minuten, Full HD Video
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