WITNESS OUT OF HELL

Symposium

Among the many aspects of the experience of the camps that no one wanted to know anything about officially (a situation which actually persists today) was the shame of the survivors. It was less a case of their fear of continued persecution by their one-time tormentors or the good citizens of today (though it was there too, and for good reason) than much more so the constantly nagging question why exactly the others were now dead and not I, that is, what had one done, how had one somehow betrayed, if not one’s loved ones, then at least one’s self? WITNESS OUT OF HELL tells the story of such a life – as a cooly wrathful though eminently wary and self-aware political thriller.


GORKE TRAVE / ZEUGIN AUS DER HÖLLE
DEU, YUG 1967 / 83 min / OV + eng SUB
Language: Serbian
Director: Živorad Mitrović
  • Screenplay: Frida Filipovic,Michael Mansfeld
  • Cinematographer: Milorad Markovic
  • Editor: Katarina Stojanovic,Ursula Kahlbaum
  • Music: Vladimir Klaus-Rajteric
  • Cast: Irene Papas,Heinz Drache,Daniel Gélin,Werner Peters,Jean Claudio
  • Producer: Artur Brauner,Aleksander Krstic

Among the many aspects of the experience of the camps that no one wanted to know anything about officially (a situation which actually persists today) was the shame of the survivors. It was less a case of their fear of continued persecution by their one-time tormentors or the good citizens of today (though it was there too, and for good reason) than much more so the constantly nagging question why exactly the others were now dead and not I, that is, what had one done, how had one somehow betrayed, if not one’s loved ones, then at least one’s self? WITNESS OUT OF HELL tells the story of such a life – as a cooly wrathful though eminently wary and self-aware political thriller.

  • Screenplay: Frida Filipovic,Michael Mansfeld
  • Cinematographer: Milorad Markovic
  • Editor: Katarina Stojanovic,Ursula Kahlbaum
  • Music: Vladimir Klaus-Rajteric
  • Cast: Irene Papas,Heinz Drache,Daniel Gélin,Werner Peters,Jean Claudio
  • Producer: Artur Brauner,Aleksander Krstic