Films by Hans-Erich Viet

Germany 2018, 105 min
by Hans-Erich Viet

Road movie with the 98 year old holocaust survivor Leon Schwarzbaum to the places of home and horror. Schwarzbaum, born in Hamburg 1921 travels with us to places of birth and childhood, to Bedzin/Poland and many times to Auschwitz, where all of his family where murdered.We acompany him to the last SS trial in Detmold where former SS officer Reinhold Hanning (95) was sentenced to 5 years in prison. We acompany Leon Schwarzbaum to a German talkshow, visit a prison as well as school classes, where he tells his story. In the end he sings – as he did with his Polish/Jewish friends in the thirties, in Bedcin. A documentary film with one of the last survivors, tragic stories but also humorous, because of the personality of Mr Schwarzbaum the film honours a man who witnessed the greatest horror of all times.

Germany 2009
by Hans-Erich Viet

What is going on in Germany? Is Germany realy a pain in the neck? And if so, why? In this documentary road-movie shot between 2005 and 2008, director Hans-Erich Viet travels through Germany to find out just how the German soul ticks. The journey took place without any concrete planed destinations, but rather was determined through the events that took place and offers answers to all the moaning and groaning going on in Germany today.