In the Valley of the Wupper

In 1992, two West German skinheads murdered a 53-year-old unemployed man in a Wuppertal pub who had identified himself as Jewish: they kicked him to the ground and set him on fire. Just a few days earlier, skinheads had attacked an asylum home in neighboring Solingen, injuring two residents. Shortly afterwards, a mosque was set on fire by unknown perpetrators. Amos Gitai traveled to Wuppertal to investigate the circumstances of the murder. He interviewed the witnesses who were present in the pub as well as other residents. He was less interested in this specific crime than in uncovering the systemic problem that underlies it: the danger posed by the resurgence of anti-Semitism and similar intolerance. In the Valley of the Wupper is the prelude to Gitai's so-called "neo-fascist trilogy", which was informally continued with In the Name of the Duce (1994) and Queen Mary '87 (1994). (Jurij Meden)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum