Hermann Häfker

Who was Hermann Häfker?

Hermann Wilhelm Häfker was an important film theoretician as well as an acknowledged Esperantist and writer.

Häfker published essential contributions to film theory. Like Sergei Eisenstein he saw film as a comprehensive artwork. Häfker is considered the most important representative of the film reform movement in Germany. He recognized early the cultural potential of cinema, but also the dangers of "low taste" resulting from commercial film production. His work can be seen as part of the aesthetic movement initiated by Deutscher Werkbund and Dürerbund.

During his years in Dresden he was closely connected to Ferdinand Avenarius and his Dürerbund. He wrote popular books on history, sexual education and science. His presumably most successful book, Das Sternbilder-Buch, contributed to educating the youth to love of stars and astronomy. Häfker created it in collaboration with graphic designer Kurt Fiedler for the Dürerbund. Häfker's Weltgeschichte in einem Band was banned by the Nazis.

Because of his resistance against Nazi culture policy, they imposed Berufsverbot on Häfker. He fled 1936 to Prague, was brought to Dachau concentration camp after the German invasion and died in the Concentration Camp Mauthausen.