The Waldheim Waltz

The Waldheim Waltz is a film about truth and lies or “alternative facts”. About individual and collective consciousness.

Ruth Beckermann documents the process of uncovering former Unesco Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s wartime past. It shows the swift succession of new allegations by the World Jewish Congress during his Austrian presidential campaign, the denial by the Austrian political class, the outbreak of anti-Semitism and patriotism, which finally led to his election.

Created from international archive material and what Beckermann shot at the time, the film analyses the collapse of the Austrian grand illusion: having been the first victim of the Nazis.