author
Hermann Häfker
1873–1939
A German writer, Esperantist, and early film thinker, he helped argue for cinema as a serious art form long before that idea was widely accepted. His life ended tragically in the Nazi era, giving his work an added historical weight.
2 Audiobooks
Kino und Erdkunde Lichtbühnen-Bibliothek Nr. 7
by Hermann Häfker
Kino und Kunst Lichtbühnen-Bibliothek Nr. 2
by Hermann Häfker
About the author
Born in Bremen in 1873, Hermann Häfker wrote across several fields and became known as both a man of letters and an advocate of Esperanto. He is also remembered as one of the early thinkers who took film seriously as an art, writing about cinema at a time when its artistic possibilities were still being debated.
Häfker is especially noted for his contributions to film theory. His work treated film as more than entertainment, and he is often described as an important voice in the movement that argued cinema could become a rich, expressive art form in its own right.
His life ended under Nazi persecution: he died in the concentration camp at Mauthausen in 1939. That history gives his surviving work a poignant place in both literary and film culture.