Hermann Häfker

Born in Bremen on June 3, 1873, Hermann Wilhelm Häfker became known as a writer and public intellectual with wide-ranging interests. Sources describe him not only as an author, but also as an Esperantist and an important early theorist of film.

Häfker is remembered for contributions to film theory during the formative years of cinema. He has been described as a significant representative of Germany's film reform movement, a circle that argued film could be a serious artistic medium rather than just popular entertainment.

His life was cut short under Nazi rule. Häfker died on December 27, 1939, in the concentration camp at Mauthausen, where he was held as a political prisoner.