3-17-05, 9:04 am

From Morning Star

A lost revolution

WHEN Tamara and Fiona Baur returned from Cuba last summer, several people asked why the solidarity brigade that they had worked with was called Olga Benario.

The woman whose name the young revolutionaries had chosen is one of the many almost forgotten heroines who devoted their life to the struggle for a better world.

Benario was born in Germany in 1908. When she was a member of the communist youth movement, she met Otto Braun and moved to Berlin to live with him.

By the age of 17, she had been elected as a full-time party official for the working-class district where they both lived.

But things were to take a turn for the worse when, on September 30 1926, the pair were arrested. Her father Dr Leo Benario, a famous lawyer, managed to get her released, but Braun languished in prison facing a 20-year sentence for preparation of high treason.

However, on April 11 1928, Benario and four of her comrades staged a spectacular breakout, freeing Braun from the high-security prison in Moabit. The pair fled to Moscow.

After secret missions to Paris and London, the Communist International asked Benario to accompany Luis Carlos Prestes on his trip to Brazil to prepare the revolution there.

Prestes had led the famous 'indefeasible battalion' from 1924 to 1927 on the 25,000-kilometre long march through Brazil, while being hunted by the army. The poor people of Brazil named him the 'knight of hope.'

Disguised as rich newlyweds from Portugal and using the name Villar, Benario and Prestes made the journey across Europe to New York and then southwards to Brazil. By the time that they arrived in Rio de Janeiro, they had become lovers.

The uprising in Brazil began on November 27 1935, following almost a year's undercover preparation. But, after 12 long hours, it became a bloodbath.

Both Benario and Prestes were captured and imprisoned. Then, on September 23 1936, the heavily pregnant Benario was handed over to the authorities in nazi Germany.

On November 27, she gave birth to a baby daughter in the women's prison of Berlin and named her Anita Leocardia Prestes.

Scared and alone, Benario was forced to move to the concentration camp in Lichtenberg, then on to Ravensbruck.

In April 1942, she became a grim statisic - one of the scores of those murdered in the gas chamber of KZ Berburg. She was only 34 years old.

It's easy to see why Galip Iyitanir chose Benario's powerful story for his directorial debut. The German film-maker has worked on various projects in the past 20 years, including Rosa Luxemburg (1986) a biopic of the famous German communist.

Olga Benario: A Life for the Revolution, which Iyitanir also wrote and produced, has been showing in European cinemas since December 2, after a successful appearance at the Rio de Janeiro international film festival in September. It will be released as a DVD in May.

Iyitanir is intent on not letting the story of this extraordinary woman's life be lost in the turbluent history of the century in which she lived. His film brings back to life the memory of a revolution that has also almost been forgotten.

'Precisely 21 years ago, I got to know the woman who is now my wife. Through her, I learned about the life of Olga Benario,' he says.

'Being Brazilian, she was very familiar with the story of Benario, who is very much loved there to this very day.

'When I told my wife that I had been politically active as a student, she asked me if I had heard of Benario - I had to say that I hadn't.

'She presented me with a book by Ruth Werner called, simply, Olga Benario and I lapped it up.

'This was my first knowledge of Benario. She fascinated me immediately - her courage, her strength, her tireless activism for her beliefs. I knew that I would have to make a film about her at some stage, to make her known to everybody.

'The first time that I actually attempted the project was exactly the time that the Berlin Wall fell. In the west, they didn't want to know about a communist woman. In the east, 45 years of socialism were just going up into smoke - it was no time for films like that, so I had to postpone the project.

'Four years ago, I started to knock on doors again and the Film Office NRW showed some interest. Everybody else said no.

'It took a four-year struggle to nail down the TV station ZDF/ARTE to actually do it. Now, finally, the film exists.'

But who would be attracted to such a movie?

'No specific group of people - anybody, regardless of age and education. It is not a dry history lesson, it is the story of an exceptional woman who everyone should be aware of.

'She has to have her place in history and maybe my film will help a little to achieve that. My personal wish is that many people will get to know her.

'She was strong and brave, she was intelligent and beautiful and, most of all, she had a very strong sense for justice. There aren't many people like her in history - especially German history.'

Two Brazilian folk singers sing about Benario throughout Iyitanir's film.

'The Brazilian song was written especially for the film,' replies the director. 'I gave the 'repentistas' (folk singers) her story in Portuguese. The band, called Phirefons, are about to release a new CD which will have the full song on it. It took them just two days to write 30 verses. Six of them feature in the film.

Much of the project was filmed on location in Germany, Russia and Latin America. Iyitanir concedes that, 'without the support of my friends and also some firms, it wouldn't have been possible to make this film. Some of the staff worked for free and, of course, I risked a lot financially.'

While Olgo Benario - A Life for the Revolution has been received well in continental Europe, with three Berlin cinemas showing it at the same time following its release in Germany, the British film industry has shown no interest in it.

However, all this looks set to change, as a subtitled version is being produced. Its Northern Ireland release has already been confirmed for Saturday May 21.

(Translation by Marion Baur)