No Island
the Palmers kidnapping of 1977
Synopsis
On the evening of November 9th 1977, the Industrialist Walter Michael Palmers is kidnapped in front of his house in Vienna. After 100 hours of captivity and the payment of 31 billion Schillings (about 2 billion Euro) ransom, Palmers is set free.
About two weeks later, Thomas Gratt and Othmar Keplinger are arrested at the swiss-italian border. They carry weapons and two billion Schillings of the ransom.
As it turns out, the kidnapping was a money-raising-measure of the „Bewegung 2.Juni“ („movement June 2nd“), an illegal leftwing german underground movement and sister organisation of the RAF (red army faction). 1979, Thomas Gratt is sentenced to 15 years in prison, Othmar Keplinger to 5 years, and Reinhard Pitsch, who also took part in the action, to 6 years.
For the first time after 25 years, Gratt, Keplinger and Pitsch are ready to speak extensively about the events of 1977. Strong mistrust to the media then and later made them decline all requests for reports or interviews. The basis of personal confidence to the filmmakers and their motifs makes a cooperation for the Project No Island possible. With the original participants we are able to thoroughly reconstruct the background of the kidnapping and the string of events that led to it.
No Island investigates the political athmosphere of Austria in the 1970´s. Although Pope Paul VI. called Austria an island of the blessed, it became clear that it didn´t exist isolated of what happened in the world. In 1973 a whole train with jewish emigrants who were on the way from the Sovjetunion via Austria to Israel was kidnapped by Palestinians, 1975 the conference members of the OPEC general assembly in Vienna were taken hostage by a Palestinian commando led by Carlos. Among them were members of the movement 2nd June, which had a well developed relationship to Palestinian groups.
The Palmers kidnapping of 1977 was the only moment, when the violent wing of the leftist opposition that shocked West-Germany in the 1070´s, set foot to Austria and recruited Austrians.
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| Filmfonds Wien | | | ORF | | | Bundeskanzleramt: Kunst | | | Land Oberösterreich | | | Land Vorarlberg | | | Silverserver | | | Filmladen |
