In Exile

As World War II split Europe apart, a young Icelandic scholar was caught in the middle. He never found his way back home.

The scholar Sveinn Bergsveinsson, a Communist in the 1930s, was trapped in Berlin by the outbreak of World War II and forced to work for the Nazi propaganda machine. Returning to Iceland, sick with tuberculosis, he found himself branded by both sides of the cold war political divide and barred from academic work. In desperation, he emigrated to East-Germany where he became a respected professor. He always hoped to return home but died in East-Berlin in 1988 ... a year before the wall came down. He left behind a wealth of documents, photographs, film and voice recordings which form the basis of this narrative.

Director/ Writer/ Producer: Hjalmtyr Heiddal

Editing: Steinthor Birgisson, Elisabet Thoroddsen

Photgraphy: Steinthor Birgisson, Ingvar Thorisson, Hjalmtyr Heiddal, Fridrik Gudmundsson

Duration 55 min.

Release 2010

Supported by the Icelandic Film Centre and MEDIA-Slate funding, the EU Support Programme for the Audiovisual industry