Thomas Christoph Harlan (1929-2010) was a German writer and film director.
Harlan was born in Berlin into a wealthy family involved in the theatre and with connections to the Nazi elite, which is how, as a child, he met Goebbel and Hitler. However, after studying Philosophy in Tübingen and Paris, where he lived with Deleuze and Pierre Boulez, he dedicated his life to many progressive causes. After uncovering over a thousand German war crimes in Poland, he took part in the Chilean resistance to Pinochet’s dictatorship and served on a committee during the Carnation Revolution.
The latter experience was recorded in one of his major films, Torre Bela (1975), about the debate surrounding the expropriations carried out by the revolution. Throughout his career, Harlan alternated frenetic political mobilization with writing, both autobiographical and fictional, and making many films.
