House of Atonement

»House Of Atonement« is the story of an unlucky address: Schottenring 7 in Vienna.

The Ring Theatre used to stand here. When it burned down, 400 people died.

This is where the Austro-Hungarian Emperor decreed that a House of Atonement should be constructed, to make up for everything. And nobody wanted to live in it.

At this address a young neurologist opened his surgery. But he soon moved out, when one of his patients threw herself down the stairwell to her death. His name: Sigmund Freud.

This is where the Gestapo set fire to files, destroying the Emperor’s legacy, which was supposed to be fireproof.

This is where the fears of the Cold War were preserved in concrete: Vienna's secret Command Centre, 18 metres below ground, untouched to this very day. The essay film »House Of Atonement« takes a close look at this address, when misfortune has been repeated as if by some uncanny pattern over the centuries. Does some mysterious aura surround this place? A haunted house – in the middle of Vienna?