Saviors in the Night
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Synopsis
Saviors in the Night (Unter Bauern) is based on the memories of Marga Spiegel. In her narrative, published in 1965, she describes how courageous farmers in southern Münsterland hid her, her husband Siegfried {named Menne} and their little daughter Karin from 1943 until 1945, thus saving them from deportation to the extermination camps in the East. The film tells this story of survival with a sense for the absurd in daily life and not without the typical Westphalian humor.
Without reservation, the farmers offer the refugees their protection. That this turns them into heroes would never occur to them. They are used to weathering even dangerous situations somehow, guided only by their instinct and century-old code of ethics. They risk their own lives, and, if necessary, even that of their families. There is never a discussion about friendship, reliability, humanity.
In Yad Vashem the farmers’ names are immortalized: Heinrich Aschoff, Hubert Pentrop, Bernhard Südfeld, Heinrich Silkenböhmer, Bernhard Sickmann.
Saviors in the Night wants to create a memorial in honor of these silent heroes.
Latest News
Join us for an important Q & A with Holocaust Survivor Conrad Weiner, following the 3:20 pm Screening of Saviors in the Night Sunday, May 20th, at the Esquire Theatre in Cincinnati!
Come see Saviors in the Night, a true story about a family saved by courageous farmers during the Nazi occupation. Directly after the 3:20 pm screening this Sunday, Conrad Weiner, a Cincinnatian, will discuss the film and his own experience as a holocaust survivor.
Saviors in the Night tells the remarkable true story of Marga Spiegel and her family, Jews living in Germany during the advent of World War II. Despite being patriotic Germans and Nazi sympathizers, the Aschoff family, fellow farmers of Westphalia, hid Marga and her daughter Karin, risking everything to rescue their neighbors from deportation and certain death. The film is based on the best-selling memoirs of Marga Spiegel, who is currently 98 years old and still lives in Germany.
Starts Friday, May 11th!
Cincinnati, OH - Esquire Theatre
Click the link below to read a personal letter to audiences from Marga Spiegel!
North American Theatrical Premiere!
Saviors in the Night tells the remarkable true story of Marga Spiegel and her family, Jews living in Germany during the advent of World War II. Despite being patriotic Germans and Nazi sympathizers, the Aschoff family, fellow farmers of Westphalia, hid Marga and her daughter Karin, risking everything to rescue their neighbors from deportation and certain death. The film is based on the best-selling memoirs of Marga Spiegel, who is currently 98 years old and still lives in Germany.
Click the link below to read a personal letter to audiences from Marga Spiegel!
Reviews
"Finely observed... Saviors is lifted up and made special by the complexities and social crosscurrents of the people it depicts."
Read more"Suspenseful, heartbreaking and uplifting."
Read moreFeature Article - "Marga Spiegel's memoir inspires film"
"The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival sent a car to pick up its guest of honor - 98-year-old Marga Spiegel - and chauffeur her from an opening-night party to a screening at the Castro of "Saviors in the Night," based on her memoir. But Spiegel decided to walk, even though she was wearing heels."
Read more
Additional info
A Personal Letter from Marga Spiegel
Münster, Germany - April 30th, 2011
Dear American Friends,
My name is Marga Spiegel, born Rothschild, and I am 98 years old.
Over 65 years ago, in Germany, my husband Menne, my daughter Karin and I did all we could to be rescued from the horror and evil of the Nazis.
Our plans worked and our prayers were answered and rescue did come.
The faces of that rescue were those of a few brave Christian farmers, simple people of the land, whose deep faith and belief were entrenched in doing the right thing.
These ordinary folk, in extraordinary circumstances, saved and delivered us, allowed us to live, to be set free, and thereby they freed the world entire.
I offer you this film which is the story of my life, the story of the bravery of the farmers, who saved us, who made it possible for my little Karin to live and become one of you, a proud and free American. Let this film be an inspiration to all who see it, to do good deeds.
Marga Spiegel