Unlikely Trio Uncover Tales of Wartime Rescues
Perhaps the only aspect more unusual than the three creators of the film “The Rescuers” is the cast, which includes, among others, Britain’s Prince Charles.
The feature documentary, which is currently in production and not due out until next year, documents the incredible stories of 12 non-Jewish diplomats from 11 countries, who, against the orders of their governments and alongside other envoys, helped save an estimated 200,000 European Jews during World War II.
In addition, there were other men and women of great courage and compassion, such as Princess Alice of Greece, who hid Jews in the royal palace in Athens during the German occupation and withstood interrogations by Nazi officials.
Princess Alice was the paternal grandmother of Prince Charles, who pays tribute to his “very remarkable” ancestor in the film.
The film is the work of three unlikely collaborators. One is the distinguished British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill and author of 81 books.
The second is Michael King, an African American documentary filmmaker, and the third is Stephanie Nyombayire, a Rwandan human-rights activist, who lost more than 100 family members in her country’s genocide.
Gilbert and King are working in tandem on parallel projects and recently returned from a joint 40-day trip, during which they interviewed men and women who had known the diplomats or were saved by their intervention.
The result of this collaboration is the film “The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust” and Gilbert’s book “Noble Diplomats: Saving Jewish Lives in the Nazi Era,” which are to be released simultaneously in the early part of next year.
Among the diplomats, only the name of Sweden’s Raoul Wallenberg is widely known, but they include a member of the Nazi Party and a Turkish Muslim, as well as two Britons, two Americans and former envoys from China, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal and Italy.
In an unorthodox approach, the various rescue efforts are seen through the eyes of Nyombayire as one survivor of a recent genocide viewing the desperate struggles of earlier Holocaust survivors. As Gilbert said, “I was moved by her personal story of the fate of her family in Rwanda, by her own activism with regard to Darfur, and her strong desire to do something, to make a difference, as those diplomats had done 70 years ago.”
Holocaust scholar Deborah E. Lipstadt, in a letter supporting the film, called the inclusion of the young Rwandan woman “a brilliant concept.
“When the Holocaust is linked to other subsequent tragedies, particularly those of such proportion as Rwanda, it helps give added educational relevance. Teachers and other educators will be drawn to using it in their classes.”
The trio returned in April from their interviewing, filming and writing tour of European cities, bringing their individual perspectives and backgrounds to the combined work.
King, who lives in La Quinta, near Palm Springs, is a film teacher and producer best known for his documentaries on inner-city teenagers. He won an Emmy for the PBS special “Bangin’,” which dealt with youth violence.
His most recent work was “Rapping With Shakespeare,” in which an English teacher uses hip-hop and rap to help his students in South Los Angeles connect with the Bard’s characters.
It may be quite a stretch from Los Angeles’ mean streets to Holocaust rescuers, but the 50-year-old dreadlocked King quickly explains the connection.
“I’ve always made socially conscious films, and I have always been fascinated by the mystery of goodness,” King said, sipping coffee in a French cafe in Westwood.
“The story of the rescuers, who risked their careers by choosing God over their governments, has universal significance.” Besides, he added, “If Steven Spielberg can make ‘The Color Purple’ [on the lives of black women in the Deep South], why can’t I make a film about the Holocaust?”
As an indicator of his seriousness, King notes that he has spent weeks at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, researching its archives on Righteous Gentiles.
His interest in the rescuers was triggered when he learned about their deeds in Eric Saul’s exhibit “Visas for Life” at Ellis Island and thought: “What a great story for kids to learn.”
As King found out more about the rescuers, he realized that here was a story for all ages and nationalities. “I was overwhelmed by the courage of the diplomats, who risked their own careers to aid the hunted Jews,” he said.
“They worked days and nights to issue visas, passports and protection and transit letters, established safe houses, snatched Jews from death marches and deportation trains, smuggled Jews across borders and hid them in their own embassies.”
Given the chaotic wartime conditions and the clandestine nature of the rescue efforts, it is difficult to state with any precision how many Jews were saved through the bravery of the diplomats selected for the film and book. Also, in many cases, as in Budapest in 1944, envoys from different countries joined together in identical rescues. However, if one takes the approximately 80 diplomats who assisted the persecuted, it is estimated that together they saved between 200,000 to 250,000 Jews, with the cited diplomats in the first ranks of the rescuers.
Gilbert’s interest in the rescuers is of much longer standing than King’s. The historian began his research on the subject 30 years ago and distilled his findings on the “ordinary” men and women who saved Jews in “The Righteous” (Black Swan), published in 2003.
“Through Michael King’s vision for this film, I saw an opportunity to pass on knowledge and experience to the next generation,” he wrote in an e-mail.
“To educate, encourage, inspire and empower today’s students by the story of the diplomats, who did not turn the other way, to help the audience understand that there is indeed something individuals can do, even when they have no orders to help — and have even been ordered not to help.”
The three principals in the project came together last November at the 70th reunion in London of the Kindertransport — children from Germany and Austria who had found safety in England in the late 1930s. Both Prince Charles and Gilbert were featured speakers, and the historian took the opportunity to introduce his collaborators to Prince Charles and discuss the film project with him.
At this point, King is faced with the job of whittling some 40 to 50 hours of film from interviews with World War II eyewitnesses, survivors, and friends and descendants of the diplomats, down into a 90-minute documentary. He expects to add another 20 hours worth of footage when he goes to Jerusalem in May.
King hopes to bring in the film on a $2 million budget. About half that amount has been contributed and raised by Joyce D. Mandell, a Hartford, Conn., business and community leader, who is the film’s executive producer.
The roll of honor of diplomats profiled in both the film and Gilbert’s book reads:
Hiram Bingham IV, U.S. vice consul in Marseilles.
Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Nazi party member and German diplomat in Copenhagen, who alerted the Danish government to the impending deportation of the country’s Jews.
Frank Foley, British vice consul in Berlin until 1939.
Feng Shan Ho, Chinese consul general in Vienna.
Angelo Rotta, Papal nuncio in Budpest.
Varian Fry, American journalist and relief official, who rescued many leading artists and intellectuals.
Necdet Kent, Turkish consul general in Marseilles.
Carl Lutz, Swiss consul in Budapest.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portuguese diplomat in Bordeaux.
Giorgio Perlasca, Italian working in Spanish embassy in Budapest.
Henryk Slawik, Polish diplomat in Budapest.
Chiune Sugihara, Japanese consul in Kaunus (Kovno), Lithuania.
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish special envoy in Budapest.
Jan Zwartendijk, Dutch consul in Kaunus.
In addition, Sir George Ogilvie Forbes, Charge d’Affaires, British embassy in Berlin, is included in Gilbert’s book.
Unlikely Trio Uncover Tales of Wartime Rescues Read More »