The film tells a story of survival based on the memoirs of Marga Spiegel published in 1965 and titled ‘Retter in der Nacht’ (literally: Saviors in the Night).
Marga narrates her personal story, that of her family, and the heroism of the farmers from the Münsterland who did not hesitate for a moment to hide them at the risk of their lives.
At Yad Vashem (the Holocaust History Museum and Memorial in Jerusalem), the names of the farmers Neinrich Aschoff, Hubert Pentrop, Bernhard Sudfels, Hairich Silkenbohner, and Bernhard Sickmann have been immortalized among the 455 Germans (out of the 70 million inhabitants of the Third Reich) who have been granted this eternal recognition.
This admirable fresco of the dark years shows us a discreet and magnificent reality: How did people, beyond any political consideration, choose to open their doors to the hunted Jews?
No matter where they come from since we know where they are going: They took the path of the greatest courage, the one that leads to the lives of others.
Still alive, Marga Spiegel wanted to comment on this film:
“We always stayed in contact with the families that hid us. I have remained particularly close to Anni (the youngest daughter of the Aschoffs). She was the only one on the farm who knew our real identity. We actually live next to each other in Ahlen.
From this film, I would like the audience to learn a lesson and contribute to an intellectual reconciliation.
After the war, it was this need that drove me to write my book because it was incredible that such a story could exist.”
