Film Series:
World War II: Stories of Suffering, Survival, and Resistance

May 8, 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of "V.E. Day," the end of WWII in Europe. The Congregational Church of Westminster West is offering a four-film documentary series that focuses on the war as seen from below, on the lives of ordinary people (and quite extraordinary people) caught up in its events and determined not only to resist, but to survive.

The films will be shown on Thursday evenings, beginning February 13th, upstairs in the sanctuary of the church, at 7 pm. Admission is by donation (donations will benefit the church's building fund) and light refreshments will be available.

February 13th:

The first film is the story of a single victim of the holocaust; "Kitty: Return to Auschwitz," is a 1979 British TV film directed by Peter Morley. The NY TIMES said: "This [documentary] might be better called a testamentary. It is the story of Auschwitz by a survivor, a woman named Kitty Felix Hart... Mrs. Hart is the narrator, and she and her grown son... are the only ones seen... There is no music and little other sound than her voice." Indeed, the film is made bearable in part because you see so little, and only hear what happened to Kitty and her family, though that is quite a story. The film runs an hour and 22 minutes.

February 20th:

The second film is a story of the French resistance; "Weapons of the Spirit" is a 1987 film directed by Pierre Sauvage. The NY TIMES said: "From 1940 to 1944, the 5,000 people of Le Chambon - a community of profoundly religious Protestants - sheltered 5,000 Jews...In 1944, Pierre Sauvage was born in Le Chambon... now an American documentary filmmaker, Mr. Sauvage returns in 'Weapons of the Spirit' to the place where, he says, 'a Jewish baby had the good fortune to see the light of day in a village uniquely committed to his survival.'" The film runs an hour and 33 minutes.

February 27th:

The third film is a story of the German resistance; "Freya: Story of a Love" is a 2016 film directed by Antje Starost and Hans-Helmut Grotjahn. The film tells the story of Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke and their decision to gather friends they can trust to create a roadmap to a future "Germany with a human face" after Hitler's anticipated defeat. (Angela Merkel has said that "the Kreisau Circle was among the first to think consistently in European terms... Their idea was that Germany would be part of... a united Europe, in which Christian morals and social reform should determine politics.") Actors Nina Hoess and Ulrich Matthes read from the many intimate letters Helmuth and Freya wrote each other over the years, from their first meeting in 1929 to his murder by the Nazis in 1944. The film also features interviews with Freya herself and with her surviving son, Helmuth Caspar; it runs an hour and 27 minutes.

March 6th:

The fourth film is a story of history and memory in post-war Germany; "Now... After All These Years," is a 1981 German TV film by Harald Lüders and Pavel Schnabel. The NY TIMES said: "The unusual fact about Rhina is that at one time, half its citizens were Jews. By 1939, the Jews were gone, no sign of them left but a desecrated cemetery... Mr. Luders and Mr. Schnabel... found a village of people who denied any part in... what had happened to their town's Jews." Luders and Schnabel managed to track down former residents of Rhina in New York, and of course they tell a different story, but what really sets this film apart is that they then return to Rhina with the footage from New York. It is a powerful and moving story, told in a mere 60 minutes.

Many films have been made about the events of World War II. Ray Huessy has chosen these four films in part because they all show the war's impact on particular people, in part because they were all made with the participation of the survivors and their families, but also because they are all marked by unusual (indeed, all too unusual) restraint.

Ray will provide a brief introduction to each film, and he hopes that you will consider staying after the showing of each movie for a period of questions and discussion, because part of the point of the series is that there are no "answers."

Event Info

Jan 10, 2025, 5 to 6 PM

Jan 11, 2025, 9 AM to 3:30 PM

Jan 13, 2025, 6:30 to 8:30 PM