2009 · Movie
Unter Bauern
Saviors in the Night
1943 Münsterland. Living in Ahlen, Siegmund Spiegel - Menne to his friends - is a decorated WWI German veteran, now facing persecution by the German Nazi rulers as a Jew. On the night before he and his wife and adolescent daughter, Marga and Karin, are scheduled to be taken away east, from where no Jew has ever yet returned, he searches out his friend from the war, Hermann Aschoff, who volunteers at his own risk to take in Marga and Karin at his farmhouse outside of Capelle. They are to pass as gentiles, taking the last name Krone, with their story being that they are evacuees from bombed out Dortmund. Menne knows he is not invited as his appearance is too stereotypically Jewish, and as such he would need to go into hiding. Aschoff is only to tell his somewhat disapproving wife the truth behind Marga and Karin's identity. Still, Marga and Karin's stay will not be an easy one as the Aschoff's oldest son, Klemens, is a German soldier on his way to the Russian front, and their eldest daughter, Anni, has long been a loyal member of German Girls' League, which supports the Nazi regime. In addition, Anni's friend, Erich Reimann, the leader of the regional Boys' League, is always hanging around in his interest in Anni. Marga and Karin's safety could be threatened by any small mistake Marga, Karin or the Aschoff parents may make in hiding their identities, and/or a changing view by the Aschoffs either of the Nazis or Jews.