Audience Member
Certainly fascinating, with amazing footage, but it is a bit tedious at times. Fine narration, good interviews. It is good as an interesting different perspective on the holocaust era.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Extremely moving and heartfelt.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Holocaust is a subject that is close to my heart, having taught it as part of the history curriculum in high school years ago. I am always on the look-out for documentaries dealing with the subject and was pleased to come across this title recently. Unfortunately, it is no longer in production and one has to purchase it through third party sellers. That aside, "Unlikely Heroes" is an amazing documentary that focuses on ordinary people with extraordinary courage - those who stood up to the Nazis and defied them. Unlike most stories that focus on Righteous Gentiles, this documentary features Jewish heroes who did all they could, putting themselves at great risk, in order that they may save lives.
The first hero featured is Dr. Willy Perl, who had the foresight to realize the evils of the Nazi regime. Before Hitler's march into Austria, Dr. Perl worked together with the Greek underground to smuggle mostly Jewish youth into Palestine, evading the British naval patrols. What is even more amazing is that Perl continued his efforts after the Nazis had occupied Austria, obtaining Nazi permission to do so (as fantastic as that sounds, initially the Nazis did allow Jewish migration out of Europe). Unfortunately, many of the Jews themselves were not convinced that leaving for Palestine was a good idea and chose to remain behind, dooming themselves in the process. Perl did however rescue about 40,000 Jews this way.
The next to be featured is Robert Clary, who is most known for appearing in the cult tv show, "Hogan's Heroes". Clary ( original name Robert Widerman) had a harrowing experience after being deported from the French transit camp, Drancy with the rest of his family. His only means of survival proved to be his talents as a singer, compelled to put on shows for the SS, together with other inmates. One of the most poignant part of this retelling by Clary is when he recalls a letter his mother asked him to write to his brother Jacques whilst mother and son were travelling in the cattle train to the concentration camp. In the letter (which miraculously makes its way to Jacques), Clary's mother reminds Jacques to pick up the laundry, a mundane chore which Clary later reflects "Would she have asked Jacques to do that if she knew her destination was the gas chamber?" Entertaining in the camps proved not only a means to survive, but more importantly kept Clary's spirits up, as it did the other inmates. Clary would eventually survive the notorious death marches.
Clary's account is followed by Recha Sternbuch's story who helped numerous numbers of people into neutral Switzerland from her home in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She made these Jewish refugees feel safe and comfortable in her own home, providing them a safe haven before seeing them cross into Switzerland on their way to Latin America and other places. This ordinary woman who was a wife and mother and daughter of a Rabbi, undertook many risks to save lives, showing extraordinary courage. Over and over again, she did the unimaginable, including crossing over into German-occupied territory to save Jews who had been arrested by the Gestapo and who were destined for the death camps. I found the account of how she broke the Jewish Sabbath in order to save the lives of three boys to be compelling and eye-opening, for it truly portrays the value she placed on human lives.
The next story features German-Czech artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis who was incarcerated in Theresienstadt during the war. Here, she taught art to the children of the camp, though this was done in secret. She became a surrogate mother to almost 100 children. Most heartrending is the account of how she reached out to Jewish children from Germany who arrived almost in a state of catatonic shock after witnessing the deaths of their parents at the hands of the Nazis. Through this art 'therapy' many of these children were given a sense of hope and continuity, but sadly, Ms Brandeis became another victim of the Nazis and died in the gas chamber in 1944.
Lithuanian partisan Leon Kahn is the next hero and his story is one of grit and courage. Having lost numerous members of his own family during the Holocaust, Leon joins a partisan group and carries out acts of sabotage against the enemy, blowing up bridges, and killing Nazis as well as Nazi collaborators.
The next story features one that is quite familiar to me (through books and also movie dramatization) and it is of the Sonderkommando revolt in Auschwitz in Oct 1944. The story centers on Hanka Wajcblum (Anna Heilman) who together with other friends helped to smuggle gunpowder to a Sonderkommando unit in Auschwitz that was used to blow up one of the crematoriums. Though many of the women were tortured, Hanka evaded capture and survived to tell her story.
The last story is about Pinchas Rosenbaum, from Hungary. Extremely courageous, Pinchas donned different guises, even as high-ranking Nazis and Arrow Cross members to help fellow Jews escape the Nazi death net.
At the end of the documentary, viewers are told what happened to these heroes, and it is interesting to note that these amazing individuals do not consider themselves as heroes, but as decent human beings acting according to the dictates of their conscience. It is a stark reminder to all of us that individual acts of courage are significant, and it is our responsibility to speak out against injustice and atrocities.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Jews forgetting about their own safety to help their people..against the attrocities of Nazi and other demonic forces. I loved it....
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Stories of extraordinary courage and resolve against the Nazis. Produced by Moriah Films of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
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