Saviors in the Night

“Saviors In the Night” is the true story of Marga Spiegel (played by Veronica Ferres in the film). She was hidden – along with her husband Seigfried, and her young daughter, Karin – by farmers in Western Germany during the last two years of WWII to save them from deportation to an extermination camp in the east.

The film is directed by Ludi Boeken and based on the memoirs of Marga Spiegel which were published in 1965.

Says Marga Spiegel, “One does not write about this kind of thing like you write about things or a journey because writing about it brings up the memories again, things you had to forget in order to live on.”

To Veronica Ferres, playing a historic figure who is still alive proved a challenge. She says, “A woman of her background, of her education, had to move naturally among pig dung and milking the cows, just like any other farmer, in order not be found out. She did not know if she would ever see her husband again. This withdrawal but still being present was a big challenge for me as an actress and it was a great responsibility as well, to hold Marga’s life in my hands.”

The film is released in Germany this week under the original title Unter Bauern.

For the official film site see:

www.unterbauern-derfilm.de

For more information see
www.imdb.com/title/tt1298617

Copyright © 2009 euronews

tags: Germany, Historical drama, World War II