Ontsnapt / Entkommen

Film and book presentation
and Interview with the Directors via Zoom 

The film tells the story of nine young women who, at the end of World War II, were forced onto the horrific Death Marches from the women’s external part of Buchenwald concentration camp near Leipzig. Their courage and friendship, solidarity in detention and determination to not die a pointless death at a young age, helped them escape.

Shortly after the war, Suzanne Maudet aka Zaza began her records, which were not published until 2004 and became a valuable source for this film. The women, who had been involved in the Resistance in France and the Netherlands, were arrested in 1944 and deported to Germany. Some of them knew each other from school, others met in concentration camps or as forced laborers in the German munitions factory HASAG. Along the way, they took every opportunity to learn about the course of the war and to plan acts of sabotage.

It is both impressive and moving to see the contemporary witnesses Lon and Christine break their silence after so many years, sharing their experiences with the public in this film project. Both were over ninety years old at the time the footage was shot. They talk about their decision to join the Resistance and how their will to survive helped them in the Nazi camps. On the Death March, they arrange their escape, passing through hostile Germany for several days until they reach the Allies and finally regain freedom.

Suzanne Maudet’s book is called “Neuf filles jeunes qui ne voulaient pas mourir” (“Nine Young Girls Who Did Not Want to Die”).

Before both screenings, there will be a reading with translator Ingrid Scherf.