Church to show film on couple’s work to save lives during WWII

Submitted by Unitarian Universalist Congregation

At 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road in McHenry, will join dozens of other venues around the world in premiering “Two Who Dared: The Sharps’ War,” a documentary about courage and sacrifice by a young couple fighting to save Jews and other potential victims of the Nazis at the onset of World War II.

After 17 ministers declined the American Unitarian Association’s request for relief volunteers in Europe, the Rev. Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha committed to the dangerous undertaking. They left their two young children in Wellesley, Mass., and traveled to Czechoslovakia.

In order to enable the clandestine transportation of refugees, they battled political and social blockades, broke laws to get imperiled individuals exit visas and laundered money on the black market. Over the course of two missions in Prague in 1939 and Southern France in 1940, the Sharps and their underground confederates played a vital role in saving thousands from persecution.

“If you remember the ‘letters of transit’ in the film ‘Casablanca,’ those were the kind of documents that the Sharps begged, borrowed, stole, or forged at great risk to help refugees escape war-torn Europe,” said Patrick Murfin, chair of the Social Justice Committee for the congregation which is sponsoring the screening.

Because of their actions to save Jews, the Sharps were named “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum. The official premier release of the film in April coincides with Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The film, which has already won honors at film festivals, was conceived, coproduced and directed by Artemis Joukowsky III, a grandson of the Sharps. He is an experienced documentary filmmaker, nonprofit activist, and venture capitalist.

The screening at the church will be followed by an open discussion period. Popcorn and refreshments will be available.

The program is open to the public. A voluntary $10 per family donation is requested to defer the cost of the program, but no one will be turned away. For information, contact Patrick Murfin at (815) 814-5645 or pmurfin@sbcglobal.net.