Some Finnish officials would have been all too willing to comply with the Gestapo’s demand to deport the refugees. Stiller, himself Jewish and a respected member of Finnish society, dedicates himself from the outset to protecting Jewish asylum seekers in Finland. To prevent their deportation to Germany, he employs them in his textile business, thereby securing them residence permits. However, when some of the refugees are forcibly sent to labour camps near German military positions in northern Finland, the situation escalates, and Stiller is forced to confront his conscience.
Based on Rony Smolar’s biography Setä Stiller: Valpon ja Gestapon välissä (“Uncle Stiller: Between Valpo and the Gestapo”), director and screenwriter Klaus Härö’s gripping historical drama NEVER ALONE tells the true story of a man who, in the climate of Finnish-German collaboration during the Second World War, does everything in his power to save Jews from deportation.
The fate of the Jews deported from Finland to Germany and, from there, to their deaths in the Auschwitz extermination camp was long considered taboo in Finland. It is also explored in the documentary DAVID – STORIES OF HONOUR AND SHAME (1997), which is likewise part of the 32nd JFBB programme.
Text: Bernd Buder
Special Screenings:
6.05. 20:00 NORDISCHE BOTSCHAFTEN FELLESHUS | GEMEINSCHAFTSHAUS
Rauchstraße 1 | 10787 Berlin
7.05. 19:00 JÜDISCHE GEMEINDE LK OBERHAVEL
ehnitzstraße 36 | 16515 Oranienburg
8.05. 18:00 OBENKINO COTTBUS
Straße der Jugend 16 | 03046 Cottbus
9.05. 19:30 JÜDISCHES THEATERSCHIFF MS GOLDBERG
Ruhlebener Str. / Sedanstr. | 13581 Berlin-Spandau