Willem & Frieda - Resistance against the Nazis: Stephen Fry's important documentary on politically difficult times

It can be observed in many western countries, a shift to the right that is as clear as it is worrying. No matter how great the efforts to prevent forgetting may be, the poll ratings of right-wing parties and, not least, the current developments in the USA show how quickly history can be blurred.

With the documentary "Willem & Frieda - Resistance against the Nazis", writer, screenwriter and actor Stephen Fry (67) proves exactly that - and at the same time honors two heroes of the Nazi era, who even some historians have probably never heard of. The almost 70-minute documentary is already available via History Play (via Amazon and YouTube), Wow and Sky as well as via the on-demand offers from Telekom and Vodafone. It can also be seen on the History Channel on February 27th at 1:10 a.m.

They saved countless lives - that's what the documentary is about

While the Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, the gay painter Willem Arondeus and the lesbian cellist Frieda Belinfante forged identity cards to save thousands of Jews from certain death. But because there were duplicates of the identity cards in the Amsterdam Central Archives to prevent such forgeries, they were forced to pull off a real coup - the duplicates had to be secretly destroyed.

"Would I be so brave?"

"Thousands of people risked their lives to help the Jews," Fry suggests, using the example of Willem and Frieda. One of the central questions in his documentary is therefore one that he has often asked himself, but could probably never answer with certainty: "Would I be as brave? I would like to believe so. But would I really be? We would all like to believe that we would have raised our voices."

Fry speaks to Dutch historians about the duo and learns about the immense personal sacrifices both Willem and Frieda made for other people. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up for groups you don't belong to," Fry sums up, referring to current developments in an interview about the documentary. "In today's world, it is difficult for many to understand what it means to belong to an oppressed minority. That makes those who stand up for gays, lesbians, transgender or other queer people all the more admirable, even if they are not personally affected."

Why don’t we know Willem and Frieda?

The fact that Willem and Frieda were homosexual raises another interesting question: "How much do you have to belong to a minority to feel sympathy for other minorities?" Because even Stephen Fry, who is very interested in history and is also homosexual, had not heard anything about the two until recently, their work touched him particularly deeply: "What concerned me most was that their names initially simply disappeared from history. Even most Dutch people had not even heard of them for a long time."

His heart's project "Willem & Frieda - Resistance against the Nazis" changes this in a lasting way and is intended to sharpen the view of the here and now: "Look at this life, look at what Willem and Frieda did, see what happened to them - then you understand history."

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