The most unlikely heroes of World War II are a pastor and his wife

[rug]

Martha and Watistill Sharp depart New York Harbor for Prague in 1939. Photo: Courtesy of Sharp Family Archives

By Isabel Vincent
September 17, 2016 | 2:46pm

On Feb. 4, 1939, almost a year after German troops had marched into Czechoslovakia, a Massachusetts couple left their picture-perfect home on a secret and perilous journey to Prague.

The documentary “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War” will premiere on PBS on September 20th.
Waitstill Sharp, a young, bespectacled Unitarian minister and his pretty wife Martha left behind their two small children to travel to a city under siege with a mission of helping political dissidents and Jews escape the Nazis any way they could.

“I knew it was illegal, but I did it because I had no other choice,” wrote Waitstill Sharp, describing how he traveled in and out of Czechoslovakia seven times in order to launder money on the black market to obtain funds for dozens of Czechs trying to flee Europe. “I owed no ethics to anybody. I owed no honesty to anybody if I could save imperiled human lives.”

The Sharps’ secret work on behalf of the Unitarian Church is told for the first time in “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,” a documentary directed by their grandson Artemis Joukowsky and Emmy Award-winner Ken Burns. Using family photographs, interviews with some of the refugees they saved, letters and even sermons (read by Tom Hanks), the filmmakers piece together the story of two of the unlikeliest heroes of World War II. The Sharps are among only five American non-Jews honored by the Holocaust Memorial in Israel for saving Jews.



The documentary “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War” will premiere on PBS on September 20th.

http://nypost.com/2016/09/17/the-most-unlikely-heroes-of-world-war-ii-are-a-pastor-and-his-wife/

[Glassunion]

1. K&R

[mrmpa]

2. Thank you. Just dvr'd it.....n/t