[Unknown Heroes] written and directed by Robert Williams . This compelling fictional drama, set in the waning months of Hitler’s Third Reich, explores an overlooked aspect of the horrendous Holocaust – the interactions between a female Jewish resistance fighter and a sympathetic German cabaret singer who stand up against Nazi brutality and make the ultimate sacrifice to fight fascism.We first learn about our heroines through their daughters, who begin searching for their intertwined family histories through German SS archives. The action quickly shifts to Berlin in 1943, where we meet a cabaret singer (“Klara,” beautifully portrayed by Gudrun Buhler), who is having an affair with the head of the local Gestapo. Although Klara is disgusted by the crude and drunken behavior of the Nazis in her nightclub, she is strongly attracted to the handsome, virile Commandant Gunter (authentically acted by Rom Runni, who is hiding his affair from his fellow officers. Klara learns about the Nazi’s atrocities from her brother a wounded foot soldier who returns from the Russian front. This confirms her feelings about the Nazis and sets up an emotional confrontation with her SS lover in the coming scenes.
Dr. Judy Kuriansky, United Nations NGO representative, journalist