Hidden in Silence: Movie Review

I don’t know about you, but finances can get pretty tight around here. Our outings usually mean strolling up the street on Saturday night for wonderful piping hot pizzas from our favorite pizzeria-hangout, The Red Wolf. Eating out (unless you go elegant or eat a lot) is really pretty inexpensive here. We can get two round pizzas, water, and wine for about $10!! And I’m talking GOOD pizza! 🙂

Hubby knows that I have a serious pizza addiction, and that I don’t get out of the house much all week. So he spoils me that way. I am a blessed woman. But wait, I need to get to the point…

We’re always on the lookout for inexpensive ways to do something fun, educational, and special. So I love finding an especially good, clean, and decent DVD or documentary to watch, especially if they’re oldies or little-known films. And because I’m sure you’d like learning about them too, I’ll try to include them from time to time!

Hidden in Silence Movie

This inspiring 1996 TV movie tells the true and heart-warming story of Stefania Podgórski, born in 1926, and her courageous hiding of 13 Jews in her attic during WWII.

20-year old Stefania worked in a grocery owned by a Jewish family, the Diamants. And with her 7-year old sister, Helena, lived in her own apartment in Przemyśl (south-eastern Poland). Their father had died a few years earlier, and their mother and brother were sent off to forced labor in Germany.

After the war broke out and the Diamant family were interned in the ghetto, Stefania found work as a machine-tool operator. But remained friends with the family, communicating through smuggled letters.

The Diamant brothers, Max and Henek, escaped from the ghetto prior to its liquidation, and went into hiding with Stefania and Helena.

The story continues with their move to the suburbs into a one-family house with an attic. Where together, the two sisters hide and protect 13 Jewish men, women, and children in the attic.

With her earnings from the factory and what she made by knitting and selling clothing, Stefania purchased food for all 15 of them. But even Helena, young as she was, did her part by removing refuse, hauling water, and washing their clothing. Despite the danger, both sisters continued to courageously care for their family, using great caution and ingenuity to avoid discovery.

Afterward, when people praised Stefania for her bravery and compassion, she responded by saying that it was nothing special, and that she only did what needed to be done. To me, that’s the material of a true heroine!

Watch this trailer of this amazing story.

And then I’m sure you’ll want to find the film and see the whole story!

Reference: The Righteous Among the Nations Database.

Attic by Kincse.