At this year’s presentation of the German-French Journalism Award in Paris, our documentary “Silent Saviour –

Survival in occupied France” (authors: Christian Frey and Susanne Witteck) is the award winner in the video

category.

As an outstanding examination of a pan-European topic, “Silent Saviours” contributes to a better understanding

between Germany and France. The GFJA stands for extraordinary journalistic work and that is exactly what Wittek

and Frey have achieved.

With the invasion by German military forces in 1940, the French Jews’ struggle for survival began. But 75% of them

lived through the Holocaust. The fact that tens of thousands of Jews could be saved by the civilian resistance of the

French population is hardly known in Europe. With their film, the authors tell the story of the circumstances behind

their rescue – and of the “silent saviours’” civilian resistance that made it possible.

In this documentary, director Christian Frey, who has won several Bavarian Film Awards, preserves the unique

memories of the rescuers and the rescued: an important chapter of the Franco-German past that has been made

into a film for the first time ever.