SAVING HELGA Screenplay by David Whitehead A fictional story inspired by true events Email:
[email protected] Draft © 2012 Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all dialogue spoken by Germans will be in the German language and subtitled Memories... 'Although I didn't know it at the time, as the Gestapo slammed the door behind them, they were also slamming the door on my youth, my innocence, my family happiness and, ultimately, my father's life.' A refugee remembering Kristallnacht "England became my home, my great love. And today, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night on which my happy childhood ended, I am intensely grateful to England, this good and compassionate country that saved my life." Another refugee BLACK SCREEN Silence - then... OVER BLACK WE HEAR people screaming, shouting, glass being smashed, gunshots, fires crackling... THEN NEWSREEL FOOTAGE slowly FADES UP. Grainy black-and- white. Absolutely shockingly, frighteningly, real. WE SEE Nazi storm troopers smashing everything Jewish. Burning, demolishing, assaulting Jews who dare to complain to them. SUPER: ‘GERMANY - NOVEMBER 1938’ THEN WE HEAR the strident tones of a newsreel commentator becoming emotional about Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). NEWSREEL COMMENTATOR (V.O.) ...On November 9th, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels announced a government sanctioned reprisal against the Jews. Synagogues were ravaged and then burned. Jewish shop windows were broken. Jews were beaten, raped, arrested, and murdered. Throughout Germany and Austria, the pogrom rampaged. NOTE: Newsreel footage of Kristallnacht to accompany all commentary NEWSREEL COMMENTATOR (V.O.) Police and firefighters stood by as synagogues burned and Jews were beaten, only taking action to prevent the spread of fire to non- Jewish owned property and to stop looters on the orders of propaganda minister Goebbels.