Surviving Hitler: A Love Story

When Jutta was 15 she was more interested in boys than in politics. But that changed when the Nuremberg race laws labeled Jutta a half-Jew and an enemy of the state. Outraged, Jutta and her parents joined the German resistance. There Jutta met Helmuth, a young German soldier. Throughout the Russian campaign, Jutta and Helmuth exchanged love letters and their relationship deepened. When Helmuth returned to Germany with an injury, Jutta visited him in the hospital and explained the true horrors of the Nazi regime-- details that had been kept from the soldiers. When Helmuth was released from the hospital, Jutta secured him a job working on Project Valkyrie. On July 20th 1944, the plot to kill Hitler failed and Hitler sought to destroy all those who had conspired against him. Immediately Helmuth was arrested, then a month later Jutta's parents were also arrested. Jutta had the sinking feeling that she would never see her loved ones again. Jutta was a wreck. Night after night she hid from the Gestapo. She ran from friend's house to friend's house thinking about what to do next. Finally after hiding for two weeks, she decided that the only way she could help her loved ones was to turn herself in. What Jutta didn't know at that time was that luck was shining upon her family. And it's this element of luck that sets 'Surviving Hitler: A Love Story' apart. By the films end, we realize Jutta's remarkable good fortune: Jutta maintained her innocence under interrogation, Nazi paperwork saved Helmuth from execution, Jutta's mother walked out of Ravensbrück concentration camp alive, and Jutta's father was saved by the Russians. In fact, all four members of Jutta's family reunited within one hour on VE day. Even more remarkable, Jutta and Helmuth held the first wedding in post-war Berlin. 'Surviving Hitler: A Love Story' tells a story from a well-documented time in history, but it does so in a unique way. The story is told from a young woman's perspective, a rebellious teenager who is more concerned with love than with politics. Yet when the Nazis dismiss her, she enters the political fray and fights back. The miraculous twist is that despite all the odds stacked against them, Jutta and her family essentially 'win.' Love and luck triumph in this dark chapter of human history. This film benefits from one other unique perspective. Helmuth was an amateur cinematographer and his never-seen-before footage offers an intimate window into this dramatic, historical story.