ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER
Special to The Jewish News
Sam Waterston as Karl Koster, a
doctor who increasingly becomes
in the rescue e.ffilrt when
in
his hospital takes Jews into biding
as -Christian." patients. Says
Miterston, who ploys Assistant
District Attorney jack McCoy in
".Law and Order": "The most
astonishing and puzzling part of
the story is that the whole world
went nutsfr a while, but somehow,
the Danes didn't go crazy."
Photos by Frank Ockenfels/D isney
T
he Wonderful World of
Disney" may seem like an
unlikely venue for telling a
tale from the darkest days
of the century, the Holocaust. But at 7
p.m. Sunday, May 17, the series will
present "Miracle at Midnight," a
Holocaust story with a decidedly
uplifting message.
It's the harrowing story of how the
Danes banded together in an act of
extraordinary heroism — opening
their hearts, homes, businesses and
wallets — to save the lives of thou-
sands of Danish Jews during World
War II. The two-hour movie, which
stars Sam Waterston and Mia Farrow,
is based on historical events and takes
place in the fall of 1943.
The story begins on the eve of
Rosh Hashanah, when the Nazis are
scheming to round up all the Danish
Jews at midnight and deport them to
concentration camps.
The plan is leaked, word is spread,
and immediately the Danes reach out
to the Jews in an extraordinary rescue
effort.
Jews were hidden in Christian
homes, in hospitals, even morgues. At
midnight, when the Nazis stormed
their houses, only 432 of Denmark's
7,500 Jews were captured, says Co-
Executive Producer Merrill Karpf. The
rest had disappeared, ferried to neutral
Sweden during a week-long period as
Danish fisherman carried desperate
Jewish refugees the two miles across a
narrow straight for the approximate
sum of $2,000 per head.
"Ironically," continues Karpf, "most
of [those captured] survived a special
concentration camp set up by the Nazis
as a 'showplace' where the Red Cross
has regular access. A small number —
about 50 people — actually died there,
mostly of natural causes or old age."
It's a story that Co-Executive
Producer John Davis knows well, hav-
ing heard it firsthand from family
members. Davis' father-in-law was
among the Danes who risked their
lives and hid Jews in their attic. "My
father-in-law used to tell me stories
about how his family and others pro-
tected the Jews," recalls Davis, who is
Jewish, "and I thought this was an
incredible story that should be told.
"The wonderful World of Disney" presents a show about
the Holocaust that is suitable even for young children.
5/15
1998
1 6
Alice Burdick Schweiger is an Ann
Arbor-based freelance writer. Eirik
Knutzen of Copley News Service con-
tributed to this story.