Jon Nehring: ‘Hidden Life’ shows power of quiet defiance
Published 1:30 am Saturday, July 10, 2021
By Jon Nehring / Herald Forum
I appreciate this opportunity, provided by The Daily Herald, to write a brief essay on something that I believe readers might find interesting. With no requirement to address a specific issue or topic, I wanted to share some thoughts about a recent movie that I found uniquely inspirational.
The movie is “A Hidden Life,” the true story of Franz Jagerstatter, who was a farmer in Austria who refused to swear an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler and fight for Nazi Germany in World War II. He had a unique quality of character that drove him to cut through the prevailing views of those all around him becoming quietly compliant in their perceived duty to support Hitler’s Nazi regime. Instead he saw the moral depravity that defined that regime. This stand would ultimately result in his imprisonment and execution by guillotine in 1943.
The movie unfolds over almost three hours and focuses on telling this story rather than supplying a lot of action, which makes it more powerful in many ways. As a viewer, you feel like you are watching the everyday idyllic life of a farmer and his family as he increasingly realizes he will be required to give it all up in order to stay true to his faith and moral convictions.
One of the striking things about Franz was that he stood alone, with the exception of his courageous wife, Franziska, who displayed similar courage standing by Franz knowing the difficulties that this would bring upon her and their children as well. Franz was no activist and he was not leading or part of any movement to defy Hitler and the Nazis. There was not so much as a few friends who even quietly encouraged or supported him in his courageous defiance. On the contrary, local leaders and neighbors consistently tried to talk him out of his stance and encouraged him to comply with his orders. He and his family were in many ways ostracized.
It occurred to me that Franz represents those throughout history who courageously and steadfastly stood by their convictions alone and with little or no expectation that their martyrdom would ever be known or recognized. This seems to be a unique suffering: to suffer alone and with no consolation that your stand is part of a larger movement that might live on or that your convictions are shared by those around you. We see this driven home by a quote from George Eliot shown at the end of the movie: “For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
Jagerstatter’s legacy might have died with him if it were not for an American, Gordon Zahn, stumbling upon his story while doing research in Europe. His interviews with Franz’s widow and others who knew him led to Zahn’s 1964 book, “In Solitary Witness.” In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Franz and declared him a martyr of the Catholic Church. His widow, Franziska was 94 and present at the ceremony.
Jon Nehring is the mayor of Marysville.
