When she was 18 she moved to Switzerland so that she could go to school. But as the situation in Germany got worse, she started to fear for her family and ended up moving back to Berlin without anyone's permission. She witnessed first hand how they started treating the Jewish population and fearing what they might do to her mother, they would go up into the mountains often. It was here she ran into Helmuth once again. This time the crush blossomed into a relationship. However, Helmuth wanted to go to school to study Chemistry and the only way that would be possible is if he joined the army for at least 2 years.
While he was away, they wrote letters constantly. He would talk about his time in Russia, and how the other soldiers and himself didn't approve of the orders giving to them. They were told to bomb areas in Russia that were full of women and children. The instead would fire at areas away from the population until they were yelled at by their officers to change their aim. While he was away, Jetta and her family helped hid an individual that was being hunted by the Gestapo and listening to the BBC radio station, which was an act of treason.
When Helmuth returned to Germany, Jetta help get him a job with Stauffenberg and Werner von Haeften so he could be involved in the assassination attempt on Hitler (Operation Valkyrie). When things didn't go according to plan and the Gestapo came to their building, Haeften, who knew about Helmuth and Jetta's relationship, told him to save himself. The next day when he showed up and played dumb about the situation, they arrested him anyway and threw him in prison. Meanwhile the man that Jetta and her family was hiding couldn't take it anymore. He went outside and tried to shoot himself, but missed. The Gestapo took him also. Shortly afterwards, they arrested Jetta's parents. Jetta would hide at friend's places for the next few weeks before she turned herself in.
The Gestapo started putting people on trial, and almost everyone on trial was executed. With time running out and constant interrogation, Jetta decided to fake an illness. She manage to get a doctor to help her get information from the outside world to find out about her family and Helmuth. She found out that Helmuth and her father had trial dates set and her mother had been sent to a concentration camp.
This documentary has some great visuals provided from the family in it. Lots of home movies and pictures along with the letters that were written. Although this is made for TV it didn't have too many cheesy reenactments in it which was nice. And it gave a different perspective from Germans during the war. I really enjoyed Jetta. I remember when she would tell some of the stories about how she resisted or would just be a pain in their asses, that I just wanted to give her a high five (which probably isn't appropriate). But the documentary does make you feel like you're watching the History Channel.
Rating: ****
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