A Blind Hero - The Love of Otto Weidt

Special Mention at the 2014 Haifa International Film Festival

A Blind Hero – The Love of Otto Weidt tells the story of the heroic Otto Weidt, who saved dozens of Jews from the Nazi death camps. Owner of a Berlin brush and broom factory in Berlin, Otto Weidt used cunning and his skills as an ingenious conman to outwit the Nazis and protect his staff, most of whom were Jewish and blind. When, in 1943, Berlin was declared Jew-free, Weidt was forced to find places for his employees to go underground for the duration of the war. Not all were able to escape and Alice Licht, Weidt’s former secretary, was deported to Auschwitz. Weidt, although nearly blind himself, set off desperately to persuade the authorities to free Alice and her family. Despite the age difference, Weidt was in love with the young Jew and, posing as a travelling brush salesman, took the gamble of pursuing her to Auschwitz.