Nearby Filmmakers Document Jewish Bravery in Nazi Germany

Rachel Fisher and Rachel Pasternak, documentary filmmakers and residents of Maplewood, NJ, have embarked upon a fundraising campaign to raise $20,000 in 30 days for their film, Prinz: The Courage to Speak.

Prinz: The Courage to Speak is a film about controversy, history and the power of a voice.

In Berlin in the 1930s, the civil rights of Jews were systematically stripped away. A young rabbi refused to be silent. His name was Joachim Prinz, and he set out to restore the self-esteem of the German Jews. Knowing the Nazis were monitoring his every word, and despite repeated arrests, Prinz continued to preach about the value of Judaism.

As rabbi of Temple B'nai Abraham in Newark and later as the President of the American Jewish Congress, Prinz became a leader of the civil rights movement. Prinz worked to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, declaring "bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence." Moments later, Martin Luther King, Jr. would deliver his timeless "I Have a Dream" speech.

Prinz continued to speak out for justice, taking sometimes unpopular positions on peace in Israel, women's rights and the Vietnam War. "I detest uniformity of thought," he wrote. "I love a controversial discussion."

Prinz: The Courage to Speak will be released in 2013, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington—a pivotal event for Prinz and for our country. The documentary will be broadcast with PBS affiliates in New York (WNET/13) and New Jersey (WLIW/21).

The fundraising campaign is launching on Kickstarter.com, a website that has helped filmmakers, artists and entrepreneurs raise thousands of dollars. In keeping with Kickstarter’s innovative approach, Fisher and Pasternak have 30 days to raise their goal of $20,000 or their project gets nothing. Visit here to help their project.