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In 1943, Joseph Goebbels proudly declared Berlin “free of Jews.” Though he did come markedly close to his goal, around 1,700 Jews managed to endure in secret through the war. “The Invisibles” tells the stories of a few of these survivors, bringing their astonishing histories to life in straightforward but consistently compelling fashion.

Director Claus Räfle interviews four Jews who are now in their 90s, all of whom eloquently share their experiences as teenagers in Berlin. Interspersed with their memories are dramatic re-enactments, a risky approach handled with enough skill to add to the film’s depth.

Hanni Weissenberg was an orphan when she was forced, at 17, into a terrifying homelessness. As played in flashback by Alice Dwyer, she dyes her hair blonde and spends her days seeking refuge in movie theaters. Every soldier who flirts with her brings untold danger, but one winds up offering crucial salvation.

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Ruth Arndt (played by Ruby O. Fee) and her friend Ellen (Victoria Schulz) are young women who also have to tread very carefully. They are lucky enough to have each other to rely on, but together, they become a larger target. Posing as war widows, they find a very precarious safety by working for the family of a Nazi leader. They also have to evade the notorious Stella Goldschlag (Laila Maria Witt), another Jewish student — and a fascinating historical villain — who protects herself and her own family by turning her friends in to the Gestapo.

Eugen Friede (Aaron Altaras, “Mario”) finds himself in a more fortunate situation: Aided by sympathetic Communists, Socialists and Christians, he lives relatively openly in nice homes with plenty of food. But as risks increase and neighbors betray neighbors, he has to go further underground. He winds up joining a resistance group led by the famously heroic Hans Winkler (Andreas Schmidt) and Werner Scharff (Florian Lukas, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”). Also connected with Scharff is Cioma Schönhaus (standout Max Mauff, “Sense8”), who erases his own identity while creating new ones as an expert passport forger. Even as his work saves dozens of other lives, he repeatedly endangers his own.

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Räfle’s docudrama approach comes with the risk of disjointed storytelling. But he handles each element with a sure hand, bringing us both a fascinating documentary and a suspenseful drama. Crucially, the screenplay and uniformly strong performances support, rather than undermine, the true-life narration. And though we see the aged subjects intermittently interviewed in comfortable surroundings, we are fully invested in the tenuous experiences their younger, dramatized selves endure.

Their stories are so unique as to seem impossible, but the survivors all have qualities in common. Foremost, in both the present and their depicted past, they are all strikingly practical. Though still baffled and saddened by the inhumanity they faced, they also recount their persecution and personal valor in purely matter-of-fact fashion.

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Each also takes pains to highlight two other crucial elements of their survival. They all made it through the war thanks to both unusual good luck and the extraordinary kindness of others. There were, of course, millions of Germans who either turned a blind eye to their leaders’ cruelty or actively supported it, but there were many others who resisted, often at great danger to themselves. According to Räfle, as many as 10 people had to risk their own lives to hide a single Jewish friend or neighbor.

“The Invisibles” is a powerful testament to the remarkable courage of those forced into heroism, and to the exceptional strength of those who chose it freely.

13 Rare WWII Documentaries Now Streaming Thanks to 'Five Came Back'

Netflix’s documentary series “Five Came Back” profiles the wartime experience of five Old Hollywood directors who all served in World War II: John Ford, Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler and George Stevens. For years, the films they made about the war were hard to find or completely unavailable to the public. But now Netflix is making them available for streaming. Here’s the story on each:
Courtesy of Netflix
“The Battle of Midway” – directed by John Ford (1942)

“At that moment, reality comes to him, and he moves to meet it.” That’s a quote from Paul Greengrass in “Five Came Back,” describing John Ford’s filmmaking in “The Battle of Midway,” a brief, 18-minute doc that ended up winning an Oscar. It was the first real war footage audiences had ever seen, and Ford gets right in the thick of the carnage.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Prelude to War” – directed by Frank Capra (1942)

Frank Capra was faced with a challenge: How to make a propaganda film as scarily effective as Leni Reifenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will?” He ultimately turned some of that film’s footage against the Nazis as a way to rally Americans. “Let our boys see these guys,” Capra says in “Five Came Back. “We shoot nothing.”
Courtesy of Netflix
“World War II: Report from the Aleutians” – directed by John Huston (1943)

John Huston was frustrated that he was assigned to Alaska, away from the action, for his first film as part of the war. He narrates a clinical documentary about life among U.S. soldiers protecting the Aleutian Islands that could serve as a gateway for a Japanese attack.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia" – directed by Frank Capra (1943)

The first of Capra’s seven planned (unfinished) training films designed to boost morale and sell the war to the American people highlighted the “scale and grandeur” of the Soviet Union military, and the need for our alliance with the Soviets against the Nazis.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines” – directed by John Ford (1943)

This Ford training film teaches OSS agents how to use aliases, concealment, ambush techniques and more. Ford even acts in the film.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Tunisian Victory” – directed by Frank Capra, John Huston (1944)

The U.S. Army wanted a response to the invigorating “Desert Victory” put out by the British film unit, so Capra and Huston cobbled together this film of mostly staged footage in an African battle.
Courtesy of Netflix
“The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress” – directed by William Wyler (1944)

William Wyler spent countless hours in the air with the crew of B-17 bombers doing raids over Germany. He came to know them so well, he wrote a letter to the parents of a lost pilot. As a Jew, Wyler risked worse than capture if something went wrong. But the finished film was the first movie ever reviewed on the front page of The New York Times.
Courtesy of Netflix
“The Negro Soldier” – directed by Stuart Heisler (1944)

Writer Carlton Moss felt black soldiers serving in World War II were being underserved, so he made an effort to tackle issues of race and sidestep the traditional problems and stereotypes seen in other training and propaganda films.
Courtesy of Netflix
“San Pietro” – directed by John Huston (1945)

Huston was in San Pietro when the Allies invaded Italy and witnessed the battle firsthand. The footage was so realistic, years went by before anyone realized it was staged. However, the wounded and dead American soldiers on film were all real. The government at first felt the film would ruin morale and that Huston had made an anti-war film. “If I ever make a pro-war film, I ought to be shot,” Huston once said.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Nazi Concentration Camps” – directed by George Stevens (1945)

Shortly after being on the front lines at D-Day, George Stevens was witness to the horrors of the concentration camps in Dachau. He captured incredibly graphic footage ultimately used in the Nuremburg trials, saying he planned on “using the camera to gather evidence.”
Courtesy of Netflix
“Know Your Enemy: Japan” – directed by Frank Capra (1945)

Capra made a series of American propaganda films that targeted Axis forces. “Know Your Enemy – Japan” got delayed because it didn’t know whether to blame the emperor or the Japanese people themselves. It ended up being called “brutally jingoistic and horribly racist” in “Five Came Back” and fueled some of the Japanese racism in ‘40s America.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Let There Be Light” – directed by John Huston (1946)

Huston took a sentimental eye to filming combat veterans recovering from psychological trauma before post-traumatic stress was even a term. But the U.S. government buried it, feeling it counterproductive to postwar efforts. It was finally released in 1981 and is now preserved in the Library of Congress.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Thunderbolt” – directed by William Wyler (1947)

Wyler was ahead of his time when he mounted cameras inside small fighter planes, getting creative to get the shots and not hurt the aerodynamics of the plane itself. As a result, he captured striking aerial footage of fighters making attacks over Germany, all of it in color.
Courtesy of Netflix

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Films from John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, John Huston and George Stevens are now available on Netflix

Netflix’s documentary series “Five Came Back” profiles the wartime experience of five Old Hollywood directors who all served in World War II: John Ford, Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler and George Stevens. For years, the films they made about the war were hard to find or completely unavailable to the public. But now Netflix is making them available for streaming. Here’s the story on each:

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