'LADDER IN THE LIONS' DEN'
Austria, 2012.Awards and festivals:
2013. – Fallbrook International Film Festival, USA – Best Documentary Short, 2013. – Rincon International Film Festival, Puerto Rico – Best Documentary
Summary:
This is the true story of Leopold Engleitner, now 107 years old. A seemingly ordinary man who was given the choice between life or death, he found the extraordinary courage to stand by his conscience. Refusing to take up arms in support of Nazi aggression and to salute "Heil Hitler", his uncompromising stand put him and thousands of other Jehovah’s Witnesses directly in the crosshairs of the Third Reich. In exchange for his freedom, he was offered a document requiring him to renounce his faith and swear allegiance to Hitler. This-he refused.
After surviving Buchenwald, Niederhagen, and Ravensbrück concentration camps, he weighed less than sixty-two pounds, but his will remained unbroken.
