The public is invited to the premiers of a new documentary based on the 2021 World War II memoir of Great Bend native Mildred Schindler Janzen. The film, “Mildred’s Escape: A WW II Survival Story” follows her book “Surviving Hitler, Evading Stalin - One Woman’s Remarkable Escape from Nazi Germany,” said Becky Wasson, a Claflin resident and director of the Farmer Township Library in Bushton, the site for one of the viewings.
In all, three showings of the 20-minute film are planned:
• 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at the Ellsworth Senior High School Performing Arts Center with a reception to follow.
“She wanted the kids to know about this part of history,” Wasson said of Janzen. The is especially important in light of what is going on in the world now, she added.
• 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at the First Baptist Church in Lorraine with refreshments to follow.
“This is her church,” Wasson said. “She spent a lot of time in the Lorraine area.”
• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the Farmer Township Library in Bushton (enter from the east at the Bushton Plaza).
The library was the site of one of her book signings and Wasson said they wanted the first showing to be there as well. But, the scheduling just didn’t work.
Janzen, 94, now of Ellsworth, related her life in her 2021 memoir, coauthored by Janzen and Mississippi biographer Sherye Simmons Green. The book is a chronicle of Janzen’s journey, from Hitler’s Nazi regime to Stalin’s conquest of eastern Europe to her arrival to the United States and central Kansas.
“She’s an exceptional woman,” Wasson said. “She’s got more spunk than I’ll ever have. She’s a go-getter.”
