by James M. Thunder
Released before Christmas, A Hidden Life, is the story of Franz Jaegerstaetter (or Jägerstätter) (1907-1943), an Austrian farmer, who was executed for refusing induction into Hitler’s army. He left behind his wife, Fani, and their three children, one of them with special needs. I use this photo of Franz because it is so jarring to see him in military uniform -- in 1940. The film is written and directed by Terrence Malick who was nominated for Oscars for Tree of Life (2011) and The Thin Red Line (1998).
We will always need stories like Franz’, stories like the elderly Eleazar in 2 Maccabees 6, the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7, Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) and Wegemer’s A Portrait of Courage (1995), and so many more. We will need them whenever and wherever, as Isaiah says (5:20), what is good is deemed by the world evil and what is evil is deemed by the world good. Franz’ story is timely when so many of us today seek conscientious objection (not only “religious exemption”) to participation in or funding of abortion, to participation in same-sex “marriages,” to participation in sex-change surgeries, to the teaching on these subjects to our children.
