As concern grows about rising antisemitism in Europe, the Middle East and the United States, a new film about resistance to the Holocaust is being released.
Return to the Hiding Place, an independent production endorsed by Franklin Graham and the Holocaust Memorial in Israel, tells the story of Piet Hartog, drawn by his love for his girlfriend and her Aunt Corrie into joining a teenage resistance army that helps Jewish people escape.
Starring John Rhys-Davies, Craig Robert Young, David Thomas Jenkins, Mimi Sagadin, Rachel Spencer Hewitt and Suzy Brack, the film is based on a true story of teenagers who stood up to terrifying Nazi persecution of the Jews during the war in Holland.
Director Peter Spencer said: "I believe God timed this film for now to bring attention to the plight of believers in the Middle East and the church kind of being asleep at the wheel. I'm encouraging pastors to let the truth be known as to what is happening to believers," he told Baptist Press.
He wants church and youth groups to educate themselves about persecution of Christians and Jews in the Middle East and elsewhere.
He continued: "I'm encouraging pastors to let the truth be known as to what is happening to believers. Anti-Semitism is growing in colleges because the Left and extremists know if you can get young people believing something in college, they'll carry it their lives through. And right now the anti-Semitism is stronger than it's ever been ... for many, many years."
Return to the Hiding Place is based on the true story written by physics student Hans Poley who was sheltered by Corrie Ten Boom in the war, when he and a group of teenage students, some as young as 13, saved nearly 800 Jewish from being caught by the Nazis.
"This is a film literally about life," Spencer said. "It's about protecting innocent life."
Franklin Graham said Spencer had done an "incredible job" in creating a film that was "well-produced and powerful".
At least six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, along with many Romanies, homosexuals and also Christians.
