Q & A: Gustav Goldberger, from the Documentary "The Rescuers"

Gustav Goldberger, a retired U.S. government attorney who has lived in Silver Spring since 1975 is featured in The Rescuers, one of the documentaries being screened at the 9^th Annual . Goldberger, with his three brothers and parents, were miraculously aided by German diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a serving member of the Nazi Party. Duckwitz was responsible for taking them from endangerment in their home country of Denmark by hiding them in a fishing boat, and taking them to the relative safety of Sweden.

Patch was able to sit down with Goldberger, to find out about his feelings on the film. 

Patch: What does it mean to you to be an integral part of the SilverDocs Film Festival?

Gustav Goldberger:  Doing this [the festival] in my own backyard really makes it very special. I have spoken to different groups young and old many times many times over the years – in fact I have spoken to people in Silver Spring a time or two, but this is the first time that it takes on special importance. The fact that I am local to this story and film, plus the fact that I am associated with a great guy [Emmy-award winning filmmaker] Michael King - I just find it to be a big honor to participate.

Patch: The film explores how lessons from World War II can be applied to modern events, such as genocide, but can the same lessons be applied to racial or ethnic issues in our community?

Goldberger: It really just comes down to human nature. You have to understand that people are people – they are either human or inhumane as you experience the situation. In Denmark as a young nine-year-old, I didn’t appreciate the importance of being concerned about your fellow man – which is something that can very much be useful with other issues like you mentioned. In Sweden it was unusual – the people in charge were very, very helpful to us Jews. There were seven or eight thousand of us, and they were treated just like Danes - there was no difference between Danish gentiles and Danish Jews. This was extremely unusual and fortunate for us. I wish other people could have experience. It’s hard to generalize and draw conclusions – there are those in Rwanda who were not as fortunate [as we were in Sweden] and experience unspeakable horrors. As I said, people appreciating the importance of being concerned about their fellow man is the best I can offer.

Patch: What changes have you seen in Silver Spring over your 35 years in the area?

Goldberger: Well, I always had the feeling then that I do now, that Silver Spring is a very nice community – and there is also a nice [Jewish] orthodox community within it. It’s really not that much different today than before, but from my observations over time, the people may be different, but the feelings are the same.

Patch: What do you like most about the “new” Silver Spring?

Goldberger: It’s exciting to watch it grow in certain ways. I am very much excited about the new – that should be just great for Silver Spring when it’s done. All in all, I am very pleased with Silver Spring and really the whole area. We live in Woodside which is just beautiful in the spring. We’ve raised four children in Silver Spring and they all went to good schools - I have absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to Silver Spring.

The Rescuers is scheduled to be screened at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22 in Discovery’s HD Theatre, and then again at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, June 23 at AFI’s Theatre #2.