Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills this Thursday at 7:30pm is hosting a discussion with two producers of a documentary set to premiere next year that tells the story of Martha and Waitstill Sharp, a Wellesley couple credited with saving hundreds of Jews from Nazi persecution during the Holocaust.

The Sharps lived in Wellesley and Waitstill Sharp was a minister for the Unitarian Church. But they headed to Europe during World War II to help people escape through Czechoslovakia. The Sharps have been recognized for their heroism through such honors as being named Righteous Among the Nations, and now a documentary called “Two Who Dared” will tell their story (the film will include scenes from Wellesley and the church).

From the film site:

In February 1939, Waitstill Sharp, a young Unitarian minister from Boston, and his wife Martha left for Czechoslovakia on a refugee mission. For months, the Unitarian Church had been receiving alarming reports from Prague over the plight of refugees. The Sharps arrived in Prague, home to the largest Unitarian church in the world, with $28,000 in monetary aid. The Unitarian church was already a step in front of the Nazis, having set up a secretive network of volunteers and agencies to secure the safe passage of both Jews and non-Jews out of Prague. The task became even more difficult when on March 15, 1939 the Nazis entered Prague. For the next five months, the Sharps continued their work undaunted by the presence of the Gestapo and the possibility that they would be arrested or killed. In August 1939, the couple left Prague and headed back to the United States, barely escaping arrest.