By Carla Charter

”Every life we touched had its own drama. One can only manage a miracle every so often but a series of miracles can happen when many people become concerned and are willing to act at the right time.” -Martha Sharp

When Artemis Joukowsky was given an assignment by his teacher—John Parseau at the Allen-Stevenson School in New York City—to interview and write a paper about someone with moral courage, little did he know it would lead him to his grandparents, Martha and Waitstill Sharp and their heroic missions in Europe during WWII to rescue gypsies, Jews, artists, philosophers and other targeted groups caught in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. With that assignment completed, Joukowsky continued his research his grandparent’s story for decades, piecing it together “through reading their letters and interviewing them over a 30-year period until they passed,” they said.

Waitstill and Martha’s story began in 1939, when Waitstill was serving as pastor of the Wellesley Unitarian Church in Wellesley. He and his wife were contacted by Everett Baker, vice president of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) and a congregation member, inviting them to go to Czechoslovakia to assist refugees fleeing the country.

“They were invited—17 other ministers and their partners were asked, who said no. They were the 18th choice,” Joukowsky said.

This was not an easy choice for the Sharps as they had two young children they would be leaving behind in the care of family. Yet, they went.

“There are seven principles of the Unitarian church—one of them is social justice,” said Larry Buell, lifelong member of the First Parish Congregational Unitarian Church of Petersham with service on the Program and Social Action committees.

The Sharps, working in Prague, went to work moving refugees to other countries, as Czechoslovakia was being threatened by Nazi invasion. The work was done, according to Joukowsky, “by getting visas, faking documents and doing whatever they could do... This put them very much at personal risk. If they were caught, they would have been killed.”

“These refugees were sent to the United States, England, Cuba, Dominican Republic, many, many places,” he added.

On March 15, 1939, Czechoslovakia fell to the Nazi regime. After being warned of imminent arrest, the Sharps escaped and soon found themselves in Lisbon, Portugal, assisting refugees from war-torn France.

Among those rescued by the Sharps was author Lion Feutchtwager, a German-Jewish author and anti-Nazi intellectual who had fled to France. In 1940, Martha organized a group of 27 refugee children who traveled from France to New York. In all, according to Joukowsky, the Sharps “rescued 400 (refugees) that we know of but over 2,000 that we think they may have helped.”

In 2005 the Sharps were conferred with the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the World’s Holocaust Remembrance Center. In 2006 a ceremony was held where a medal and certificate were presented to the Sharps’ daughter, Martha Sharp Joukowsky. This was done before an audience which included members of the Sharp family as well as Mrs. Eva Esther Feigl, one of the Jewish children rescued by the Sharps, according to the Yad Vashem website. As part of the honor, the Sharps name was added to the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashim in Jerusalem. More information about the Sharp’s can be found at www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/sharp.html.

The Sharp’s heroism and the dangers they faced are portrayed in the PBS award-winning documentary, ”Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,”written and co-directed by internationally recognized documentarian Ken Burns and Joukowsky as well as in a companion book. Joukowsky said “Burns was a fellow alum from Hampshire College, at annual reunions we met and he agreed after watching a cut of the film, to help me.”

The program was first aired on PBS in 2016. The book was published the same year along with a curriculum on Facing History and Ourselves.

Rev. Waitstill Sharp was the minister at the First Parish Congregational Unitarian Church in Petersham from 1967-1972. Joukowsky too has a connection with Petersham, spending a summer with his grandfather, living at what is now Earthlands. “….I spent a wonderful summer in 1972 living in Petersham...that period continues to be an inspiration and helped to inform my own environmental and community work.”

Rev. Sharp and his ministry at Petersham, as well as his international relief efforts, will be recognized and discussed at a multifaceted program at the Unitarian Church of Petersham on Sunday, May 7, which will include a 10:30 a.m. program and service in the church’s sanctuary with a presentation by Joukowsky. Immediately following the morning service will be the dedication of a special plaque in memory of Rev. Sharp, followed by refreshments. There will then be a showing of ”The Sharps’ War”at noon in the church dining room where Joukowsky will introduce the film and answer questions at the end.

“The program on Sunday, May 7th, in its various forms will offer a remarkable testimony of how individual actions can have international impact and actually save lives. Sharp’s action is an inspiration and can inspire people’s commitment to individual action during these trying times of transformation and change,” according to a press release about the program.

“When Waitstill retired from Petersham he moved to High Street in Greenfield and served as a guest preacher at All Souls Unitarian Church in Greenfield,” according to Buell. A similar event honoring Waitstill Sharp is being planned there for a later date, he continued.

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.

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