A young Mexican migrant worker and a German POW in a western Nebraska internment camp fall in love against the backdrop of WW2 and the prejudice and ignorance of the locals toward the Mexicans they don’t trust and the German prisoners they reluctantly need.

SYNOPSIS:

TITLE: Love in the Time of War

WRITER: Aaron Heinrich

FORMAT: Feature/WWII Love Story

LOG LINE – A young Mexican migrant worker and a German POW in a western Nebraska internment camp fall in love against the backdrop of WW2 and the prejudice and ignorance of the locals toward the Mexicans they don’t trust and the German prisoners they reluctantly need.

COMPS: Love Story, A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars

WHY THIS STORY NOW: The Way Things Are is told against two overlooked elements of WW2. Over 400,000 German POWs were brought to the United States to fill the jobs in the fields and factories that were short on labor due to the war. The Bracero Act brought thousands of Mexican migrant workers into the country at the same time to fulfill the same need. This story takes place where I lived until I was 12 and saw the prejudice toward the Mexicans living there and heard about the German POWs. It is the story of two people finding love in the face of embedded prejudice and the effect of the war on a small midwestern town. These would be career-defining roles for the young actors who convey Maria and Josef’s love story.

Summer 1944 after D-Day

MARIA GONZALEZ (16) and JUAN (late 30s, father), CAROLINA (late 30s, mother) and DOLORES (14-year-old sister) come to Scottsbluff, Nebraska in June 1944 as migrant workers to work the sugar beet and bean fields that make up most of the farming in the area.

JOSEF HERTL(19) is a German POW with little battle experience who finds himself at Camp Scotts Bluff weeks after the Battle of Normandy. He and his fellow POWs must work the same fields, farms and in the sugar beet factory alongside Maria’s family and other migrant workers.

Maria and her family are sponsored by HERMAN and EVA KUKAS, a farm couple in their mid-50s who lose both of their sons in the war. They treat the migrant workers humanely, giving them a decent place to live, running water and electricity while migrant workers on other farms live in shacks. They have no regard for the German POWs, but reluctantly accept their labor.

Juan is intent on making this be the start of a new life for his family. He asks for a radio so they can learn English. They work hard in the day and try to make the most of their evenings. Then Josef and half a dozen POWs arrive on the Kukas farm. While they provide Herman some reluctantly needed help, it also puts Josef and Maria working together in the fields, creating the opportunity for their attraction to begin and grow.

In one example of the varied prejudices of the community, a woman who is helping Eva sees what the POWs are eating for lunch and gives them more food. She makes no attempt to do the same for Maria and her family. Josef shows his compassion by giving his extra food to them instead. Carolina and Juan see the way Josef looks at and acts around their daughter. They tell her to be careful. They would rather she meet a nice Mexican boy.

Inequality, disparity…and love

One of Josef’s fellow POWs is a diehard Nazi named GERHARD HOFFSCHNEIDER (late 20s). He is a real shit to the non-Nazi POWs in the camp, especially to Josef. He antagonizes him and Josef’s fellow POW and friend, FRIEDRICH GOETZ (19), as soon as they both set foot on the transport ship that brings them to the U.S. He hates Josef for not behaving like a “good Nazi.” He warns Josef to stay away from the brown trash.

As the story progresses, we see the disparity between how many of the Mexican migrants live in poverty conditions, while the United States’ strict adherence to the Geneva Convention means Josef and the German POWs get three square meals, clean sheets, hot and cold running water, time and space for recreation, and pay for their work.

As the summer turns to fall, Josef and Maria find themselves together more often as the POWs are given more freedom to mingle with the locals. They meet at the local Catholic Church, the county fair, and a harvest dance. Their feelings for each other continue to grow despite the constant derision by Gerhard, the prejudice of local townspeople, and the watchful eye of Maria’s family, concerned for her emotional and physical well-being.

Mid-October and the sugar beet harvest is finished. It means Maria and her family must return to Mexico, ending her relationship with Josef and the better life her father had hoped for his family. When Juan asks Herman if he can stay, Herman relents and gets him a job at the sugar beet factory for the Winter. Soon after, Maria finds work at the POW camp ensuring the family can stay and her relationship with Josef can grow.

Beginning and Ending

As Christmas 1944 approaches, Josef confesses his love for Maria and promises that no matter what happens he’ll come back and they’ll have their own farm and be together forever.

On May 8, 1945, the European conflict is officially over as Germany surrenders. The non-Nazi POWs celebrate – they can return home. Gerhard and his fellow Nazis are enraged. They believe they will return to Germany to continue what the Nazis started.

For Josef and Maria, it is the day they have been dreading, the day that will lead him to soon return to Germany for who knows how long, if not forever. Days later, they find a private place at night on the Kukas farm where they confess their fear of being torn apart. They fall into each other’s arms and make love to each other as if it is not just the first time, but the last.

When Josef makes his way back into the POW camp later that night, Gerhard turns his rage on him and beats him to death, blaming Josef and others weak like him for losing the war.

Maria is expecting to see Josef in the field the next day, but he doesn’t show. Friedrich tells her that Josef is dead and Gerhard will be hung for killing him. From where they are working in the fields, Juan and Carolina see Maria slump to the ground and rush to her side.

Nine months later, Maria gives birth to a baby boy – blue eyed, dark hair. She names him Joseph. On an early Spring morning, she stands in the fields where she and Josef met, holding their baby boy as the sun rises against Scotts Bluff. She tells baby Joseph that he will be loved forever. He’s now a part of this country and things will be different and better for him.

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*The Way Things Are is based on true events, although Maria and her family, and Josef and the specific POWs are fictitious characters. The story is based on the following book and articles:

- Nebraska POW Camps – A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland, Melissa Amateis Marsh

- German Prisoners of War

- Mexican Community in Nebraska

- POWs far from home

- The Other Bracero Program

- Multiple wiki entries and related

LOVE IN THE TIME OF WAR