A secret few knew. A past even fewer could reconcile with the present.
Filmmaker and author John Heminway offers no easy answers about French-born Dr. Anne Spoerry in his latest, true-story work, “In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement.” He will speak about the book highlighting Spoerry’s complex and eye-opening life, and sign copies during a special visit, organized by the Columbus Area Arts Council.
People can meet the author at 5:30 p.m. May 24 at the Columbus Area Visitors Center, 506 Fifth St. downtown. Heminway’s talk is at 6, followed by a question-and-answer session at 6:45, and then more time for signing books and meeting people.
“I didn’t really mean to glom onto this (subject),” Heminway said, speaking by phone from his home in Bozeman, Montana. “But it came back to haunt me.”
Haunting seems a perfect description for such a story.
Spoerry’s revered selflessness as a loving physician for nearly half a century in Kenya hid a past she worked tirelessly to keep private: working as a “doctor” for several months in a Nazi concentration camp decades earlier — and even administering lethal injections.
Heminway’s book uses Spoerry’s own journals, a trove of previously untapped files and numerous interviews with those who knew her in Europe or Africa.
“This serves as something of a lesson in how to live one’s life,” Heminway said. “It also has echoes in today’s political world, with regard to the word ‘coverup.’
“I believe that Anne’s cover-up was the most successful, longstanding cover-up in the 20th century,” he added.
Heminway is hardly one given to hyperbole. His award-winning body of work has focused on nature, science, history, biographies, the American West and Africa. His multiple honors include two Emmys, two Peabodys and a DuPont Columbia Journalism award.
The book, released in February, has generated a firestorm in Kenya, where Spoerry was so revered that villagers called her “Mama Daktari” — “Mother Doctor” — for her passionate medical work among the people there. Many in that country have said that Heminway never should have written the book. He disagrees.
“They believe Anne was a saint — and she should be remembered as that, and that none of her history before Africa is of any consequence,” the writer said. “My response to that is, ‘No.’
“First, Anne’s life serves as a tremendous lesson. If you look at her achievements, it is phenomenal what she pulled together. But, I think you have to look at lives in the round. You cannot just take a rifle-shot period that you like (to examine). I think we all are a compendium of our history, myself included. We have to bear with the pain of discovering some of this stuff,” he added.
Heminway acknowledged that dark pasts form a common thread in many written works.
“I do, however, believe that Anne’s dark past has very little competition. And I think the extremes of her life — pure evil for some four months, pure good for 50 years — is a staggering story of opposites.”
Hartsville-area resident Suzie Rentschler, a member of the arts council’s Beyond the Board advisory and idea panel, and a staunch arts supporter, grew up with Heminway in New York.
“Johnny has an extraordinary talent for writing gripping stories about complicated subjects,” Rentschler said.
She loved the book.
“It is sensitive,” Rentschler said. “It is compelling. And it is a great read.”
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Who: Filmmaker and author John Heminway, speaking about his latest book, “In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement,” highlighting the career of a heroic doctor who hid a dark and shocking past as a “doctor” in a Nazi concentration camp.
When: Meet-the-author reception and book signing at 5:30 p.m. May 24. Heminway’s talk is at 6, followed by a question-and-answer session at 6:45 and then more time for signing books and meeting people.
Where: Columbus Area Visitors Center, 506 Fifth St. in Columbus.
Admission: Free. Organized by the Columbus Area Arts Council.
Information: 812-376-2539 or artsincolumbus.org or heminway.net
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