The memory of a University of Wisconsin alumna and World War II heroine was honored during a documentary previewed on campus Thursday night.

Members of the public were invited to the Hillel Center Thursday to attend Wisconsin Public Television’s screening of “Wisconsin’s Nazi Resistance: The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story.”

The documentary examines the life and legacy of Mildred Fish-Harnack, UW alumna, Milwaukee-native and the only American woman executed under direct orders from Adolf Hitler.

Fish-Harnack, affectionately known as Milly, risked and ultimately gave her life in the pursuit of justice. Among her many contributions to the resistance, Fish-Harnack used her teaching job to recruit students against the Nazi regime and extract vital information against the Nazi military.

She and her husband, who was also a UW alumnus, obtained information from the Germans and gave it to American and Soviet forces and were part of a resistance movement against the Nazi regime called the “Red Orchestra.”

The documentary’s Thursday night screening was well-attended, requiring screening in two different rooms.

Audience member and UW graduate student Javier Samper Vendiell said the story of Fish-Harnack is a transnational phenomenon and one that should be told.

The film created a somber mood throughout the audience, even moving some of the audience to tears.

The documentary’s producer, Joel Waldinger, said he took on the film project in 2006 because he admired Fish-Harnack’s moral courage and recognized her as a “role-model to do the right thing even when its not popular.”

UW history and religious studies professor Rudy Koshar provided the audience with the political and historical context surrounding Fish-Harnack’s life. He said Fish-Harnack’s legacy is particularly important because it has been off the radar.

“The fact that she was wiling to put herself in danger, the fact that she was a woman, makes her story all the more significant,” Koshar said. He added 40 percent of resistors captured by the regime were women.

Criminal justice professor Ralph Grunewald, who was one of the film’s narrators, said the film and Fish-Harnack’s story appealed to him because it “encourages us not to be overwhelmed by circumstance, to take the right cause in [our] own hands.”

Grunewald said he encourages his students to do something when faced with an injustice, like Fish-Harnack did.

Efforts outside of the film have been made to recognize the significance of Fish-Harnack’s life and what she represents. Waldinger said UW’s own Helen C. White was head of the committee to establish a memorial devoted to Fish-Harnack and her memory.

Furthermore, thanks to the efforts of Milwaukee civil rights lawyer Art Heitzer, in 1986 the Wisconsin Legislature designated Sept. 16 as “Mildred Harnack Day.”

Waldinger said “[Fish-Harnack’s] story reaches well beyond our borders, but we are able to claim Mildred as our own.”

Waldinger said he hopes his documentary will take one more step towards preserving the life of Fish-Harnack and “bring back the story of the forgotten daughter of Wisconsin.”

The documentary premieres Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m., on WPT. Additional information on the life and legacy of Fish-Harnack can be found on the WPT website.