Amish Abuse Survivor Lizzie Hershberger Featured in PBS Documentary “Keep Quiet and Forgive”

Lizzie Hershberger grew up in an Old Order Amish community in Fillmore County, Minnesota, and has spoken publicly about sexual abuse she endured as a young teenager. She first told her story in her book, “Behind Blue Curtains.” As a girl she kept a diary in which she marked the days she was raped in red. One year, she circled 26 days.

In 2019, according to a Milwaukee Magazine report, Hershberger’s abuser was sentenced to 45 days in jail and 10 years of probation for crimes committed against her while she lived in Minnesota. The same report describes her as an Amish woman who chose to speak out after decades of silence, a decision that shows a commitment to protecting the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The accounts differ on how the film came about. The Milwaukee Magazine report says the documentary, directed by Sarah McClure, is based on McClure’s 2020 investigative reporting for Cosmopolitan, which it says uncovered more than 50 official cases of child sexual assault across multiple states. The Fillmore County Journal report says McClure, working with Infinite Stories Productions, originally pitched a project on sexual abuse in Amish communities to Cosmopolitan, which picked it up. The Milwaukee Magazine piece is dated 2019 but refers to 2020 reporting, so the sequence of those events is unclear from the source.

Reports also differ on the production timeline. According to the Milwaukee Magazine report, McClure moved from Los Angeles to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and spent five years filming across several states. The Fillmore County Journal report says filming began in September 2019 and concluded in March 2025. It adds that the documentary was originally expected to take one or two years but took six. Hershberger told that outlet the film was never scripted and that she never acted. Retakes were rare, she recalled, with only two instances, one caused by poor lighting in her home.

The Milwaukee Magazine report says the 90-minute film was showcased at the Milwaukee Film Festival and premiered on PBS. The Fillmore County Journal report, however, describes it as a PBS Independent Lens documentary that would be shown locally at the Spring Grove Cinema from March 20 to 22 and broadcast nationally on PBS on Monday, March 23. The two reports give different accounts of whether the PBS premiere had already taken place.

A third report, from inforum.com, describes Hershberger as someone who found her voice and hopes to protect other girls like her. The excerpt of that report available for this article ends before it finishes describing her teenage diary.