The truth about the Holocaust, which did not want to know. History of Jan Karski

MOSCOW. After participating in the “2morrow / Tomorrow” festival, a movie about Jan Karski was released.

The story of Jan Karski, who tried to stop the extermination of Jews by the Nazis in Poland, even in Europe, is not known to everyone. Vladimir Pozner, who received the voice of the Russian version of the painting “Jan Karski. The Righteous of the World ”(Karski i wladcy ludzkosci), filmed by Sławomir Grünberg (Sławomir Grünberg), learned about his exploit only while working on the film.

Karski, who was a member of the Polish Resistance Coordination Committee, believed that those who could help save people should learn about the appalling and hushed up situation in the Warsaw ghetto. Jews from Poland and other European countries deported to Izbitsa, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor fell into a hellish grip. Punitive actions by the Nazis and manifestations of anti-Semitism by the local population, taking away the last hope for salvation. Karsky knew about how people died on the way to concentration camps and the ghetto. The shooting of exhausted forces in pedestrian columns, forced to make a long journey. Death from suffocation in closely packed freight cars. A secret visit to the ghetto was a shock and lasting pain for him.

He was going to inform the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition about nightmarish crimes. Having in his hands a microfilm with invaluable documents, he, risking his life, reached London. But no one wanted to believe or help. Neither the Polish government in exile, nor Anthony Eden, who led the British government, nor US President Franklin Roosevelt. Holocaust denial, passivity and inaction led to the death of the Warsaw ghetto. After World War II, Karsky decided to stay in America, became a professor at Georgetown University. After the release of the film by Claude Lantsman, from which the world first learned about the courageous Pole, Jan Karski was awarded the title of Righteous Man of the World, awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute.

One of the most difficult psychological aspects for Grünberg turned out to be the stage of work with documentary shootings that were carried out in the ghetto before its destruction. I had to make a choice in favor of the most terrible shots that could convey to the skeptics and cynics the truth about the Holocaust. A long standing ovation at the premiere of the film and its warm welcome everywhere confirm that people are ready to hear the truth.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru