The Divided Nation. The War and the Post-War Revival.

Polish History and Cinema

Polish History Animated history of Poland

Crash-course in Polish history

The three factors solidifying the tormented nation:

1. History and national classics.

2. Language.

3. Religion (Roman Catholicism).

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772

Poland Partitioned by Prussia, Austria and Russia in1775

The Congress of Vienna: The Free City of Kraków in 1815-1846

Poland in 1919: Independence after the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Versailles

Poland in 1920: the victory over the Red Army

Poland in 1939

Poland in 1939 after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Europe in 1942, German occupation

After the War:Poland in 1945

Poland Now

Occupied Warsaw.“Only pigs watch flicks.”

Warsaw Fighting BackWarsaw Ghetto uprising in

1943. Brutally suppressed, 13 thousand people died. 50 thousand survivors exterminated in death camps.

Reflected in Polish films:

Border Street (1948) by Aleksander Ford, A Generation (1955) and The Holy Week (1995) by Andrzej Wajda, The Pianist (2002) by Roman Polanski, and many more.

Warsaw Fighting Back Warsaw Uprising on August

1, 1944.

Organized by Polish resistance Home Army (Armia Krajowa).

Lasted for 63 days. 16 thousand resistance fighters died, along with about 200 thousand civilians.

The End of the Uprising Unsupported from outside,

the uprising collapsed. Surrendered on October 2, 1944.

In January, 1945 Warsaw liberated by the Soviet Red Army and the Polish First Army.

By January 1945, 85 % of Warsaw was destroyed.

Documentaries.

Warsaw in 1944 Decades later

Rebuilding Film IndustryNationalization of film industry (state-controlled

cinema). 409 cinemas opened throughout Poland.

Film Polski established (organization for production and distribution of Polish films).

Łódź Film School created (1948). Andrzej Munk and Andrzej Wajda among its first graduates.

Financial support from the government. Steadily growing production since 1947 (though only 7 films released up to 1950). Polish-made projectors and film.

Downsides: many experienced filmmakers died or emigrated; Soviet ideological pressure; Communist censorship.

First Post-War Films The experience and

memories of the war provided themes and inspiration.

The first post-war feature film: Forbidden Songs (1947&49)by Leonard Buczkowski. Two versions: censorship applied.

The Last Stage (1947) by Wanda Yakubowska and Border Street (1948) by Aleksander Ford.

The first post-war comedy:The Treasure (1948) by Leonard Buczkowski.

Maintaining the National Spirit and Dealing with History Through Cinema

“[N]ational cinema, which speaks a verbal language no outsider would understand, may speak a language of images with such force that even censorship could not cope.”

Andrzej Wajda