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Jakubowska, associated with progressive left-wing groups before the war, survived Auschwitz to collaborate with Schneider, a fellow prisoner, on this film based on German records, memoirs of fellow prisoners and their own memories. Death, inhuman suffering, fear and cowardice blends with the power of friendship, the will to survive, hatred of the torturers and love of fellow-sufferers. ‘At the expense of the story’s unity, it [is] a weave of strands, a number of these snapping in mid-pattern quite unexpectedly … rather as if someone were narrating in a voice choked with emotion…. No documentary could possibly equal this authenticity’. Reference: Boleslaw Michalek, Frank Turaj, The Modern Cinema of Poland, Indiana U.P., 1988, p. 5. Cast includes Wanda Bartowna, Alina Janowska, Zofia Mrozowska, Huguette Faget. In Polish with English subtitles.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
315635
Language
Polish
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → Auschwitz (Poland: Concentration camp)
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → World War, 1939-1945 - Poland
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → World War, 1939-1945 - Prisoners and prisons
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → National socialism
Feature films → Feature films - Poland
History → Auschwitz (Poland: Concentration camp)
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)