Heroes of War – WW2 TV Series

From January to April this year I worked as an Associate Producer on the new 5-part WW2 documentary series Heroes of War: Poland made by Sky Vision.

I was very pleased over the opportunity to work on this series and to be able to share a few of these remarkable Polish WW2 stories with an audience, not only in Poland – but also in the UK and the rest of Europe.

From the bold adventures of special agent Krystyna Skarbek… to the brilliance of the mathematicians breaking the Enigma code in 1932:

Episodes

1. Captain Witold Pilecki – ‘Volunteer for Auschwitz’

2. Cichociemni – ‘The Dark and Silent’ (WW2 Special Ops. paratroops)

3. Enigma – The Polish mathematicians who broke the code

4. Code name: Żegota – Polish Council to Aid Jews

5. Krystyna Skarbek / Christine Granville – WW2 Special Agent

The series was filmed and structured in a traditional way – with many interesting first hand accounts, excellent historians and expert contributors, amongst them:

Władysław Bartoszewski – historian, politician, Polish underground activist, resistance fighter and former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner.

Halik Kochanski – historian, author of “The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War”.

Clare Mulley – author of “The Spy Who Loved”. A biography of Krystyna Skarbek / Christine Granville – Britain’s first female special agent of WW2.

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My work as an AP on this series was primarily focused on two of the episodes: ‘Enigma’ and ‘Żegota’ – on which I worked from research / pre-production through shooting and post-production. I did the majority of all the interviews (Polish contributors) as well as translations / transcripts and fact checking of scripts. I also advised on some of the archive material across the whole series and did two of the interviews for the ‘Skarbek’ episode.

Each story and hero is different – yet most of them, if they did survive the war, met with heartbreaking and unjust fates in the post-war years of communism.

And it may be worth to mention here , that whilst communism fell sometime ago – it has not meant, that outside of Poland, the history that for years had been suppressed suddenly became instantly known. Today, many of the lives and endeavors of Polish WW2 Heroes, still await long overdue respect and recognition.

I will be posting some of my thoughts and highlights from the production on this blog; with a more in-depth look at ‘my’ episodes as well as the research and reenactment for this production.

 ’Heroes of War’ will air on the History channel in Europe and on History’s sister channel H2 in the UK later this year. 

  

Script revision…

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Another day of fact checking and script revision.

Wearing: Black crepe with pearl bead Peter Pan collar Freya Dress by Hobbs.

Lipstick: Paris 22 by Chanel.

Reading: Enigma How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two by Władysław Kozaczuk.

BACZYŃSKI Film premiere / Na premierze filmu Baczyński

Earlier this week I was in Warsaw to attend the much awaited film premiere of Baczyński.

I was absolutely delighted to be a part of this production (see previous blog post) and very excited to see this poetic documentary film directed by Kordian Piwowarski on the big screen!

Baczynski film poster

Baczynski premiere

BACZYŃSKI opens in the cinema on the 15th of March.

On the set of ‘Baczyński’

Towards the end of July I was invited to the last few days of shooting the forthcoming film ‘Baczyński’ – directed by Kordian Piwowarski.

‘Baczyński’ is a biographical film about the poet, resistance fighter and Warsaw Rising soldier Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński.

The film is multilayered; Both a cinematic portrayal – with the lead role of Baczyński played by the very talented Mateusz Kościukiewicz (Matka Teresa od kotów/ Mother Teresa of Cats) and also a documentary – with interviews from the last few witnesses who knew Baczyński personally and recordings of young slam poets in Warsaw giving a contemporary interpretation of Baczyński’s poetry and legacy today.

I was absolutely delighted to be a part of this production and as the film is currently in post-production I have been sent a couple of screen stills from “my” scene - We were filming just as the sun was setting and it most certainly felt like a magic moment – and so I thought I would share the photographs here.

This scene in the film is set before the outbreak of the Warsaw Rising: In 1943 Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński belonged to the famous Zośka Battalion – a scout battalion of the Polish resistance (part of the Home Army / Armia Krajowa) engaged in sabotage work against the occupying enemy. In April 1944 Baczyński took part in an armed mission derailing a German train – causing a delay of this German transport route to Berlin for 26 hours. (The train scene was filmed later that same evening.) 

In the film I very briefly portray the liaison girl ‘Stefa’ – Seen here walking arm in arm (and later dancing!) with the very handsome young actor Józef Grzymała:

Costume Design:

Together with Costume Designer Anna Banasiak (who’s credits include the feature film ‘Generał Nil’) we looked at several costume options for Liaison Girl ‘Stefa’ – before deciding on the pieces that I am seen wearing here. Whilst ‘fashion’, in a more traditional sense, ‘stopped’ during the war – Style did not! And we can now only look back in awe of the inventiveness and creativity used to create individual new looks from discarded clothes and old fabrics. In fact, it is fascinating to see just how very distinctive wartime style became – especially later, when civilian clothing was combined with elements of military uniforms during the Warsaw Rising in 1944.

In this scene I am dressed in a very stylish look for that time; a man’s double breasted suit jacket in dark blue – marking the waist with a leather belt. This jacket was matched with a below the knee length grey wool skirt and a pair of slightly mismatched prewar style women’s lace-up boots.

The costume was somewhat deliberately mismatched, with the fabrics slightly torn and worn and I was particularly keen on the lace-up boots: Whilst in period film it is tempting to dress and use props from the exact year one is attempting to recreate – in reality, people wear and use objects from preceding years too! Not only does this create more interesting variety but also, more importantly – accuracy; As for example during the war it was very difficult to get a new pair of shoes – unlike clothes they are not easy to alter or mend yourself – and so, this detail felt important in creating the overall ‘feel’ of the costume.

For anyone outside of Poland and perhaps less familiar with the life and poetry of  Baczyński  - I should perhaps also add a few brief notes; 

Poland’s history is filled with insurrections against occupying forces and K.K. Baczyński belongs to a long tradition of romantic Polish wartime poets.

Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński was born in 1921 – into what is known in Poland as ‘Generation 20’; young men and women born in the  1920′s  - around a time when Poland had recently regained her independence – but who were destined to come of age during the Nazi occupation and of whom many would later fight and die in the tragic outcome of the Rising in 1944. Baczyński felt a powerful premonition of the tragedy that was to come  - for himself, his generation and for Poland and his romantic and fatalistic poetry became legendary.

In July 1944 he transferred to the “Parasol” Battalion – and was killed, by a German sniper, on August 4th 1944 –  The fourth day of the Warsaw Rising.

The film ‘Baczyński’ is planned for release in 2013.

In the meantime, I invite you to have a look at the trailer here: