All language subtitles for 33PhotosfromtheGhetto20261080pAMZNWEB-DLDDP51H264-BiOMA _30035

[bright music plays]

[metallic clanking]

[projector clicking]

[metallic pinging]

[soft musical flourish]

[dramatic music plays]

- [camera shutter snapping]
- [indistinct chatter]

Let's move now to Poland
and a discovery being hailed

as a rare firsthand look

at one of the most crucial
chapters of the Holocaust.

[reporter in German] These are
of great historical value,

that saw light after 80 years.

[woman in English]
This is a negative,

the only one existing
in the world,

from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,

from the inside,
from the ghetto.

[reporter in French] Images
to express the inexpressible.

Fragments of lives captured
in 33 photographs.

[reporter in Italian]
These photos were taken

by Grzywaczewski, a
23-year-old Polish firefighter.

[reporter in English]
The Warsaw Ghetto Revolt

was the act of resistance
of Jews

against Nazi regime
during the Holocaust.

[reporter in Russian] Historians
consider these photos valuable

because they are the only known
images of the ghetto uprising

not taken for Nazi propaganda.

[man in English] Documentation
that's there is the sense of

what an ordinary person
would see

and how that ordinary person
framed

all of the incredible things
that were happening

in April 1943.

[woman] Most of my life,
I tried to forget all of this.

[soft, dramatic music continues]

[whispers] Stop.

[music slowly fades]

[tense, poignant music plays]

33 PHOTOS FROM THE GHETTO

[birds chirping]

NEW YORK, 1968

[Hilary Laks] Dearest daughter,

While putting his life at risk,

Leszek managed
to take some photographs.

Knowing this,
I asked him ten years ago,

if he would send them to me.

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS
TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA

I received some of them and
kept them with me until now.

These pictures tell a story
which is ours, as well as his.

The negatives
are still with Leszek.

These photographs
have never been published.

I kept them with me
for this long on purpose.

I thought I would publish them

when the world began to forget
what had happened.

I don't know
if the time is right,

but my own time is passing.

MACIEJ GRZYWACZEWSKI
LESZEK'S SON

Well, this apartment
looked a bit different.

But maybe let's go here
because this was Dad's room.

And when we were cleaning
after Dad's death,

we noticed that these boards
down here were loose.

In this hideout,
we found Dad's journals.

[gentle, solemn piano music
plays]

My sister and I didn't know
these journals existed.

He never told us
about any of this.

[Leszek Grzywaczewski]
The times we live in

are more interesting
than any others.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK
GRZYWACZEWSKI (1938-1940)

I chose a good year
to keep a journal.

THE BEST FORM OF DIPLOMACY
IS A STRONG ARMY!

I went to
a big demonstration today.

The mood was so-so.
Not much passion.

The speeches were stereotypical.

Nationalists shouted,
"Away with the Jews!"

I shouted until my voice
got hoarse.

But none of it matters now

because final exams
are the day after tomorrow.

WARSAW, 1939

On our way back from school,
our friend said,

"I'm so convinced war is coming,

I'm not studying
for the exams at all."

[engines buzzing]

[siren wailing]

Friday morning, September 1st,
I heard the air raid siren.

"Close your windows!"

That woke me up.

I saw the first German planes
above Warsaw.

[siren continues]

[rumbling impacts]

[thrum of marching footsteps]

[bright martial horn music
plays]

We're staying home today.

The Germans might
round people up for work.

Many SS troops
and military police showed up

and began detaining
and checking IDs

of whoever they saw fit.

They began firing
public servants,

or the workers
of German companies.

Those captured
were gathered into columns

and walked or driven
to be loaded onto trains.

Two of my friends were captured.

Only Jews are worse off than us.

[Cohen] Survivors of the Shoah
Visual History Foundation.

My name is Dina Cohen.

Today is November 7th, 1996.

I am conducting an interview
with Romana Kaplan, born Laks,

in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA.

The interview
will be in English.

And when were you born?

I was born in Poland, Warsaw.

[Cohen] Could you please
describe your family?

[pencil scratching]

[Kaplan] My father
was a chemical engineer,

uh, and had a, um, very,
um, prestigious position.

It was a factory that produced
soaps, perfumes, and candles.

[Laks] Dear Romechka,

You asked me if I could
write about the past...

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS
TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA (1968)

especially about
those experiences,

those shameful times,

which you may not remember

because you were too little.

I will try to write a letter,

but I don't know if I can
or how much I will be able to.

Our world started to fall apart.

WARSAW, 1940

Just because we were Jews,

to Germans, we were a threat.

We were subhumans,
a race to be annihilated.

We were forced to wear an
armband with the Star of David.

All Jewish companies
were taken over by the Germans.

Jewish bank accounts
and deposits were confiscated.

[grim music plays]

So they could isolate us
from the rest,

a ghetto was created in Warsaw
in the autumn of 1940.

We were surrounded by a wall.

All Warsaw Jews
who lived outside the ghetto

were resettled within it.

With time,
the ghetto was shrunk,

and we, too, had to move,

abandoning many
of our possessions.

Soon, the ghetto had about
half a million people.

Poverty among the Jewish masses
grew every day.

I remember having a doll,
a large doll

that was given to me
by my father's boss...

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN
DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

and I called her Krystyna.

[gentle, tense music plays]

[voice breaking] I remember
my mother sewing up, uh,

some of the jewelry in the doll.

[Grzywaczewski]
We ran out of money.

You can't find paid work,

and everyone tries
to get fake jobs.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK
GRZYWACZEWSKI (1940-1941)

I got in touch with
an old classmate.

He works for the Fire Guard
at a school in Zoliborz.

With his help, I can get in.

[bell dinging]

I went to Zoliborz.

At the alarm, firefighters

started to slide down the poles,

put on their clothes, belts,
their helmets, and assemble.

CENTRAL FIREFIGHTING ACADEMY

[Maciej] My mom lived on
the street next to that school.

My father loved
to take pictures of my mom.

She was his favorite subject
throughout his entire life.

[Grzywaczewski]
I really like Marysia.

She has really nice legs.

She's full of life,
incredibly warm and kind.

Apparently, she likes me too.

Marysia has a camera.

I bought a roll of film.

It took almost an hour
of fiddling under the blanket

to load it into the camera.

I did it incorrectly

so part of the film
tore off and was wasted.

I was able to procure
a photo enlarger.

After a few failed attempts,
I started to make good prints.

Getting to know this craft

might have a huge
importance for the future.

[bright, jazzy music plays]

I long for a bigger operation

where I can have
a chance to prove myself.

[bell dinging]

Alarm!

In a heavily loaded vehicle,

we speed through the
crowded streets of the ghetto.

[somber, poignant music plays]

I got a spot on the ladder
by the third floor window.

I waited a bit for water,
and got inside.

It became completely dark,

surrounded by thick smoke
and steam.

I started to cough and cry.

I couldn't breathe.

My legs became soft as rubber.

I hear, "Run!"

So I dashed out the window.

We barely moved the ladder away
and that window collapsed.

[somber music continues]

I talked to the Jews a bit.

They live very poorly.

I felt like I was talking
with people condemned to die.

[Kaplan] Kaddish.

To me, that was
the most frightening thing.

Because I heard it
over and over again.

And I had no means...

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN
DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

of, um, knowing
what it meant.

[indistinct chatter]

[man reciting the Kaddish]

[crying]

[Kaddish ends, echoes]

[Laks]
When I think about it today,

seems to me that Germans'
initial theory

was that Jews,
closed off in the ghettos,

would smother each other
like rats

or quickly die of starvation
and infectious diseases.

Typhus was spreading,

and the mortality rate was high.

Before July of 1942,
around 100,000 people died.

I got a special pass which
allowed me to leave the ghetto

and go to the so-called
"Aryan side."

I managed a factory

which produced soap,
perfumes, and candles.

I was a rented-out slave.

I had to go to Praga,
a suburb of Warsaw.

Every day,
I walked around 12.5 miles.

[Kaplan] Polish man
named Adamczewski

depended very much
upon my father

to run the factory,

so that my father,
until the very end,

had a job on the "Aryan side,"

which is why, um,
we survived as well as we did.

He was always able to
bring us some food to ghetto.

My parents kind of adopted
a young woman

who at that point was about
19-20 years old, named Halina.

She was a very beautiful woman.

[Jacqueline]
I think that these pictures

were probably the oldest.

We're sure that's Mom, right?

Well, yes.

[John] As I remember my mother,
she was always a glamour lady.

She was full of life and...
and very important

about her physical
and appearance,

as well as the way
she carried herself.

Um, in reference to the war...

JOHN & JACQUELINE: CHILDREN
OF HALINA HIRSZBAJN BIELAWSKA

she didn't talk
about it much.

She had a lot of pain
and she was unwilling

to fully divulge what happened

or the sequence of events
that happened.

- Um...
- Well, all of her family

except the brother
in Palestine was gone.

- Was gone.
- She knew that they were gone.

So she was an orphan and she
looked for a new family.

And that family
was Hilary and Janina Laks.

[John] Right.

[Jacqueline] That she needed
to not be alone.

[gentle, solemn music plays]

[Laks] After some time,

the Warsaw Ghetto
started to organize.

Common smuggled products
were food and other essentials,

but most of all, raw materials,

which were processed
in the ghetto

in numerous Jewish workshops
and small factories.

That way, part of the population

found employment.

There was less hunger,

and the typhus epidemic
had ended.

[music fades]

[Maciej] I found out about
our father's photographs

from my daughter, Marianna.

Marianna was at a party,

and an acquaintance she made,
a historian,

asked if Leszek Grzywaczewski
was a family member,

and she said,
"Yes, that's my grandpa."

He said,
"I don't know if you know,

but his photos
are in the Holocaust Museum

in Washington, D.C."

So then she called me and said,

"Dad, do you know
that Grandpa took pictures?"

I told her,
"I know he took pictures,"

because he took so many.

But that some
were of the ghetto uprising,

I didn't know that.

[birds chirping]

When the anniversary of
the uprising was getting close,

POLIN Museum started pressing me
to find other things.

Zuzanna called me and asked,
"Maybe there's something else?

Maybe more pictures?"

So we started to look into it,

and here are
my father's photographs.

I had some, my sister had some.

There were photographs
and slides.

I couldn't look through
the slides.

My eyesight wasn't good enough

or I didn't have the strength
to look closely one by one

because these are negatives.

It's really hard
to see anything on them.

[gentle dramatic music playing]

I said, "Maciek, help me."

He said, "Okay, I'll do it."

All I did was tidy up.

I organized it all
in those boxes.

[Maciej] I'm looking here.

These photos? I think these
are of me when I was little.

I was just rolling these back

and I moved my hand like that,

and I could see Jews
being led to the Umschlagplatz.

I roll it out more,

and I see there are
all these pictures I know,

plus some others.

And I tell Bozena, my wife,

"I found them. There they are."

[exhales heavily]

Dad had been dead
for more than 30 years,

and here, as if he came back
to life in my consciousness.

[dramatic ambient music plays]

I didn't believe
this negative existed.

[Schnepf-Kolacz] Truly,
it was an unbelievable feeling.

It was like touching, um,

something which had,
uh, no right to survive,

which no one believed
had survived.

These are very rare moments
for a researcher,

when we feel
a crevice opening up

and it's a view into the past.

POLIN MUSEUM EXHIBITION CURATOR
"AROUND US A SEA OF FIRE"

I knew that these were
the only photographs we know of

shot in the Warsaw Ghetto
during the Uprising

which were not taken by Germans.

This is a characteristic of, um,

photographs from events
of annihilation.

At first glance, we don't know
what we are looking at.

Only by knowing the story

do we begin to understand
what's hidden in the image.

You can see this was
nervously advanced.

- They're also blurry.
- [Maciej] Yeah.

[Schnepf-Kolacz] Their
perforation is torn the most

where the photos documenting
the extermination

were taken secretly.

The film roll was possibly
moved more rapidly.

The hand maybe trembled
from his emotions.

But it also shows the great
value of the material itself,

not only the images
recorded on it,

because the negative itself
is a carrier

of history and emotions.

- [music ends]
- [train trundling]

WARSAW
GHETTO

[indistinct chatter]

[Kaplan] I remember
my grandfather living with us.

And I remember coming home
one day,

and not having my grandfather.

And he was simply caught
in one of those "lapanka,"

which translates into...

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN
DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

"being caught,"
um, on the street.

[indistinct chatter]

[whistle blows]

[Laks] Dearest daughter,

On July 22nd, 1942,

the Germans began
systematic liquidation

of the Warsaw Ghetto.

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS
TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA

This operation was called
"Resettlement to the East."

[Kaplan] Because this is
what the Germans told the Jews,

which of course,
it was resettlement

for a better world.

[announcement in German]
Every displaced Jewish person

has the right to take
15 kilograms of luggage.

All valuables, such as money,
jewelry, gold, can be taken.

You should take food
for three days.

[somber, dramatic music plays]

[Laks in English]
The ghetto was surrounded

by Latvian and Ukrainian units.

With their help, every day,
thousands of people were caught

and hauled off through
the so-called "Umschlagplatz."

At that time, no one knew
about the existence

of death camps.

We found out much later
about Treblinka.

Towards the end,

the "efficiency"
of the gas chambers

was around 5,000 corpses a day.

Germans had always been,
and still are,

famous for being well organized.

[chatter, commotion]

[door rumbling]

[train whistle blows]

- [music fades]
- [train chuffs]

[train sounds fade]

[water lapping gently]

[Maciej]
When he met Marysia, my mom,

my dad would take her out
on a boat in Warsaw.

At the same time,
the Germans were beginning

to liquidate the ghetto

and deport people
to their extermination.

He and Marysia were boating
on the Vistula.

That was life. It just went on.

[bright big band music plays]

[Grzywaczewski] Air, sun,

shining water,
silence, and peace.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK
GRZYWACZEWSKI (AUGUST 1942)

As if there was no war.

Me and Marysia, sunbathing.

A series of events pushing us
towards the inevitable...

marriage.

I bought a roll of film.
We snapped pictures.

I especially won't forget
the sunset

and the view of Warsaw
disappearing in blue mist.

We don't know
what'll happen to us.

Rumor has it, we'll meet
the same fate as the Jews.

I remember a great many people

being herded into this square,

where the Germans
made you walk around

and pulled people out of it.

I also remember
my parents' friends

and a little girl about my age,
where the child was pulled out.

So my parents tried desperately
to hide me

under raincoats between them.

[low murmuring]

[Laks] Though now,
they leave alone only the Jews

who work in German factories
which supplied the army.

We were able to hide
in one of them.

It was managed by a German
named Schultz.

[Kaplan] My father was able
to get a job

for my mother in ghetto,

making Germans uniforms,

hoping that that would be
a protective setting

for my mother.

I, on the other hand, was held
in a barrel next to my mother.

Um...

[quavers] For a five-year-old,
this was not wonderful.

- [heavy, echoing footsteps]
- [child breathing]

[child gasps]

[Laks] With Schultz's knowledge,

I kept working
on the "Aryan side"

for Adamczewski.

Soon, with the help
of my coworker, Mr. Miskiewicz,

you got smuggled out
to the "Aryan side."

[tense music plays]

[Kaplan] There were work groups

that were going on "Aryan side,"

and my father bribed
the gatekeepers

so I would walk out
with the crowd.

He was, of course,
terribly anxious.

If Germans were to see me,
that would have been the end.

So he walked very closely to
the group that were moving out,

at which point one of the...

[swallows forcefully]

[tense music plays]

[commotion]

At which point,

one of the soldiers
was concerned

that my father was too close
to the "Aryan side,"

and pulled him and beat him.

My father lost an eye.

And I wanted to run
to my father. [voice breaks]

But he made it very clear

that what he wanted
was for me to leave.

And, uh, in fact, I did.

[Laks]
This happened just in time,

because all of Schultz's workers

were walked out
for so-called "selection."

For the next 48 hours,

we were picked through
like cattle for slaughter.

As a result, half the people
were taken

straight to Treblinka.

All children were killed,
and most of the women.

In two months, the Germans
murdered 300,000 people.

[announcement in German]
The General Governor orders

that any Jew who leaves his
designated residential district

will be punished by death.

Those who shelter Jews will
receive the same punishment.

- [horse hooves clopping]
- [indistinct chatter]

[Kaplan in English]
On the "Aryan side," I was met

by my father's coworker's wife.

I... I was a danger to people
who were to hide me

because I was so obviously
a Jewish child.

I don't think I stayed more
than few days in any one place.

Uh, at least
that's my recollection.

And then I was placed
with the Sisters of Charity.

I was afraid, uh,

because I think
at that point I fully realized

that if I were found,
that would be death.

[Grzywaczewski] There have been
some changes at home.

Daddy sleeps on a futon
which is short and narrow.

Mom is tired. Her heart hurts.
She gets upset.

She somewhat ignores
safety measures,

but it must be said,

she's the moral anchor
of the home

in all moments of hesitation
and sadness.

Suddenly, out of the blue,

two ladies moved in with us,

Halina Bielawska and Janina.

They are resettled
and have nowhere to go,

so they stay with us.

One of them
was Halina Hirszbajn...

AGNIESZKA RESZKA
JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTE

who also used
the last name Bielawska.

SEARCH CRITERIA

[Reszka] So the last name
Hirszbajn, Halina, right?

- [Maciej] Yes.
- [Reszka] Born in 1920, right?

[Maciej] Yes, same as my father.

- [Reszka] Bielawska.
- Mm-hmm.

- [Reszka] After the war...
- That's right.

[Reszka]
on Wilcza Street, 8/16.

Wilcza Street is very close
to Mokotowska Street,

where my father lived

and also where they hid
and helped each other out.

The second person was called
Janina Laks...

Wilcza Street, 8/16.

So we see here the same address.

My mother was smuggled
out of ghetto,

and she was taken in by a family

with whom she pretty much stayed
the entire war,

and their name
was Grzywaczewski.

They did not want
to have me there,

because, here again,
I was a danger...

ZOFIA & STANISLAW GRZYWACZEWSKI
LESZEK'S PARENTS

plus the fact that
they were very active

in Armia Krajowa.

I know that when Mother
left the ghetto,

she ended up very quickly
with the Grzywaczewskis.

JOHN & JACQUELINE: CHILDREN
OF HALINA HIRSZBAJN BIELAWSKA

- And...
- I think there was a plan.

I don't think
it was by serendipity.

[Jacqueline] I'm pretty sure
I have a bracelet

in a safety deposit box.

That bracelet may have been part
of the jewelry that she had

that she used to survive.

That's what I was explaining.

I do know that for a fact
because she told me that story

that her family made jewelry
that was not really jewelry,

but really small little bars
of gold...

And it's an unusual...

in order to break off a piece
and use it to survive...

And this bracelet...

I could see where you could
easily take off a link

and make it into money.

IDENTIFICATION CARD

I don't know who helped Mom
change identities.

[John] Couldn't be the Lakses.
So, it... it has to be the...

[Jacqueline] The Grzywaczewskis?

- [John] The Grzywaczewskis.
- I have no idea...

[John] I would imagine somehow
they were involved in that.

The reason the Lakses,

Halina came to the
Grzywaczewski apartment...

DOROTA PAWLAK
LESZEK GRZYWACZEWSKI'S DAUGHTER

is a mystery to me.

Where did they meet?

I think they knew each other
before the war.

They were acquaintances,
but that's just my assumption.

Can you come here, sir?

These are the registration cards
of the survivors.

The estimates are
that around ten percent of Jews

who lived in Poland
in the year 1939

managed to survive.

So out of the three million,
only 300,000.

Yeah.

[Maciej]
This is Hirszbajn, Halina.

The same person
as Pelagia Bielawska.

Pelagia was using forged papers,

which we know were
very good ones

because there's the whole story

of the SS troops coming
to the apartment,

I think it was
the one on Wilcza Street

that we can see here.

[Kaplan] We had,
of course, Aryan papers.

Mrs. Grzywaczewski
found a place for my mother

when I couldn't stay
with the Sisters of Charity.

[grim, ominous music plays]

When I lived with my mother,

she must have been spotted
by someone.

I remember it was nighttime,

and one of
the most frightening things

to this day for me is steps,

hearing steps,
you know, people going upstairs.

[banging on door]

And my mother opened the door,

and there were three men,
two in SS uniforms and one not.

And the informer sat on my bed
and spoke Jewish to me.

[man in Yiddish] What is
your name, my little dear?

It was not a language
I understood.

I looked up and said,
in perfect innocence,

"I'm sorry,
but I don't understand German,"

at which point the SS left.

[Grzywaczewski]
An unpleasant event.

An inspection
at Halina's and Janina's.

Money took care of it this time,

but the blackmail
may happen again.

The apartment was burned.

I finished officer school
and got assigned

to the IV Brigade
on Chlodna Street.

I'm sitting in my room
in the barracks right now.

On our newly-minted IDs,
everyone has a rank.

Mine is "Löschmeister,"
which is corporal.

The lieutenant gave a speech.

We're supposed to help him
revive the spirit

of the Warsaw Fire Guard,

make it a resilient organization

based in military discipline.

Inside the Fire Guard,
there is a secret organization

called "Skala."

I'm in contact
with the commandant's son

who is persuading me to join.

Chlodna Street
and Mier Barracks,

which housed the IV Brigade
of the Warsaw Fire Guard...

JERZY GUTKOWKI
WARSAW FIREFIGHTING MUSEUM

was wedged between two parts
of the ghetto.

Firefighters of the "Skala"
resistance organization,

as much as they could,
helped the Jewish population.

In the past,
there were train tracks here,

and somewhere around here was
an entrance to a storm drain

through which aid for
the Jewish population was passed

before the ghetto uprising.

Guns and ammunition.

[tense, dramatic music plays]

[Laks] Dearest daughter,

Only 40,000 Jews
remain in the ghetto.

I left at the last moment
and hid at the Miskiewiczes.

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS
TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA (1968)

Immediately after that,
on April 19th, 1943,

an uprising started
in the Warsaw Ghetto.

A handful of poorly-armed people

for a month resisted tanks
and machine guns

without a shred of hope that
they could save their lives.

[man] For Jews,
this was the eve of Passover.

This was the night of the Seder,

the night when Jews celebrate
the Exodus from Egypt.

And consequently, the theme
of Passover is freedom.

And here, these Jews
were not only imprisoned,

but facing imminent death.

[solemn music plays]

[tanks rumbling]

Germans had gathered
around the ghetto walls.

Troops were there.

They were backed
by Ukrainian troops.

The trains were in the station,
ready to deport the Jews...

CO-CREATOR, THE UNITED STATES
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

and that's the moment the
Jews chose to rise in rebellion.

First day was exhilarating.

It was thrilling.

The Germans retreated
from the ghetto.

Supermen!

Giants!

All the power of Germany,

and this small group
of young Jews could what?

Could force them to withdraw.

But they had courage.

They had innovation.
They used Molotov cocktails.

They used some handguns.

They had a couple of other guns.

And they had one thing

that the Germans
could not anticipate,

which is they were willing
to fight on to their death

because they had no choice.

They were going to die
one way or another.

And people who are fighting
for their lives

and fighting for the life
of their community

are willing to do everything
in order to preserve it.

[gentle, solemn music plays]

We have a ghetto behind walls
during the uprising,

and, practically speaking?

PROF. JACEK LEOCIAK
INSTITUTE OF LITERARY RESEARCH

There couldn't have been
any Poles there.

And yet, here we have images
that were stolen from inside.

[man] I can see regular film,
but the frames are halves.

And you can see that
the perforation is torn.

- One edge only.
- What was used to take these?

I immediately think of the
Korelle K made by Kochmann,

released in 1932.

GRZEGORZ KWOLEK
PHOTOGRAPHER

One side has the cassette,

and there's a spool
on the other side.

But if the cassette was jammed,

there would be resistance
when you move the film.

The teeth would tear
the perforation,

and the film wouldn't advance
a whole 20 millimeters.

So you had to, for example,

shoot a black frame
to move it more than one frame,

so you could be sure
that the frames didn't overlap.

But if you're taking shots
in action,

especially while hiding,

uh, what you're doing,
this could be difficult,

and the frames could overlap.

[gentle, tense music plays]

[Maciej] It's so small,
easy to hide.

It really is,
even in your pocket.

[Grzywaczewski] A month passed,
fraught with terrible events

which could have
a huge influence

on the psyche of young people.

I got a call from the brigade
in the morning

to assemble immediately.

Marysia is very upset with me
for going to the ghetto

instead of her.

[solemn, dramatic music plays]

[reel clicks]

The ghetto is filled
with scenes from Dante.

Friends speak of the tenacity
of the Jewish fighters

and the fighting spirit
of the whole Jewish population.

Germans suffer
considerable losses,

dead and wounded.

They have to take building
after building,

without feeding the captives.

The fighting is intense.

[flames roaring]

[gunfire popping]

[man] I lived in a place

from which,
when the ghetto was created...

ZYGMUNT WALKOWSKI
ARCHIVIST, WARSAW HISTORIAN

we were removed.

So, in some ways, the ghetto,
and me as a person,

my fate, in some ways overlap.

I carry these images
deep within me,

even though I was just a child.

This photograph was taken
by Leszek.

Here was the gate to the ghetto
from the side of Nalewki Street.

Here we see burning buildings
which, on the map,

are here.

This photograph was taken
from here

and it shows this area.

The film starts
with these pictures.

You can tell that this roll,
from the start,

was put into the camera
to take photos

documenting history.

Here, most likely,
is some German soldier

who was making sure
these buildings burned down.

[grim, ominous music plays]

[Grzywaczewski]
The Germans burn homes

as a method of fighting.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK
GRZYWACZEWSKI (APRIL-MAY 1943)

We are not allowed
to put out those fires.

We are to secure factories
working for Germans

and city buildings.

And also prevent the fire
from spreading

to other districts of Warsaw.

After two nights,
I've had enough.

I was so tired,
I just sat down on some boards.

For ten nights,
I didn't even move the covers

on my bed in the barracks.

We were constantly in the fire.

It usually went like this.

The Germans would tell us
which streets

and which buildings
were on fire,

from and to specific numbers.

We were to protect certain
buildings or facilities.

WARSAW
80/82 LESZNO ST.

[reel clicks]

In this photo,
you can see my father.

I think this is Dad.

Now this has to be
an interesting story

which I can't explain

because it's obvious
that a German soldier

is posing,
looking into the camera.

So there must be some story
behind this.

[Leociak] Here was
kind of a gray area.

Photography was forbidden.

But when I say a "gray area,"
what I mean is that Germans

kind of looked the other way.

Grzywaczewski's role
as a photographer

is incredibly important
because he plays a dual role.

On the one hand,
he's just a guy with a camera

who can take a picture
with some corporal

for the Wehrmacht.

Why not?

But on the other,
he played the role of a spy,

smuggling out secret images.

[tense, dramatic music plays]

[reel clicks]

The details in this photograph

are these windows,

as well as a fragment

of this building on
the other side of the street.

From those, I was able to find

a prewar photograph

of this building
in the city archives.

Take a look.

The cornice,
the window placements

are dead on.

The curve of the tram tracks
is clearly marked here.

So, this shot was taken

from the corner
of this part of the building.

This is the condition in 1944

where we can see a completely
destroyed area of the ghetto

except for
the hospital buildings

which are still standing.

WARSAW
SAINT SOPHIA HOSPITAL

[Walkowski] Good morning.

[tense, grim music plays]

[camera shutter snaps]

[Walkowski] This is the spot
he was standing in

when he took those few photos.

[shutter snaps]

[shutter snaps]

[Leociak] He takes a series
of photographs. How many?

One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven...

eight photographs,
in the order they lay here,

and we know that
because we have the negative.

We have a story.

And these were taken in secret.

No Germans can know about it.

You can practically see
these people's faces.

Little children are walking.

[tense, grim music plays]

[Walkowski]
What are the feelings

of a person who knows

they are walking a path
with no return?

It's hard for someone
to imagine,

but it is captured
in the photographs.

[Leociak] Take a look.

The truck and windows,
uh, meet here.

We have a situation here

where you see this woman
walking.

She turns to the side

and in the next photograph,

you see the tip of her elbow.

Does this connect
these two pictures together?

And right here...

right here, uh, uh...

tram tracks
connect here like this.

And so, from the four images,

we have a synthesis of one.

To me, this is a goodbye
to these people

walking in front
of Grzywaczewski's eyes.

They walk by and disappear.

[indistinct chatter]

[Grzywaczewski] The Jews
chased out by the fire

are taken by Germans to
the so-called "Umschlagplatz."

Wounded and sick
are killed on the spot.

We are not allowed to help them.

Then, the Jews are led
to the railway siding,

where they're transported
to an unknown destination.

[dogs barking]

[Leociak] A train would
pull up to the Umschlagplatz,

most likely pushed in
by the locomotive.

Then, as the train pulled in,

they were rounded up onto a ramp

and loaded onto the train cars.

The locomotive
went straight from there.

The death trains went east,

all the way
to Treblinka station.

[train chuffing, clacking]

[low, mournful singing]

[singing fades, ends]

[Maciej] Leszek comes back
from the action,

the film is loaded.

He goes out with Marysia,
she's his fiancée, my mom.

They go for a walk.

[somber music plays]

[reel clicks]

[Pawlak] A beautiful picture
of my parents.

It's very touching for me.

And here, in this picture,

this is my mom and my father's
sister, Aunt Danusia.

The third lady,
I don't know who she is,

just some friend of theirs.

Aunt Danusia,
my father's sister.

And the contrast, you know,
of life on the outside...

Hmm, it's spring.
I mean, it is April.

clashing with
the ruined ghetto

and these here.

[Leociak]
This is a great example

how one can show
the breaking apart of Warsaw

into two worlds,
two different worlds...

PROF. JACEK LEOCIAK
INSTITUTE OF LITERARY RESEARCH

which are fused together
topographically,

but far apart,
like separate galaxies.

[gentle, solemn music plays]

WARSAW
65 MOKOTOWSKA ST.

Good morning.
I am Maciej Grzywaczewski.

My dad lived in this apartment
during the war.

There was a big living room.

And this was the hallway
to the kitchen.

Here was the bathroom.

[knocks]

I'll knock.

The negatives
of the ghetto uprising

were developed in this room.

And here is the exit
to the staircase,

but it's closed.

And-and here, uh,
was a little... attic,

and in that attic
is where Roma was hiding.

Short time I stayed,

I stayed in
that tiny little attic,

which was above the kitchen,

and, um, I could not...
I could not move.

I simply had to be very quiet.

Here in these rooms,
we had Germans

assigned to stay in our home.

I think there were two
living with us.

Every morning,
one of them would come in,

sit down in the kitchen,
drink coffee,

and read his newspaper.

And there, in the attic,
in that room,

lived Roma, and she had
to stay super quiet.

[lively traditional music plays]

[Kaplan] I think I'd begun
to read at that point.

I was able to sit and read
for a prolonged period of time

and not make any noise.

And that really saved my life,

because if anybody knew

that the Grzywaczewski family
were saving Jews,

Grzywaczewskis
would have been killed.

[reel clicks]

[Grzywaczewski]
After returning to the ghetto,

I found out that firefighters

were taking clothes, lingerie,

bedding, little knickknacks
in suitcases.

They explained it wasn't theft.

These things
no longer had an owner.

However,
clashes with the Germans,

who did consider it theft,

forced us to vigorously fight
these actions.

So, we subdued it quickly.

[Leociak] What do we have here?
In the foreground,

three firefighters.

But somewhere in the background

there's a German
who is also taking a photo.

Grzywaczewski is
showing a situation

which was quite common
during the Holocaust.

Germans photographing
the annihilation.

This is Nowolipie Street
towards Smocza Street.

These photographs
are from the Stroop Report.

This is Stroop.
This is General Jürgen Stroop.

JÜRGEN STROOP REPORT

[Stroop in German] I have
forbidden the use of cameras

during actions in the ghetto.

But General Krüger's order
to create a report

included the delivery of photos.

Everything had to be done
very quickly.

I suspect the SS Security Police

took these shots.

[poignant, dramatic music plays]

I wrote the report
"There Is No Longer

a Jewish Residential District
in Warsaw!"

for Heinrich Himmler,

for Krüger, and for myself.

It will be valuable material
for history,

for the Führer,

and for future researchers
of the Third Reich,

for nationalist poets
and writers,

and, above all, for the
documentation of our efforts

that the Nordic race
and the Germans are undertaking

to get rid of Jews in Europe
and in the entire globe.

[unsettling, tense music plays]

[Grzywaczewski in English]
Almost every day,

we see the SS General
Jürgen Stroop

directing the operation.

Instead of putting
the fires out,

we have to watch them burn.

Instead of rescuing people,

we have to watch helplessly
as they suffer.

We are continuously under
the control of German police

and the SS.

Any attempt at providing help

can have severe consequences
for us.

WARSAW
NOWOLIPIE ST.

From this spot,
Leszek took a photograph.

[camera shutter snaps]

[Leociak] For Grzywaczewski,
taking this picture was risky.

He's standing here,
behind the firefighters.

One of them,
the one closer to the lens,

is looking this way
towards the building.

But the other is turning away.

He couldn't betray his emotions.

For the Germans,

this situation was,
I'd say, positive.

That's how it
was supposed to be.

"The Jews were
supposed to jump."

They weren't considered human.

But for those firefighters,

their emotional reactions
are completely opposite.

[grim, somber music plays]

[Grzywaczewski]
The Jews who hid,

instead of evacuating after
the building was set on fire,

burned inside.

Whole groups, cut off by flames,

ran to higher ground,

and when the fire reached them,

they saved themselves
from burning alive

by jumping from the balconies
onto the cobblestones.

[reel clicks]

From a balcony window
I saw a whole family jump.

Five, six people died instantly.

They couldn't escape,
and we couldn't help them,

despite having
the technical ability to do so.

[somber music continues]

This looks exactly
like the same spot.

The same building.

You can tell by the windows.

And the balconies.

That's the same tenement house

that my father took pictures of.

You can see that,
on the same day,

German propagandists
were also at work.

Hmm.

Here too.

Judging by this balcony,
this is the same.

The same tenement house.

In both photographs, you can
see the tram overhead line,

the third story balcony,
the same balustrade posts.

In the German photograph,
the window on the left is open,

on the right, closed.

In my father's picture,
it's the same.

This is the missing picture

that Dad probably couldn't take.

And Leszek, after taking
that first photograph,

moved here.

And here is the house
where the drama unfolded.

[reel clicks]

- [tires screech]
- [crunch]

[Walkowski] This small
but unfortunate accident

immediately caused a few people
to run towards it.

A normal human reaction.

But how it highlights
the fate of those people.

There was no one.

There was no one
to run to help them.

There was no possibility.

Not because no one wanted to,
because no one could.

[Leociak] These two pictures
tell an entire story.

The Germans come and gather here

by the bodies
of the ones who jumped.

All that is obvious to me.

But when
you look really closely,

you can see that here,
there is a silhouette of a man.

It's just the silhouette
of his head and shoulder.

One could say
that these are Jews

who were coming out
maybe from some kind of bunker,

from this gate.

I think these two situations
can be reconciled.

In other words,
in the same spot,

you see the corpses

of those who jumped
from the windows

and Jews
who are coming out alive,

only to die moments later.

[Grzywaczewski] Under the ruins
of burned-out homes,

in so-called "bunkers,"

there are supposed to be
Jews remaining.

[tense, unsettling music plays]

[gunshot echoes]

The sight of those people
being led out

will stay with me
for the rest of my life.

The faces not of people,
but almost half-animals

with mad,
unconscious expressions.

Eyes squinting from sunlight.

They stayed in the darkness
for weeks.

Silhouettes, barely standing
from hunger and fear,

dirty, tattered,

shot in masses.

Some still alive,
stumbling over the corpses

of the annihilated.

[solemn, dramatic music plays]

The entire district
is burned down

and looks like
one vast sea of rubble,

or a dead city,

struck by some great disaster.

In reality,
it is the disaster of war.

I think what he saw
in the ghetto was very...

You can feel it in his journal.
He rapidly matured.

He changed.

[Grzywaczewski] After days
of sleepless nights

and intense work,

I came home.

There came days of calm
which I couldn't get used to.

Couldn't accept.

I became secretive.

I shut myself in my silence

like a snail in its shell.

[Maciej] The burden
of the things he saw

he directed inward.

I don't think he talked about it
to anyone.

[music fades]

[Leociak] So we are at the end
of the negative.

Grzywaczewski photographs
his fiancée

and takes a self-portrait.

If someone asks,

"Who is this firefighter,
Grzywaczewski,

who was in the ghetto?",

the shortest answer
would be a witness

in the deepest, most
existential sense of the word,

in a very profound,
existential way.

A year and a half
after the ghetto uprising,

from the apartment
on Mokotowska Street,

under the command
of Stanislaw Grzywaczewski,

my grandfather,
the father of my father,

a platoon of insurgents
sets out to fight.

They head to Szucha Avenue
to reclaim it.

My father is called up
as a firefighter

for the Warsaw uprising.

It is a day that's very... Hmm.

It's an important marker.
It's...

Let's move on.

[solemn piano music plays]

[siren wailing]

WARSAW, 1944

[Laks] Dear Romechka,

On August 1st, 1944,

Polish uprising against
the Germans broke out.

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS

During these events, you were
in Wolomin, near Warsaw,

where you were with
the Daughters of Charity.

Mom managed to get to me,

and together we used
the basements

to return to Mokotowska Street

to the Grzywaczewskis.

Meanwhile, the Germans
destroyed and burned Warsaw

from both the land and the air.

The uprising cost the city
200,000 dead,

countless wounded,

and more than 80%
of its buildings

were reduced to rubble.

[rumbling explosion]

[cacophonous rumbling]

[thunderous explosion]

[somber music plays]

[Laks] In January 1945,

the Soviet offensive began.

The Germans disappeared
overnight.

Right after the Soviets
marched in,

we decided to walk
towards Wolomin

to find out where
the Daughters of Charity were

and what had happened to you.

When we got there,

we learned that
you had been evacuated.

[Kaplan] I came back.

I found myself in Warsaw.

I could not recognize Warsaw
at all.

It was completely destroyed.

Absolutely
and completely destroyed.

And I had no idea
where my parents were,

whether they survived, nothing.

So I tried to look for a place
that was familiar to me.

And lo and behold,
one of the buildings that

we lived in on the "Aryan side"
was intact.

WARSAW
65 MOKOTOWSKA ST.

So I went into the building

and I rang everybody's bell
that I could,

and the next morning
I met my father.

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN
DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

And my father, at that point,
had already contacted my mother

so that was the...
the end of my saga.

[solemn, poignant music plays]

WARSAW, 1946
FORMER GHETTO AREA

[woman] The Central Historical
Commission

took it upon itself
to bring to light

the crimes committed
by the Germans

against the Jewish population
in Poland.

To that end,
it gathered all materials,

printed, handwritten,
and others.

DR. AGNIESZKA KAJCZYK
JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTE

The Central Jewish
Historical Commission

collected documents
such as photographs.

And we know that by 1946,

it already had in its possession

these five photographs
taken by your father.

In fact, by 1946, when the book

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
was published,

authored by Joseph Kermish...

THE GHETTO IN FLAMES

a pioneer
of Holocaust research,

it included your father's
photographs as a part of it.

We believe that these
are first-generation prints.

These prints have priceless
information on the backs.

The writing is very detailed.

We have precise information

about where each picture
was taken

and when.

We assume only the photographer
had that knowledge.

He knew what he was
photographing and where.

I don't think
that's my father's.

Really?
Not your father's handwriting?

- Hmm, it's not.
- That's really interesting.

[Maciej] I feel like this is
the handwriting of Hilary Laks.

So maybe he's the one who kept
these few photographs in 1946.

[gentle, dramatic music plays]

Everyone survived the war.

My mother and father
got married in 1946,

right after the war ended,
and then moved to Gdansk.

My father really wanted
to live in Gdansk

because he wanted to be
a sailor.

So he completed his studies
at the polytechnic there

at the maritime department

and worked with ships
for the rest of his life.

But the Lakses left

to go over to the United States
in 1951.

At the end of the 1950s,

my father received a letter
from Hilary.

He asked my father to send
the photographs he took

during
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

When my father was sent
with a delegation

to a shipyard in the north
of England in Billingham,

I suspect he sent
the 12 photographs from there.

I think he believed
that was a safer way to do it

to ensure they reached
the recipient

outside the reach
of communist censorship.

We were under Soviet rule
in Poland,

and so any contact with the U.S.
was considered suspicious.

After all these years,
Roma is the only witness

who lived through those times.

She is the last one left
from that family.

[Laks] Dear Romechka,

I want these photographs
to be preserved as proof.

Of course, I could strike
a deal with Life or The Post

and even make some money.

But I don't want
that kind of money.

These pictures must be kept
in the right kind of archive.

Think about it, and let me know
where, in your opinion,

we should take them.

[man] These are the copies
of the 12 photographs...

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

that we have received in 1992

in the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum

in Washington.

I'm assuming that Hilary Laks,
after his death,

his family decided to donate
those photographs to us.

Immediately, we considered them

as something extremely,
extremely unique.

[gentle ambient music plays]

Those 12 photographs were
considered, by us, original,

because they were
the only copies

that existed at that time.

Now, the negative
is the original.

And there are 33 photos
from the ghetto.

[Jacqueline] The man in
the middle is definitely Hilary,

and the woman to the right,

with the hat and the fur collar,
is definitely Mom.

[John] I have a feeling
these are already by the time

she arrived in New York.

[Jacqueline] She considered
Leszek a brother.

It was family.

[John] At the same time,
I think she had demons,

um, from the time of survival.

I think she had PTSD.

Um, I remember her
being hospitalized at UCLA,

um, with possibly
a suicide attempt.

It felt like it's old history,

and dealing with
that old history.

[Laks] Dearest daughter:

If there is any purpose
to these recollections,

it is only to ensure
that the memory

of those shameful times
is preserved

so that people born
and raised with abundance,

convinced of the values
of our civilization,

may understand what can happen
in the future

if they allow themselves
to be set against one another

like dogs.

You see, somehow I've come
to the end with these memories.

Everything that happens next
is within your own memory.

[doorbell buzzes]

I'm Dorota Grzywaczewski.
Leszek's daughter.

[both laugh]

We can speak English
if you prefer.

Well, whatever you prefer!

The whole album is for you.

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN
DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (2024)

Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski.

[Kaplan] Well, this is Warsaw.

- Ghetto?
- [Pawlak] Ghetto uprising.

I tried very hard
to not remember this.

[Pawlak] I know, I know.

- Leszek.
- You recognize Leszek?

- Yeah.
- You recognize him?

[Kaplan] Leszek and his family
made it possible

for me and my parents
to survive.

Beautiful photograph,
and beautiful mother.

[Pawlak] Thank you.

I assume she's not alive.

[Pawlak] She died 11 years ago.

I'm sorry.

Excuse me.

If I...

[Pawlak] Definitely.
I will hold it for you.

- [Kaplan] Oh, I remember that.
- [Pawlak] Mm-hmm.

[Kaplan] Yeah.

[gentle, poignant music plays]

I've spent a good part
of my life

trying to forget all of this.

You know, to me,
this is my family.

This is my... history.

These are the people who,
all of whom, I know, have died.

Well, we have to remember it.

It's part of history.
It's not just part of the Jews.

If we don't remember,
it will come again.

We have to remember.
Remember your own history.

I've had enough.

- Every family has a history...
- Mm-hmm.

and you are my history.

That is not just my history,

but also history of your...

of Poland.

Partially history of America

because we are here,

and partially because of this.

[gentle, solemn music plays]

Roma, her parents, and Halina
survived the Holocaust

and emigrated to the USA.

Leszek fulfilled his dream

and remained connected to the
sea for the rest of his life.

His friends remember him
as a sailor

and an amateur photographer.

Maciej, Leszek's son,

was an activist
of the democratic opposition

and "Solidarity,"
the movement that changed

the history of Poland.

[solemn music continues]

[music fades]