5 x 1hr WW2 Documentary series, Associate Produced by Marianna Bukowski at Sky Vision for the History channel UK and broadcast in 40+ countries.
From the bold adventures of special agent Krystyna Skarbek… to the brilliance of the mathematicians breaking the Enigma code in 1932!
From the bold adventures of special agent Krystyna Skarbek… to the brilliance of the mathematicians breaking the Enigma code in 1932!
Sample clip from 'Enigma' episode. Interview by Marianna Bukowski with Jerzy Palluth (son of Antoni Palluth - founder of AVA factory that built Enigma replicas).
Interviews in this sample clip (from Zegota episode) conducted by Marianna Bukowski. Interview with Prof. Andrzej Zbikowski (Jewish Historical Institute of Emmanuel Ringelblum), Sister of the Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and Prof. Michal Glowinski (rescued by Irena Sendler / Zegota).
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.
General Stefan Starba Bałuk - Polish WW2 Home Army elite Special Ops paratrooper - Cichociemny, Warsaw Rising fighter and war photographer.
Halik Kochanski – historian, author of “The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War".
General Stefan Starba Bałuk - Polish WW2 Home Army elite Special Ops paratrooper - Cichociemny, Warsaw Rising fighter and war photographer.
Halik Kochanski – historian, author of “The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War".
This clip is from my interview with Hubert Krolikowski, Prof. of Polish Special Operations, Jagellonian University, Krakow and Clare Mulley, author of Krystyna Skarbek biography "The Spy Who Loved".
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
Personal note: From January to April (2013) I worked as an Associate Producer on the new 5-part WW2 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. 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 endeavours of Polish WW2 heroes, still await long overdue respect and recognition.
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. 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 endeavours of Polish WW2 heroes, still await long overdue respect and recognition.
My work as an AP on this series was primarily focused on two of the episodes: ‘Enigma’ and ‘Żegota’ – which I worked on 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.
The 'Enigma' programme was screened at Gdynia Film Festival 2014 (Festiwal Filmowy w Gdyni 2014) along with a panel discussion on Polish history made for the screen.
