Posted on 12/01/2006 11:41:07 AM PST by lizol
Wajda begins filming Katyn movie
01.12.2006
Krakow comes to a standstill as shooting of Oscar winning director Andrzej Wajdas new film on the 1940 Katyn massacre begins.
Report from Krakow by Robert Kusek
The major streets and squares closed. The city veiled in mist and covered with artificial snow. Swastikas on the buildings. Men in Nazi uniforms. Krakow has once again become a location for the shooting of a new movie by Andrzej Wajda one of the most renowned Polish filmmakers who in 2000 was presented with an honorary Oscar for his outstanding contribution to world cinema..
Post mortem which can already boast the best Polish cast and an unparalleled budget is a story about the Katyn massacre, i.e. a mass execution of Polish citizens ordered by the Soviet authorities in 1940. In 1943 the mass graves were discovered at Katyn forest by the German army but the Soviet Union continued to deny responsibility for the massacre until 1990. Only then did the Russians admit that the Soviet secret police had in fact committed the crime and killed over 22 000 Polish soldiers and intellectuals.
Andrzej Wajda has been considering making a movie about Katyn for a long time. The project is of particular significance to Wajda since it is partly autobiographical. Wajdas father captain Jakub Wajda was one of the officers murdered by the Soviets in Katyn. But the movie is not going to deal directly with the crime but rather with a lie about the true perpetrators and a cover-up by the Soviet and Communist authorities. It will tell a story from the point of view of women mothers, wives and daughters of Polish officers who are waiting for their men to come back home.
Hence, the choice of Krakow as a major shooting location. It is not only Andrzej Wajdas city where he and his mother waited for any news about the lost member of the family but also the place where in 1943 the Germans officially broadcast to the world the Katyn massacre and charged the Soviets with carrying out the crime.
The film will be officially released on the 17th of September 2007 precisely on the day when the Red Army invaded Poland in 1939.
The Soviets were just as bad as the Nazis were, if not worse. Needless to say, those brave Poles didn't stands a chance since they were literally caught between two devils, Stalin and Hitler.
unmistakably a Jeep. did the soviets have them in Poland during WW-II?
I think so, because of the Lend-Lease acts.
Sure they did.
Remember "Lend - Lease act"?
They only had to repaint stars to red ones :-)
I know we had lend-lease agreements with russia, but were jeeps that prevalent in 1940? The prototype Jeep was demonstrated in September 1940 (the 23rd, IIRC). when exactly was this massacre?
Just curious, did you just look up that date or do know a lot about jeeps?
well, I don't know the context of trhe photo - whether it is contemporary to the massecre, or whether it is supposed to hacve taken place a few years later, but the first jeeps went into the US army in 1941. I dont' klnow exaclty when the russians got theirs.
Regards, Ivan
I met a man a few years back who had a restored 1941 jeep. I had my then brand new one and he took a few pics of them side by side. He said that was when they came out.
But I did double-check with a couple "history of rthe jeep" sites to refresh my aging memory.
never know - I could have been wrong, but it looks like jeeps werent' around for the massacre, but probably were afterwards, so it depends upon the context of the scene.
During WWII? Yes. During 1940? No. So realism depends on when the scene was to have taken place.
agreed. i'll probably go see the film anyway.
Not in 1940. By the time Russians got jeeps, the front would have been much further east.
See post #15
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.