Warsaw Ghetto Museum – Films for the Main Exhibition
The series of 17 short films was commissioned by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum in Warsaw. The project aimed to create films for the permanent exhibition of a new museum that will open in autumn 2027, marking an important addition to the cultural landscape of Warsaw and Poland. The production lasted 13 months.
The video material attached above includes 1-minute excerpts from only five of the completed films: Women in the Ghetto, Medical Struggle and Hospitals in the Ghetto, The Orphanage: The Story of Janusz Korczak and Stefania Wilczyńska, Jewish Self-help, and The Deportation of Jews From the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. The full series also includes films titled and focused on: The Outbreak of War. German and Soviet Crimes, Solidarity in Resistance: Life Under Siege, The Occupied City, 1940. The Warsaw Ghetto, Einsatzgruppen. Holocaust by Bullets, Antisemitism in the Interwar Period, Jews in Hiding. The Help, Operation Reinhardt, A Divided City, Testing “Never Again”: Raphael Lemkin, the Genocide Convention and International Law, On the Other Side of the Wall – Polish Witnesses, and Survivors of Genocide.
These historically and educationally oriented films explore various social and psychological aspects of life within the Warsaw Ghetto between 1940 and 1943. A crucial objective was to present the events from the perspective of Jewish life and experience, rather than that of the perpetrators. The films highlight lesser-known and underrepresented topics, shedding light on aspects rarely addressed in public discourse. They are based primarily on archival materials — including photographs and historical footage — as well as eyewitness testimonies. Additionally, the films feature animated sequences, contemporary film shots, and selected excerpts from other films.
The visual language of the series seeks to balance respect for historical material with a contemporary cinematic sensibility, allowing viewers to connect emotionally with the individuals whose stories unfold on screen. Through this approach, the films aim to create not only an educational experience but also a space for empathy, reflection, and dialogue between the past and the present.
The project was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.
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Director
Małgorzata Kozera-Topińska
Screenplay
Małgorzata Kozera-Topińska, Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
Screenplay consultation
Marta Eichelberger-Jankowska, Aleksandra Sajdak
Animations
Bartosz Mikołajczyk & Urszula Morga (Esy-floresy Animation Studio)
Music
Jakub Orłowski, Michał Turowski
Voice-over artist
Joanna Niemirska, Laura Samojłowicz, Robert Szykier-Koszucki
Audiodescription
Partyk Bartoszewski
Sound designer
Agata Chodyra
Starring
Alina Świdowska, Patrycja Grzebyk
Editing
Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
Cinematography
Maciej Eichelberger
Drone Cinematography
Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
English translations
Talya Balikcioglu, Marta Eichelberger-Jankowska
Archival research
Zofia Gałązka, Michał Januszaniec, Lily Just, Łukasz Kamil Kamiński, Urszula Sławiec
Archival licences and rights
Michał Martosz
Archive Sources
Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Warsaw Uprising Museum, History Meeting House in Warsaw, Museum of Warsaw, Yad Vashem Institute, Ghetto Fighters House Museum, USC Shoah Foundation, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Digital Archives of Poland, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, State Museum at Majdanek, Joint-JDC Archives, The New York Public Library, Institute of National Remembrance in Poland, Wola Museum, Poznań Institute for Western Affairs, State Archives in Warsaw, United Nations, Center for Jewish History in New York, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Library of Congress in Washington, Imperial War Museums in London, Gomidas Institute London, The Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Holomodor Museum in Kyiv, BBC Newsnight, University of Warsaw Archives, Grodzka Gate / NN Theatre Center, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, State Archives in Kielce, Bundesarchiv, WIDOK Cultural Education Association from Bialystok, Canadian Polish Historical Society, The KARTA Center Foundation, Yossi Raviv-Moi Ver Archive, Documentary and Feature Film Studios (WFDiF) in Warsaw, Critical Past, Getty Images, public domain
Crew Producer
Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
Warsaw Ghetto Museum Producers
Agata Korba, Dorota Kulawik, Monika Mastyj, Wojciech Pazik
Warsaw Ghetto Museum Historical Supervision
Daniel Blatman, Katarzyna Person
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Length in total
144 minutes (17 short films)
Producer
Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Year or production
2024-2025