Karski and the Lords of Humanity

Made using a ground-breaking technique, combining unique archival footage with animated sequences, by Slawomir Grünberg, an outstanding documentary filmmaker and prestigious Emmy-award winner, the film tells the story of Jan Karski - hero of the Polish Underground State, regarded as one of the most prominent people of the 20th century by the U.S. edition of Newsweek.

As an eyewitness, Jan Karski, alias “Witold,” was the very first person to reveal to the Western Allied governments the atrocities and mass murders committed by the Nazis in occupied Poland. He was an emissary of the Polish Underground State, sent undercover to the Warsaw Ghetto on a mission to investigate the situation of Jews on the eve of the “Final Solution.” He sought to reveal to the world the shocking news about the tragedy of the Jewish people. “Without the intervention of the Allies, the Jewish community will cease to exist in eighteen months' time,” he reported in the so-called Karski Report, which was mostly based on the intelligence acquired firsthand, as an eyewitness. Regrettably, the information on the Holocaust, smuggled by Karski to the West, only made its way to the 16th page of the New York Times. A few years ago, the American edition of Newsweek named Jan Karski one of the most outstanding personalities of 20th century, calling his wartime mission one of the moral milestones of 20th century civilization.

One of the unquestionable qualities of Slawomir Grünberg’s film are the animated reconstructions of several scenes, such as Karski’s arrest by the Gestapo, his entry into the Warsaw ghetto (twice!) and transitional camp in Izbica, and his numerous conversations with - as Karski himself called them - “the lords of humanity,” including Great Britain’s Foreign Minister Anthony Eden or the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among the archival materials there are never-seen before interviews conducted by E. Thomas Wood, co-author of Karski - How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust, as well as little-known film footage and photographs. Besides the voice recordings of Karski himself, the audience hears the comments of the people who knew him well, including the famous political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Martin Gilbert and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Republic, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski.

“To me, Jan Karski was an incredibly brave young man, dedicated to the struggle for truth, justice and equality. Let's remember he was barely 25 years old when the war began. He was asked to do something that most people would most likely refuse to do. Jan Karski was a man who was willing to sacrifice his own life in the name of humanity.

Karski is a universal, timeless hero, a role-model for the young generation all over the world. It’s in the young people’s nature to seek the meaning of life and proper moral standards. KARSKI & THE LORDS OF HUMANITY proves that a seemingly banal question: “can I, as an individual, change the world?” is worth asking."
Slawomir Grünberg, Director.

STARRING
(in order of appearance)

Jan Karski
Laurence Weinbaum, World Jewish Congress, former student of Jan Karski
Rabi Harold White, Georgetown University
E. Thomas Wood - co-author of “Karski - How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust”
Wladysław Zaroffe
Wladysław Bartoszewski, former Foreign Minister of the Polish Republic,
Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill,
Efraim Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States,
Meir Rosenne, former Ambassador of Israel to the United States
Kenneth Adelman, diplomat, former student of Jan Karski,
Joshua Muravchik, Foreign Policy Institute, Washington, former student of Jan Karski

Produced by: LOGTV, Ltd & Apple Film Production in Co-Production with: National Audiovisual Institute, Telewizja Polska, National Center for Culture, Tvindie Film. Supported by Present Past Foundation, Russian-Polish Centre for Dialogue and Understanding.