33 Photos from the Ghetto (2026)

[bunniefuu]

[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 n*zi 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 n*zi 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 w*r 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 sl*ve.

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 w*r...

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 w*r.

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 k*lled,

and most of the women.

In two months, the Germans

m*rder*d 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 w*r...

- 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 w*r,

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 w*r.

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 "Lschmeister,"

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.

g*ns 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 g*ns

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 c*ck.

They used some handguns.

They had a couple of other g*ns.

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,

sh**t 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]

[g*nf*re 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 k*lled 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 fiance, 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 w*r.

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 k*lled.

[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 Jrgen Stroop.

JRGEN STROOP REPOR[Stroop in German] I have

forbidden the use of cameras

during actions in the ghetto.

But General Krger'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 Krger, and for myself.

It will be valuable material

for history,

for the Fhrer,

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

Jrgen 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]

[g*nsh*t 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 w*r.

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 fiance

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 expl*si*n]

[cacophonous rumbling]

[thunderous expl*si*n]

[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 w*r.

My mother and father

got married in 1946,

right after the w*r 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]