Rakowiecka Prison

From DocuWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
6 Links

[edit] General Information

History Documentary, published by TVP in 1999 - Polish narration with English subtitles.

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Writed and directed by: Jolanta Kessler-Chojecka

Cinematography by: Andrzej Adamczak

Music by: Lech Brański

Narrated by: Maria Dłużewska, Ksawery Jasieński, Barbara Bartel

Produced by: Mirosław Chojecki, Piotr Weychert

English subtitles by: Iwona Morenc

The prison on Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw was built for criminal offenders by the Tsarist occupiers in 1899. After World War Two, it became the toughest place of detention for political prisoners and thus a symbol of communist rule (1945-1989) and of Soviet domination over Poland. The history of the prison reflected the history of Poland – its descent into the totalitarian system, the periods of political thaw, successive protests and the restoration of freedom in 1989. During the communist period, the Rakowiecka Prison was what the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel was during the period of the partitions, the Gestapo headquarters on Szucha Street during the Nazi occupation and Moscow’s Lubyanka Prison in the Soviet Union. The nation’s heroes executed in the Rakowiecka Prison included General Emil Fieldorf ‘Nil’ and Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki.

The film shows the nation’s striving for freedom and the enormity of its suffering during the Stalinist period and later years, the emergence of the opposition movement in the 1970s and the Solidarity revolution. It also shows that Poles have never resigned themselves to an imposed political system and their country’s subjugation by Moscow. The film uses documents, photos and original footage, prisoners’ notes and letters, as well as reminiscences dating from Rakowiecka Prison in its harshest period during Stalinism.

The speakers include former political prisoners Józef Szaniawski, Leszek Moczulski, Karol Modzelewski, Zofia and Zbigniew Romaszewski, Czesław Bielecki, Maria Twardowska, Władysław Bartoszewski, Andrzej Wolski, Barbara Otwinowska, Jan Lityński, Janusz Szpotański and Tadeusz Płużański.