arkadiusz bartosiak
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Kids From The Train

Shortly after the end of World War II, at the railway station in Krotoszyn, five German orphans were saved from death by Polish families. The children were secretly brought up as Poles. Today, 76 years after those events, it becomes clear that there were more rescued German orphans. Most of them never learned the truth about their identity. Some of these people are still alive.

 
 

Shortly after the end of World War II, at the railway station in Krotoszyn, five German orphans were saved from death by Polish families. The children were secretly brought up as Poles. Today, 76 years after those events, it becomes clear that there were more rescued German orphans. Most of them never learned the truth about their identity. Some of these people are still alive.

 
 

documentary (work in progress)

written and directed by Joanna Ratajczak, Arkadiusz Bartosiak
dop: Kacper Wójcicki
producer: Zbigniew Domagalski

premiere: 2024

production: WFDiF

 
 

Starving, sick, on the verge of life and death, a 3-year-old girl stretches her arms towards a strange woman and says: "Mutti, komm...". And the woman doesn't think, just grabs the little girl in her arms and runs across the city. She is hiding a German orphan under the tail of her coat, because the war has just ended and Germans are sincerely hated in Poland.

 
 

When, as a result of the dramatic circumstances of war, social norms cease to matter, the only thing that allows us to maintain humanity is sensitivity.
It can be, for example, the love of adoptive parents for the child of their recent mortal enemies.

 
 

Hearing this story naturally raises a question in each of us: How would I behave in this situation? Would I be brave enough? Could I do the right thing? And this is by no means a rhetorical question. This story keeps repeating itself...