Andrzej Wolski: Do you want to preserve your freedom?

"Jozef Czapski, Witness of the Century" is the title of a documentary film about an exceptional intellectual and humanist about whom little is known. The film will be screened on Wednesday, April 2, at the European House in Belgrade, at 18 p.m. The event is organized as part of the Polish representation to the European Union, and is organized by the Polish Institute, the French Institute and the European House.

In short, Jozef Czapski (1896-1993) was a Polish-French painter, writer, art critic, prominent humanist who lived through many European turbulences. He studied law in St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution, studied painting in Warsaw and Krakow.

Photo: Screenshot

As a Polish reserve officer, he fought against the occupying Nazi forces in the first weeks of World War II, and was then held in Soviet captivity in the Starobielsk and Griazovec camps. He investigated the murders of Polish intellectuals in Katyn, ordered by Stalin, and blamed on the Germans. After the war, he did not return to Poland. He settled in the Paris region and with the intellectuals gathered around the magazine "Kulture", he tried to present the greats of Polish culture and the fate of his homeland. A distinguished intellectual, Čapski was first and foremost a painter, and he always emphasized that painting sustained him and gave meaning to his life.

Soviet war camp

The guest of Belgrade on the occasion of the screening of the film "Jozef Čapski, witness of time" is the director Andrzej Volski, known in Europe for his biographical films.

"I think that immersion in other people's biographies helps us, at least to some extent, to understand our own life, the meaning of which often escapes us. At least that's how it is in my case," said director Andrzej Volski for the "Vremena" portal.

He adds that "Čapski, the witness of the century" is a film from 2015, and that it was produced by the Franco-German channel ARTE "thanks to the engagement of Andrzej Wajda and his wife Kristina Zahvatović".

It is possible that the parts of the film about the period Chapski spent in a Soviet war camp during World War II will be the most interesting for viewers. Andrzej Wolski tells that "Czapski, who miraculously escaped the fate of the officers killed in Katyn, was released in 1941 on the basis of the Sikorski-Majski agreement, and joined the newly formed Polish armed forces in the USSR, where, on behalf of General Anders, until April 1942 he was involved in the unsuccessful search for the "missing" Polish officers who later turned out to be victims of the massacre in Katyn forest. As a former prisoner of war in Starobielsk, he testified before the American Madden Commission in 1952, where he directly blamed Stalin and the then head of the NKVD, Beria, for the Katyn crime."

In the context of the war in Ukraine

The current viewer will watch this film by Andrzej Wolski in the light of the still current war in Ukraine, and he even believes that "the tragic fate of Europe in the 20th century is reflected in the rich and unusual biography of Jozef Czapski".

"I think we must try to avoid the mistakes that led Europe to disaster in the last century. The growing populism and nationalism in France, Germany, Poland and - I could actually count all the countries here - represent a huge danger and inevitably lead to another destruction, it is more than obvious. If we do not build a strong independent Europe, we will be at the mercy of Putin and Trump."

Searching for the truth

This film is a way, a means, for Volski to convey to viewers the truth that this intellectual came to, talking about Juzef Čapski. Regarding the fact that the truth is inaccessible to many people in Europe, director Volski says that "only in democratic states can the truth be spoken, and democracy implies constant control over political power. In a true democracy, there can be no talk of uncontrolled political power. Meanwhile, we notice that in many countries the exact opposite is happening - authoritarian governments block freedom of speech. We must defend this fundamental freedom at all costs."

Andrzej Wolski points out that "we believed that the end of the Cold War would bring the final victory of democracy and ensure freedom for future generations. We were naive. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, and Putin's oligarchy of the super-rich found allies around the world."

"In a certain sense, we can thank Putin and Trump for waking up Europeans to the questions: do you want to preserve your freedom, do you want to preserve your democratic ideas? Well, you can only do that together, united, strong in unity, otherwise we will crush you," says director Andrzej Wolski.