Yoram Friedman, whose experiences are recreated in the film, with twin brothers Andrzej and Kamil Tkacz, who play his childhood self. Photo: PAP/Rafal Guz
Run, Boy, Run (Biegnij, Chłopcze, Biegnij) was shot by Oscar-winning German director Pepe Danquart, and the premiere was held in the Polish capital's new Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
The film follows the escape of Yoram Friedman, who said yesterday that Danquart had created an authentic account of his childhood plight.
“The film is very realistic,” Friedman said.
“That was how my fight for survival looked – I spent months hiding in the woods, feeding on anything that I could find,” he said.
Friedman said that when he fled the ghetto, his father told him he should not trust anyone.
“My saviour, my angel, was a Polish woman who looked after me during those first months in the forest,” he added.
“She healed my wounds. She taught me how to pretend to be a Christian.”
In April 1943, Jewish resistance fighters launched the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. However, the insurgency was doomed and German forces completed the liquidation of the ghetto by 16 May.
Only about 10 percent of Poland's 3 million strong Jewish population survived the war.
After peace was declared, Friedman was put into a Jewish orphanage in Poland, and he emigrated to Israel in 1962. He now has six grandchildren.
The film is based on a best-selling book by Polish-born Isaeli writer Uri Orlev, and the cast includes a number of noted Polish actors, among them Zbigniew Zamachowski.
The role of the young Friedman was played by two actors - twin brothers Andrzej and Kamil Tkacz. (nh)
Source: PAP