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Polanski in Warsaw for Jewish museum opening

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 28.10.2014 09:06
Director Roman Polanski was among the guests at a concert on Monday prior to the grand opening of Warsaw's Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Roman
Roman Polanski and former minister of culture Waldemar Dabrowski. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The 81-year-old director joined dignitaries including President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski and First Lady Anna Komorowska, Minister of Culture Malgorzata Omilanowska and Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich for the concert at Warsaw's Grand Theatre.

The museum has been seven years in the making, with the foundation stone laid in Warsaw's Muranow district in June 2007.

Guests from across the globe are taking part in this week's events, with the official opening set to take place at 2 pm on Tuesday.

President Komorowski and his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin will lead the inauguration, the latter making his first official trip abroad since his election this year.

First
First Lady Anna Komorowska and President Bronislaw Komorowski during Monday's concert at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Roman Polanski was living with his family in Krakow at the outbreak of World War II, and he survived the Holocaust by fleeing the Jewish Ghetto that the Nazi German occupiers created in the city.

He spent the tail-end of the war hiding with Polish gentile families, who his father paid for his upkeep. His mother died in the Auschwitz death camp.

The director explored the Holocaust in his 2002 film The Pianist, which was based on the memoir of Polish-Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who survived the Warsaw Ghetto.

Polanski has shown interest in filming his next movie in Poland. The film explores the plight of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army who in 1894 was wrongly accused of spying in what became the most notorious case of the day.

However, Polanski has confirmed that he will only film the movie in Poland if he receives a guarantee that he will not be extradited to the US, where he is still wanted for absconding justice over a case involving sexual intercourse with a minor. (nh)

Source: PAP

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