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Wajda moved by return of father's sabre

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 21.10.2011 18:12
Film director Andrzej Wajda was moved to tears when a resident of Radom, central Poland, presented him with a lost sabre that had belonged to his father.

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The film-maker and his brother, Leszek, were in Radom for the unveiling of a plaque in the family's honour at the house where they had once lived.

The 85-year-old director had buried the sabre in 1939 during the first weeks of war.

Captain Jakub Wajda was then on active service in Eastern Poland, and he was later shot by the Soviets as one of the 22,500 victims of the Katyn crime.

The Wajdas left the house in 1940, and the sabre was found in the 1970s by another resident of the property.

Anna Krok, whose father had found the weapon, said that the sabre was hung on the wall for many years.

The family did not know who it had belonged to, but recently, another neighbour came across information on the internet suggesting that the sabre might have been owned by the Wajdas.

“It's rare that life presents you with something so moving - so extraordinary,” the director expressed.

He added that he was certain that it was the very same sabre that he had hidden as a 13-year-old, as he had buried it without its scabbard. As Mrs Krok told him, that was how it was found.'

The loss of the director's father would ultimately provide inspiration for one of his most acclaimed films.

Katyn, which was released in 2007, was the first film to deal with the Soviet massacre. It was impossible to make such a film in Poland prior to 1989, as Moscow only admitted guilt for the crime after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Besides the unveiling of the plaque, an exhibition dedicated to Captain Wajda. was launched last weekend in the local cultural centre. (nh)







Source: PAP

tags: Wajda
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