I remember when this movie made a lot of buzz at the Academy Awards back in 2003. I wasn’t exactly into lesser-known but critically-acclaimed films back then, so for the longest time I thought the movie was mostly about music. Instead it’s a chilling tale of the lives of Polish citizens during World War II….
Tag: Poland
Fun Fact: Polonium Etymology
The element Polonium was named after Poland, the home country of its co-discoverer Marie Curie. At the time of it’s discovery, Poland was split under the control of the Russian Empire, the German Empire, and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Curie hoped that naming the element would spark a political move for the independence of Poland.
(Not So) Fun Fact: Katyn Massacre
The Katyn Massacre was the mass murder of Polish nationals during the spring of 1940 during World War Two by the Soviet Union’s NKVD agency. Germans had discovered the remains in 1943, but the Soviets denied this and blamed it on them. Russia officially accepted the blame in 1990. The massacre killed an estimated 22,000…
(Not So) Fun Fact: The Beloved Children’s Author Who Died in the Holocaust
Janusz Korczak was a Jewish-Polish children’s author and educator. Quite famous in his day, he was offered help to escape the Holocaust from friends, colleagues, and a few admirers in the German army itself. He refused all offers and used his last moments to raise the spirits of Jewish children around him who met the…
Fun Fact: When a Polish Doctor Saved Thousands From the Holocaust
Poland was the first country to be invaded by Nazi Germany and Poland proved to be the worst country to be in for Jewish people during World War II. German forces forced them into ghettos and concentration camps with very few escaping. A doctor named Eugene Lazowski saved a few thousand Jewish people in Poland…