Karol Edmund Wojtczak was a Polish military officer, murdered by Soviet troops in the Katyn Forest (1940) along with over 22,000 Polish prisoners of war. These victims were army officers, and reservists, including clergy, doctors, teachers and lawyers. They were executed as part of Stalin’s effort to crush the Polish people by killing Poland’s best and brightest leaders.
Atelier Manasse was a legendary Austrian photo studio that captured the golden age of cinema and cabaret in Vienna of the 1920’s and 1930’s. The studio, active in Vienna between 1922 and 1938, was founded by husband and wife Adorján von Wlássics (1893-1946) and Olga Spolarics (1896-1969).
It’s worth noting it was Olga Spolarics who specialised in Manasse’s trademark dreamlike erotic photography, whereas it was her husband Adorján von Wlássics who mostly photographed the celebs–so the eroticism is very much through a female lens. (x)
was a Polish actor, one of the best-known and most popular personalities of the post-World War II history of Poland.
Cybulski remains a legend of the Polish cinema. His style of acting was revolutionary at the time, as was his image (leather clothes and big sunglasses). He was often referred to as “the Polish James Dean”. Like Dean, he played nonconformist rebels, and like him he died young.
Do widzenia, do jutra / Goodbye, till tomorrow (1960)
Zbigniew Cybulski & Teresa Tuszyńska
Jacek is a handsome, charming young Pole who belongs to a drama company. One day, in the streets of Gdansk, he meets Marguerite, a beautiful, charming French girl.
“I must swim across the Danube. At last, I must do something on my own, with just my strength, something that takes courage and persistence, that can’t be left half-done. I must swim across the Danube alone, not just tell others that father used to as if it was I who had done it. Only weak people keep telling tales… I must swim across the Danube alone. Nobody can help me now. I know I’m quite alone. Whatever happens, I must keep going. For once I must fight my way through something alone.”
Apa (1966), dir. István Szabó