Karski & The Lords Of Humanity

“I’ve met Nobel Prize winners, but I truly felt I was in the presence of nobility when I was with him. He elevated every conversation.” – Holocaust historian Michael Berenbaum on Jan Karski

One of the many interviewees in Shoah, Claude Lanzmann’s definitive nine-and-a-half-hour documentary about the Holocaust, was Jan Karski, a Pole whose undercover missions in World War Two gave early information to the Allies about the extermination of Polish Jews. Educated as a diplomat before serving in the military, Karski undertook infiltrations for the Polish government, amongst these an incognito trip to Warsaw Ghetto. He offered personal testament of what he saw to the British government and, eventually, to Frank D Roosevelt.

This partially-animated documentary vividly recreates Karski’s adventures in intrigue and espionage, resulting in a definitive documentary on an important historical figure.

Director Slawomir Grünberg will be a guest of the festival.