110-474: Raymond Roman Thierry Polański ( né Liebling ; born 18 August 1933) is a French and Polish convicted sex offender, film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and fugitive from the U.S. justice system . In 1977, Polanski was arrested for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl . He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for a probation-only sentence. The night before his sentencing hearing in 1978, he learned that
220-442: A woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. The term né can be used to denote a man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. The diacritic mark (the acute accent ) over the e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but
330-484: A 1994 interview with Diane Sawyer , but Nastassja says the rumors are untrue; they were never lovers or had an affair. She admits that "there was a flirtation. There could have been a seduction, but there was not. He had respect for me." She also recalls his influence on her while filming: "He was really a gentleman, not at all like the things I had heard. He introduced me to beautiful books, plays, movies. He educated me." On an emotional level, she said years later that "he
440-561: A German-dominated Europe. According to the Nazi government the Polish state had effectively ceased to exist, in spite of the existence of a Polish government-in-exile . The General Government had the character of a type of colonial state . It was not a Polish puppet government , as there were no Polish representatives above the local administration. The government seat of the General Government
550-409: A Poland now occupied by German troops, he witnessed many horrors, such as being "forced to take part in a cruel and sadistic game in which German soldiers took shots at him for target practice". The author Ian Freer concludes that Polanski's constant childhood fears and dread of violence have contributed to the "tangible atmospheres he conjures up on film". By the time the war ended in 1945, a fifth of
660-582: A Polish couple who helped him hide and escape the Nazis. Stefania and Jan Buchala were recognized by Yad Vashem , Israel's Holocaust memorial, as "Righteous Among the Nations". Polanski recalled Stefania Buchala as being an "extremely noble" and courageous person. After the war, Polanski was reunited with his father and moved back to Kraków. His father remarried on 21 December 1946 to Wanda Zajączkowska (whom Polanski had never liked) and died of cancer in 1984. Time repaired
770-466: A Roman Catholic, although he was never baptized. His efforts to blend into a Catholic household failed miserably at least once, when the parish priest visiting the family posed questions to him one-on-one about the catechism , and ultimately said, "You aren't one of us". The punishment for helping a Jew in German-occupied Poland was death. As Polanski roamed the countryside trying to survive in
880-536: A Wardrobe (1958) and When Angels Fall (1959). He graduated in 1959. Knife in the Water (1962) Polanski's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water , was also one of the first significant Polish films after the Second World War that did not have a war theme. Scripted by Jerzy Skolimowski , Jakub Goldberg , and Polanski, Knife in the Water is about a wealthy, unhappily married couple who decide to take
990-650: A certain extent I must say that I somehow perpetuate the ideas of that movie in what I do." Polanski attended the National Film School in Łódź , the third-largest city in Poland. In the 1950s, Polanski took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda 's Pokolenie ( A Generation , 1954) and in the same year in Silik Sternfeld's Zaczarowany rower ( Enchanted Bicycle or Magical Bicycle ). Polanski's directorial debut
1100-455: A documentary film, described the demands of young movie viewers who he said always wanted to see something "new" and "different". Rosemary's Baby (1968) Paramount studio head Robert Evans brought Polanski to America ostensibly to direct the film Downhill Racer , but told Polanski that he really wanted him to read the horror novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin to see if a film could be made out of it. Polanski read it non-stop through
1210-468: A few weeks, until "all the Jewish children were abruptly expelled", writes biographer Christopher Sandford . That initiative was soon followed by the requirement that all Jewish children over the age of twelve wear white armbands, with a blue Star of David imprinted, for visual identification. After he was expelled, Polanski would not be allowed to enter another classroom for six years. Polanski witnessed both
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#17328551450731320-483: A financial success and was well received by both critics and the public. Polanski won France's César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and received his fourth Academy Award nomination (and his second nomination for Best Director). The film received three Oscars: best cinematography, best art direction, best costume design, and was nominated for best picture. At the time, there were rumors that Polanski and Kinski became romantically involved, which he confirmed in
1430-445: A fugitive from American justice and could no longer work in countries where he might face arrest or extradition. Tess (1979) He dedicated his next film, Tess (1979), to the memory of his late wife, Sharon Tate . It was Tate who first suggested he read Tess of the d'Urbervilles , which she thought would make a good film; he subsequently expected her to star in it. Nearly a decade after Tate's death, he met Nastassja Kinski ,
1540-694: A grave danger for the non-Jewish Poles who attempted to help ghettoised Jews in the cities, as in the Mińsk Mazowiecki Ghetto among numerous others, because Christian Poles were executed under the charge of aiding Jews. A Forest Protection Service also existed, responsible for policing wooded areas in the General Government. A Bahnpolizei policed railroads. The Germans used pre-war Polish prisons and organised new ones, like in Jan Chrystian Schuch Avenue police quarter in Warsaw and Under
1650-512: A lavish period piece starring Walter Matthau as Captain Red, which the director intended as an homage to the beloved Errol Flynn swashbucklers of his childhood. Captain Red's henchman, Jean Baptiste, was played by Cris Campion. The film is about a rebellion the two led on a ship called the Neptune , in the seventeenth century. The screenplay was written by Polanski, Gérard Brach, and John Brownjohn. The film
1760-406: A little went a long way. I lapped up every kind of film." As time went on, movies became more than an escape into entertainment, as he explains: Movies were becoming an absolute obsession with me. I was enthralled by everything connected with the cinema—not just the movies themselves but the aura that surrounded them. I loved the luminous rectangle of the screen, the sight of the beam slicing through
1870-460: A model and aspiring young actress who had already been in a number of European films. He offered her the starring role, which she accepted. Her father was Klaus Kinski , a leading German actor, who had introduced her to films. Because the role required having a local dialect, Polanski sent her to London for five months of study and to spend time in the Dorset countryside to get a flavor of the region. In
1980-449: A mysterious hitchhiker with them on a weekend boating excursion. Knife in the Water was a major commercial success in the West and gave Polanski an international reputation. The film also earned its director his first Academy Award nomination (Best Foreign Language Film) in 1963. Leon Niemczyk , who played Andrzej, was the only professional actor in the film. Jolanta Umecka, who played Krystyna,
2090-409: A person's name include middle names , diminutive forms, changes relating to parental status (due to one's parents' divorce or adoption by different parents), and gender transition . The French and English-adopted née is the feminine past participle of naître , which means "to be born". Né is the masculine form. The term née , having feminine grammatical gender , can be used to denote
2200-473: A psychological horror film focusing on a young Belgian woman named Carol ( Catherine Deneuve ). The film's themes, situations, visual motifs, and effects clearly reflect the influence of early surrealist cinema as well as horror movies of the 1950s—particularly Luis Buñuel 's Un chien Andalou , Jean Cocteau 's The Blood of a Poet , Henri-Georges Clouzot 's Diabolique and Alfred Hitchcock 's Psycho . Cul-de-sac (1966) Cul-de-sac (1966)
2310-498: A scene, and received an X rating because of its graphic violence and nudity. In his autobiography, Polanski wrote that he wanted to be true to the violent nature of the work and that he had been aware that his first project following Tate's murder would be subject to scrutiny and probable criticism regardless of the subject matter; if he had made a comedy he would have been perceived as callous. What? (1972) Written by Polanski and previous collaborator Gérard Brach , What? (1972)
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#17328551450732420-562: A screenplay with the Shakespeare expert Kenneth Tynan . Jon Finch and Francesca Annis played the main characters. Hugh Hefner and Playboy Productions funded the 1971 film , which opened in New York and was screened in Playboy Theater. Hefner was credited as executive producer, and the film was listed as a "Playboy Production". It was controversial because of Lady Macbeth's being nude in
2530-508: A small number would be "Germanized", and young Poles of desirable qualities would be kidnapped and raised in Germany . In the General Government, all secondary education was abolished and all Polish cultural institutions closed. In 1943, the government selected the Zamojskie area for further Germanization on account of its fertile black soil, and German colonial settlements were planned. Zamość
2640-617: A supporting role, and was the last film Polanski directed in the United States. In 1991, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and it is frequently listed as among the best in world cinema . The Tenant (1976) Polanski returned to Paris for his next film, The Tenant (1976), which
2750-556: A young housewife who is impregnated by the devil. Polanski's screenplay adaptation earned him a second Academy Award nomination. On 9 August 1969, while Polanski was working in London, his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and four other people were murdered at the Polanskis' residence in Los Angeles by cult leader Charles Manson 's followers . Macbeth (1971) Polanski adapted Macbeth into
2860-566: Is a Polish reservation, a great Polish labor camp. — Note of Martin Bormann from the meeting of Dr. Hans Frank with Adolf Hitler , Berlin, 2 October 1940. German bureaucrats drew up various plans regarding the future of the original population. One called for the deportation of about 20 million Poles to western Siberia , and the Germanisation of 4 to 5 million; although deportation in reality meant many Poles were to be put to death,
2970-528: Is a bleak nihilist tragicomedy filmed on location in Northumberland . The tone and premise of the film owe a great deal to Samuel Beckett 's Waiting for Godot , along with aspects of Harold Pinter 's The Birthday Party . The Fearless Vampire Killers/Dance of the Vampires (1967) The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) (known by its original title, "Dance of the Vampires" in most countries outside
3080-601: Is a mordant absurdist comedy loosely based on the themes of Alice in Wonderland and Henry James . The film is a rambling shaggy dog story about the sexual indignities that befall a winsome young American hippie woman hitchhiking through Europe. Chinatown (1974) Polanski was an outstanding director. There was no question, after three days seeing him operate, that here was a really top talent. Co-star John Huston Polanski returned to Hollywood in 1973 to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures . The film
3190-509: Is administered centrally. In the French and Dutch original, the 'General' in the name is a reference to the Estates-General , the central assembly which was given an authority to directly rule the territory. The Nazi designation of Generalgouvernement also gave a nod to the once existing Generalgouvernement Warschau , a civil entity created in the invaded Russian Empire territory by
3300-656: Is anticipated for Poland, but a complete German administration. (...) Leadership layer of the population in Poland should be as far as possible, disposed of. The other lower layers of the population will receive no special schools, but are to be oppressed in some form. — Excerpt from the minutes of the first conference of Heads of the main police officers and commanders of operational groups led by Heydrich's deputy, SS- Brigadefuhrer Dr. Werner Best , Berlin 7 September 1939 The General Government had no international recognition . The territories it administered were never either in whole or part intended as any future Polish state within
3410-466: Is kidnapped. He attempts, hopelessly, to go through the Byzantine bureaucratic channels to deal with her disappearance, but finally takes matters into his own hands. The film was a commercial failure but received positive reviews from critics. Birth name#Maiden and married names A birth name is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname , the given name , or
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3520-417: Is sometimes omitted. According to Oxford University 's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., " Margaret Thatcher , née Roberts" or " Bill Clinton , né Blythe"). Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized , but they often are. In Polish tradition , the term z domu (literally meaning "of
3630-413: Is widely considered to be one of the finest American mystery crime movies, inspired by the real-life California Water Wars , a series of disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including those for actors Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay. It also had actor-director John Huston in
3740-716: The Ordnungspolizei . The Polish educational system was similarly retained, but most higher institutions were closed. The Polish local administration was kept, subordinated to new German bosses. The Polish fiscal system, including the zloty currency, remained in use but with revenues going to the German state. A new bank was created; it issued new banknotes. The Germans sought to play Ukrainians and Poles off against each other. Within ethnic Ukrainian areas annexed by Germany, beginning in October 1939, Ukrainian Committees were established with
3850-572: The German Empire during World War I. This district existed from 1914 to 1918 together with an Austro-Hungarian -controlled Military Government of Lublin alongside the short-lived Kingdom of Poland of 1916–1918 , a similar rump state formed out of the then- Russian-controlled parts of Poland . The General Government area was also known colloquially as the Restpolen ('Remainder of Poland'). After Germany's attack on Poland , all areas occupied by
3960-622: The German army including the Free City of Danzig initially came under military rule . This area extended from the 1939 eastern border of Germany proper and of East Prussia up to the Bug River where the German armies had halted their advance and linked up with the Soviet Red Army in accordance with their secret pact against Poland. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939 had promised
4070-568: The Rhineland ." By 1942 Hitler and Frank had agreed that the Kraków ("with its purely German capital") and Lublin districts would be the first areas for German colonists to re-populate. Hitler stated: "When these two weak points have been strengthened, it should be possible to slowly drive back the Poles." Peculiar about these statements is the circumstance that there were not enough German settlers to even make
4180-498: The Vandals ) in a speech he gave on 16 December 1941. When Frank unsuccessfully attempted to resign his position on 24 August 1942, Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann tried to advance a project to dissolve the General Government altogether and to partition its territory into a number of Reichsgaue , arguing that only this method could guarantee the territory's Germanization, while also claiming that Germany could economically exploit
4290-625: The Wartheland "as German as the Rhineland". According to notes from Martin Bormann German policy envisaged reducing lower-class Poles to the status of serfs , while deporting or otherwise eliminating the middle and upper classes and eventually replacing them with German colonists of the " master race ". The General Government is our work force reservoir for lowgrade work (brick plants, road building, etc.) ... Unconditionally, attention should be paid to
4400-615: The "line Memel - Odessa ". In this context Zvanetti's study proposed a re-ordering of the "Eastern Gaue" into three geopolitical blocs: The General Government was administered by a General-Governor ( German : Generalgouverneur ) aided by the Office of the General-Governor ( German : Amt des Generalgouverneurs ; changed on December 9, 1940 to the Government of the General Government, German : Regierung des Generalgouvernements ). For
4510-546: The Clock torture centre in Lublin . German administration constructed a terror system to control Polish people enforcing reports of any illegal activities, e.g. hiding Roma, POWs, guerilla fighters, Jews. Germans designated hostages, terrorised local leaders, applied collective responsibility. German police used sting operations to find and kill rescuers of the Germans' quarries. Through
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4620-514: The General Government was composed entirely of German officials, with the intent that the area was to be colonized by Germanic settlers who would reduce the local Polish population to the level of serfs before their eventual genocide . The Nazi German rulers of the Generalgouvernement had no intention of sharing power with the locals throughout the war, regardless of their ethnicity and political orientation. The authorities rarely mentioned
4730-496: The German zone, in order to increase the Reich's Lebensraum . Germany organized most of these areas as two new Reichsgaue : Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland . The remaining three regions, the so-called areas of Zichenau, Eastern Upper Silesia and the Suwałki triangle, became attached to adjacent Gaue of Germany. Draconian measures were introduced by both RKF and HTO, to facilitate
4840-530: The German-Polish conflict (although they were unable to help Soviet POWs of Ukrainian ethnicity). After the war, the Polish Supreme National Tribunal declared that the government of the General Government was a criminal institution. Other than summary German military tribunals, no courts operated in Poland between the German invasion and early 1940. At that time, the Polish court system
4950-580: The Occupied Polish Territories". Announced by Hitler on October 8, 1939, it claimed that the Polish government had totally collapsed. This rationale was utilized by the German Supreme Court to reassign the identity of all Polish nationals as stateless subjects , with the exception of the ethnic Germans of interwar Poland—who, disregarding international law, were named the only rightful citizens of Nazi Germany . The General Government
5060-535: The Polish government reopened. By March 1941, there were 808 Ukrainian educational societies with 46,000 members. A Ukrainian publishing house and periodical press was set up in Cracow, which – despite having to struggle with German censors and paper shortages – succeeded in publishing school textbooks, classics of Ukrainian literature , and the works of dissident Ukrainian writers from the Soviet Union. Krakivs'ki Visti
5170-429: The Polish population had been killed, the vast majority being civilians. Of those deaths, 3 million were Polish Jews, which accounted for 90% of the country's Jewish population. According to Sandford, Polanski would use the memory of his mother, her dress and makeup style, as a physical model for Faye Dunaway 's character in his film Chinatown (1974). In October 2020, Polanski went back to Poland and paid respects to
5280-644: The Polish population. The official name chosen for the new entity was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories), then changed to the Generalgouvernement (General Government) by Frank's decree of July 31, 1940. However, this name did not imply anything about the actual nature of the administration. The German authorities never regarded these Polish lands (apart from
5390-572: The Polish underground killed a German, 50–100 Poles were executed by German police as a punishment and as a warning to other Poles. Most of the Jews, perhaps as many as two million, had also been rounded up and murdered. Germans destroyed Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising . As the Soviets advanced through Poland in late 1944 the General Government collapsed. American troops captured Hans Frank , who had governed
5500-479: The United States) is a parody of vampire films. The plot concerns a buffoonish professor and his clumsy assistant, Alfred (played by Polanski), who are traveling through Transylvania in search of vampires. The Fearless Vampire Killers was Polanski's first feature to be photographed in color with the use of Panavision lenses, and included a striking visual style with snow-covered, fairy-tale landscapes, similar to
5610-595: The Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for the United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film . After living in France for a few years, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he directed his first three English-language feature-length films: Repulsion (1965), Cul-de-sac (1966), and The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). In 1968, he moved to the United States and cemented his status in
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#17328551450735720-491: The area more effectively, particularly as a source of food. He suggested separating the "more restful" population of the formerly Austrian territories (because this part of Poland had been under German-Austrian rule for a long period of time it was deemed more racially acceptable) from the rest of the Poles, and cordoning off the city of Warsaw as the center of "criminality" and underground resistance activity . Ludwig Fischer (governor of Warsaw from 1939 to 1945) opposed
5830-521: The area to the west of Kraków to the San river in the east. At this time Germany had not yet directly annexed the Łódź area, and Łódź (rather than Kraków) served as the capital of the General Government. In November 1940, Gauleiter Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland argued that the counties of Tomaschow Mazowiecki and Petrikau should be transferred from the General Government's Radom district to his Gau. Hitler agreed, but since Frank refused to surrender
5940-477: The attack and joined the invading force thereafter. However, after the 1941 Operation Barbarossa they included also the Soviet prisoners of war who volunteered for special training, such as the " Trawniki men " (German: Trawnikimänner ) deployed at all major killing sites of the " Final Solution ". A lot of those men did not know German and required translation by their native commanders. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police
6050-625: The counties, the resolution of the border question was postponed until after the final victory. Upon hearing of the German plans to create a " Gau of the Goths " ( Gotengau ) in the Crimea and the Southern Ukraine after the start (June 1941) of Operation Barbarossa , Frank himself expressed his intention to turn the district under his control into a German province called the Vandalengau (Gau of
6160-506: The darkness from the projection booth, the miraculous synchronization of sound and vision, even the dusty smell of the tip-up seats. More than anything else though, I was fascinated by the actual mechanics of the process. Polanski was above all influenced by Carol Reed 's Odd Man Out (1947) – "I still consider it as one of the best movies I've ever seen and a film which made me want to pursue this career more than anything else ... I always dreamt of doing things of this sort or that style. To
6270-495: The entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name . The assumption in the Western world is often that the name from birth (or perhaps from baptism or brit milah ) will persist to adulthood in the normal course of affairs—either throughout life or until marriage. Some reasons for changes of
6380-517: The entire period of the General Government's existence there was only one General-Governor: Dr. Hans Frank. The NSDAP structure in General Government was Arbeitsbereich Generalgouvernement led by Frank. The Office was headed by Chief of the Government ( German : Regierung , lit. 'government'), Josef Bühler , who was also the State Secretary ( German : Staatssekretär ). From October 1939 to May 1940, Arthur Seyss-Inquart
6490-421: The fact that there can be no "Polish masters"; where there are Polish masters, and I do not care how hard this sounds, they must be killed. (...) The Führer must emphasize once again that for Poles there is only one master and he is a German, there can be no two masters beside each other and there is no consent to such, hence all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be killed ... The General Government
6600-603: The family contacts; Polanski visited them in Kraków, and relatives visited him in Hollywood and Paris. Polanski recalls the villages and families he lived with as relatively primitive by European standards: They were really simple Catholic peasants. This Polish village was like the English village in Tess . Very primitive. No electricity. The kids with whom I lived didn't know about electricity ... they wouldn't believe me when I told them it
6710-616: The family from his birthplace in Paris back to Kraków in 1937. Two years later, the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany started World War II, and the family found themselves trapped in the Kraków Ghetto . After his mother and father were taken in raids, Polanski spent his formative years in foster homes, surviving the Holocaust by adopting a false identity and concealing his Jewish heritage. In 1969, Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate ,
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#17328551450736820-646: The film industry by directing the horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968). He made Macbeth (1971) in England and Chinatown (1974) back in Hollywood. His other critically acclaimed films include The Tenant (1976), Tess (1979), The Pianist (2002) which won him the Academy Award for Best Director , The Ghost Writer (2010), Venus in Fur (2013), and An Officer and a Spy (2019). Polanski has made 23 feature films to date. Polanski's Polish Jewish parents moved
6930-412: The film, Kinski starred opposite Peter Firth and Leigh Lawson . [Polanski] took a lot of time, two years, preparing me for that film. ... He was strict with me, but in a good way. He made me feel smart, that I could do things. Nastassja Kinski Tess was shot in the north of France instead of Hardy's England and became the most expensive film made in France up to that time. Ultimately, it proved
7040-582: The focus was on the better-known Einsatzgruppen ("Operational groups") who reported to RSHA led by Reinhard Heydrich . On 6 May 1940 Gauleiter Hans Frank, stationed in occupied Kraków , established the Sonderdienst , based on similar SS formations called Selbstschutz operating in the Warthegau district of German-annexed western part of Poland since 1939. Sonderdienst were made up of ethnic German Volksdeutsche who lived in Poland before
7150-424: The following year, at which time Lublin was to be declared a German city and given a German mayor. Nazi planners never definitively resolved the question of the exact territorial reorganization of the Polish provinces in the event of German victory in the east. Germany had already annexed large parts of western pre-war Poland (8 October 1939) before the establishment of the General Government (26 October 1939), and
7260-483: The ghettoization of Kraków's Jews into a compact area of the city, and the subsequent deportation of all the ghetto's Jews to German death camps . He watched as his father was taken away. He remembers from age six, one of his first experiences of the terrors to follow: I had just been visiting my grandmother ... when I received a foretaste of things to come. At first, I didn't know what was happening. I simply saw people scattering in all directions. Then I realized why
7370-578: The house", de domo in Latin ) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née . General Government The General Government ( German : Generalgouvernement ; Polish : Generalne Gubernatorstwo ; Ukrainian : Генеральна губернія ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete ),
7480-414: The immediate Germanization of the annexed territory, typically resulting in mass expulsions , especially in the Warthegau. The remaining parts of the former Poland were to become a German Nebenland ( March , borderland) as a frontier post of German rule in the east. A Führer's decree of October 12, 1939 established the General Government; the decree came into force on October 26, 1939. Hans Frank
7590-442: The judge would likely reject the proffered plea bargain , so he fled the U.S. to Europe, where he continued his career. Further allegations of abuse have been made by other women. Roman Polanski is the recipient of numerous accolades , including an Academy Award , two British Academy Film Awards , ten César Awards , two Golden Globe Awards , as well as the Golden Bear and a Palme d'Or . His first feature-length film, Knife in
7700-407: The major Polish cities of Warsaw , Kraków , Lwów (now Lviv , renamed Lemberg ), Lublin (see Lublin Reservation ), Tarnopol (see history of Tarnopol Ghetto ), Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk , renamed Stanislau ; see Stanisławów Ghetto ), Drohobycz , and Sambor (see Drohobycz and Sambor Ghettos ) and others. Geographical locations were renamed in German. The administration of
7810-483: The name Poland in legal correspondence. The only exception to this was the General Government's Bank of Issue in Poland ( Polish : Bank Emisyjny w Polsce , German : Emissionbank in Polen ). The full title of the regime in Germany until July 1940 was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete , a name that is usually translated as "General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories". Governor Hans Frank , on Hitler's authority, shortened
7920-470: The name on 31 July 1940 to just Generalgouvernement . An accurate English translation of Generalgouvernement , which is a borrowing from French , is 'General Governorate', cognate with the Dutch Generaliteitslanden . A more accurate English translation of the French term gouvernement in this context is not 'government', but " governorate ", which is a type of a territory that
8030-476: The nearest building, squeezed into a smelly recess beneath some wooden stairs, and didn't come out for hours. I developed a strange habit: clenching my fists so hard that my palms became permanently calloused. I also woke up one morning to find that I had wet my bed. Polanski's father was transferred, along with thousands of other Jews, to Mauthausen , a group of 49 German concentration camps in Austria. His mother, who
8140-415: The night and the following morning decided he wanted to write as well as direct it. He wrote the 272-page screenplay in just over three weeks. The film, Rosemary's Baby (1968), was a box-office success and became his first Hollywood production, thereby establishing his reputation as a major commercial filmmaker. The film, a horror-thriller set in trendy Manhattan, is about Rosemary Woodhouse ( Mia Farrow ),
8250-461: The proposed administrative streamlining resulting from these discussions. Fischer prepared his own project in his Main Office for Spatial Ordering ( Hauptamt für Raumordnung ) located in Warsaw. He suggested the establishment of the three provinces Beskiden , Weichselland (" Vistula Land"), and Galizien ( Galicia and Chełm ) by dividing the Radom and Lublin districts between them. Weichselland
8360-468: The purpose of representing the Ukrainian community to the German authorities and assisting the approximately 30,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled from Soviet-controlled territories. These committees also undertook cultural and economic activities that had been banned by the previous Polish government. Schools, choirs, reading societies and theaters were opened, and twenty Ukrainian churches that had been closed by
8470-597: The region, in May 1945; he became one of the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials . During his trial he resumed his childhood practice of Catholicism and expressed repentance. Frank surrendered forty volumes of his diaries to the Tribunal; much evidence against him and others was gathered from them. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity . On October 1, 1946, he was sentenced to death by hanging . The sentence
8580-487: The remaining region was also intended to be directly incorporated into the German Reich at some future date. The Nazi leadership discussed numerous initiatives with this aim. The earliest such proposal (October/November 1939) called for the establishment of a separate Reichsgau Beskidenland which would encompass several southern sections of the Polish territories conquered in 1939 (around 18,000 km ), stretching from
8690-400: The screen through the barbed wire. I remember watching with fascination, although all they were showing was the German army and German tanks, with occasional anti-Jewish slogans inserted on cards. After the war, Polanski watched films, either at school or at a local cinema, using whatever pocket money he had. Polanski writes, "Most of this went on the movies, but movie seats were dirt cheap, so
8800-399: The segment removed from all releases of the film.) However, Polanski found that in the early 1960s, the French film industry was xenophobic and generally unwilling to support a rising filmmaker of foreign origin. Repulsion (1965) Polanski made three feature films in England, based on original scripts written by himself and Gérard Brach , a frequent collaborator. Repulsion (1965) is
8910-454: The short period of military administration during the actual invasion of Poland ) as an occupied territory . The Nazis considered the Polish state to have effectively ceased to exist with its defeat in the September campaign. Overall, 4 million of the 1939 population of the General Government area had lost their lives by the time the Soviet armed forces entered the area in late 1944. If
9020-442: The street had emptied so quickly. Some women were being herded along it by German soldiers. Instead of running away like the rest, I felt compelled to watch. One older woman at the rear of the column couldn't keep up. A German officer kept prodding her back into line, but she fell down on all fours ... Suddenly a pistol appeared in the officer's hand. There was a loud bang, and blood came welling out of her back. I ran straight into
9130-453: The vast territory between the Vistula and Bug rivers to the Soviet "sphere of influence" in divided Poland, while the two powers would have jointly ruled Warsaw. To settle the deviation from the original agreement, the German and Soviet representatives met again on September 28 to delineate a permanent border between the two countries. Under this revised version of the pact the territory concerned
9240-602: The work of Soviet fantasy filmmakers. In addition, the richly textured color schemes of the settings evoke the paintings of the Belarusian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall , who provides the namesake for the innkeeper in the film. The film was written for Jack MacGowran , who played the lead role of Professor Abronsius. Polanski met Sharon Tate while making the film; she played the role of the local innkeeper's daughter. They were married in London on 20 January 1968. Shortly after they married, Polanski, with Tate at his side during
9350-499: Was Jewish and originally from Poland. Polanski's mother was born in Russia. Her own father was Jewish and mother was a Gentile , but Bula had been raised in the Catholic faith. She had a daughter, Annette, by her previous husband. Annette survived Auschwitz , where her mother was murdered, and left Poland forever for France. Polanski's parents were both agnostics. Polanski later stated that he
9460-462: Was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany , Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II . The newly occupied Second Polish Republic was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, and Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union in the east. The territory
9570-635: Was also in 1955 with a short film, Rower ( Bicycle ). Rower is a semi-autobiographical feature film, believed to be lost, which also starred Polanski. It refers to his real-life violent altercation with a notorious Kraków felon, Janusz Dziuba, who arranged to sell Polanski a bicycle, but instead beat him badly and stole his money. In real life, the offender was arrested while fleeing after fracturing Polanski's skull, and executed for three murders, out of eight prior such assaults which he had committed. Several other short films made during his study at Łódź gained him considerable recognition, particularly Two Men and
9680-504: Was an atheist. The Polański family moved back to Kraków, Poland, in early 1937, and were living there when World War II began with the invasion of Poland . Kraków was soon occupied by the German forces, and the racist and anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws made the Polańskis targets of persecution, forcing them into the Kraków Ghetto , along with thousands of the city's Jews . Around the age of six, Polanski attended primary school for only
9790-453: Was appointed as the governor-general of the General Government. German authorities made a sharp contrast between the new Reich territory and a supposedly occupied rump state that could serve as a bargaining chip with the Western powers. The Germans established a closed border between the two German zones to heighten the difficulty of cross-frontier communication between the different segments of
9900-451: Was around age four or five. He recalls this period in an interview: Even as a child, I always loved cinema and was thrilled when my parents would take me before the war. Then we were put into the ghetto in Krakòw and there was no cinema, but the Germans often showed newsreels to the people outside the ghetto, on a screen in the market place. And there was one particular corner where you could see
10010-470: Was based on a 1964 novel by Roland Topor , a French writer of Polish-Jewish origin. In addition to directing the film, Polanski also played a leading role of a timid Polish immigrant living in Paris. Together with Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby , The Tenant can be seen as the third installment in a loose trilogy of films called the "Apartment Trilogy" that explores the themes of social alienation and psychic and emotional breakdown. In 1978, Polanski became
10120-485: Was carried out on October 16. The conversion of Warsaw into a "model city" was planned in 1940 and later, in similar ways like the conversion of Berlin was planned. In March 1941 Hans Frank informed his subordinates that Hitler had made the decision to "turn this region into a purely German area within 15–20 years". He explained: "Where 12 million Poles now live, is to be populated by 4 to 5 million Germans . The Generalgouvernement must become as German as
10230-537: Was discovered by Polanski at a swimming pool. Polanski left then-communist Poland and moved to France, where he had already made two notable short films in 1961: The Fat and the Lean and Mammals . While in France, Polanski contributed one segment ("La rivière de diamants") to the French-produced omnibus film, Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (English title: The Beautiful Swindlers ) in 1964. (He has since had
10340-436: Was enough to turn on a switch! Polanski stated that "you must live in a Communist country to really understand how bad it can be. Then you will appreciate capitalism." He also remembered events at the war's end and his reintroduction to mainstream society when he was 12, forming friendships with other children, such as Roma Ligocka , Ryszard Horowitz and his family. Polanski's fascination with cinema began very early when he
10450-455: Was exchanged for the inclusion in the Soviet sphere of Lithuania , which had originally fallen within the ambit of Germany. With the new agreement the entire central part of Poland, including the core ethnic area of the Poles, came under exclusively German control. Hitler decreed the direct annexation to the German Reich of large parts of the occupied Polish territory in the western half of
10560-699: Was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German Invasion of the Soviet Union , to include the new District of Galicia . The area of the Generalgouvernement roughly corresponded with the Austrian part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. The basis for the formation of the General Government was the "Annexation Decree on the Administration of
10670-621: Was formed in Distrikt Galizien in 1941, many policemen deserted in 1943 joining UPA. The former Polish policemen, with no high-ranking Polish officers (who were arrested or demoted), were drafted to the Blue Police and became subordinated to the local Ordnungspolizei . Some 3,000 men served with the Sonderdienst in the General Government, formally assigned to the head of the civil administration. The existence of Sonderdienst constituted
10780-497: Was four months pregnant at the time, was taken to Auschwitz and killed in the gas chamber soon after arriving. The forced exodus took place immediately after the German liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto , a real-life backdrop to Polanski's film The Pianist (2002). Polanski, who was then hiding from the Germans, saw his father being marched off with a long line of people. Polanski tried getting closer to his father to ask him what
10890-548: Was happening and got within a few yards. His father saw him, but afraid his son might be spotted by the German soldiers, whispered (in Polish), "Get lost!" Polanski escaped the Kraków Ghetto in 1943 and survived with the help of some Polish Roman Catholics, including a woman who had promised Polanski's father that she would shelter the boy. Polanski attended church, learned to recite Catholic prayers by heart, and behaved outwardly as
11000-421: Was headed by Frank until the end of World War II and had as editor Michael Chomiak . It was "the leading legal newspaper" of the General Government and "attracted more (and better) contributors among whom were the most prominent Ukrainian cultural figures of the (early) 20th century." Ukrainian organizations within the General Government were able to negotiate the release of 85,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war from
11110-407: Was initially renamed by the government to Himmlerstadt ( Himmler City), which was later changed to Pflugstadt ( Plough City), both names were not implemented. Most of the Polish population was expelled by the Nazi occupation authorities with documented brutality. Himmler intended the city of Lublin to have a German population of 20% to 25% by the beginning of 1944, and of 30% to 40% by
11220-420: Was introduced for, among other things: The police in the General Government was divided into: The most numerous OrPo battalions focused on traditional security roles as an occupying force. Some of them were directly involved in the pacification operations . In the immediate aftermath of World War II, this latter role was obscured both by the lack of court evidence and by deliberate obfuscation, while most of
11330-491: Was located in Kraków (German: Krakau ; English: Cracow ) rather than in Warsaw for security reasons. The official state language was German, although Polish continued in use by local government. Useful institutions of the old Polish state were retained for ease of administration. The Polish police, with no high-ranking Polish officers (they were arrested or demoted), was reorganised as the Blue Police and became subordinated to
11440-454: Was murdered, along with four friends by members of the Manson Family in an internationally notorious case. Roman Polanski was born on 18 August 1933, in interbellum Paris. He was the son of Bula (aka "Bella") Katz-Przedborska and Mojżesz (or Maurycy) Liebling (later Polański), a painter and manufacturer of sculptures, who after World War II was known as Ryszard Polański. Polanski's father
11550-546: Was one of the people in my life who cared, ... who took me seriously and gave me a lot of strength." She told David Letterman more about her experience working with Polanski during an interview. In 1981, Polanski directed and co-starred (as Mozart ) in a stage production of Peter Shaffer 's play Amadeus , first in Warsaw, then in Paris. The play was again directed by Polanski, in Milan, in 1999. Pirates (1986) Nearly seven years passed before Polanski's next film, Pirates ,
11660-434: Was reinstated and made decisions in cases not concerning German interests, for which a parallel German court-system was established. The German system was given priority in cases of overlapping jurisdiction. New laws were passed, discriminating against ethnic Poles and, in particular, the Jews. In 1941 a new criminal law was introduced, introducing many new crimes, and making the death penalty very common. The death penalty
11770-743: Was run by Germany as a separate administrative unit for logistical purposes. When the Wehrmacht forces invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ), the area of the General Government was enlarged by the inclusion of the Polish regions previously annexed to the USSR. Within days East Galicia was overrun and incorporated into the District of Galicia . Until 1945, the General Government comprised much of central, southern, and southeastern Poland within its prewar borders (and of modern-day Western Ukraine ), including
11880-530: Was shot on location in Tunisia, using a full-sized pirate vessel constructed for the production. It was a financial and critical failure, recovering a small fraction of its production budget and garnering a single Academy Award nomination. Frantic (1988) Frantic (1988) was a Hitchcockian suspense-thriller starring Harrison Ford and the actress/model Emmanuelle Seigner , who later became Polanski's wife. The film follows an ordinary tourist in Paris whose wife
11990-544: Was the Deputy General-Governor. After his departure, Bühler served as Frank's deputy through January 1945. Several other individuals had powers to issue legislative decrees in addition to the General-Governor, most notably the Higher SS and Police Leader of the General Government (SS- Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger ; from October 1943: SS- Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe ). No government protectorate
12100-558: Was to have a "Polish character", Galizien a "Ukrainian" one, and the Beskiden -province to provide a German "admixture" (i.e. colonial settlement). Further territorial planning carried out by this Warsaw-based organization under Major Dr. Ernst Zvanetti in a May 1943 study to demarcate the eastern border of " Central Europe " (i.e. the Greater German Reich) with the " Eastern European landmass" proposed an eastern German border along
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