On April 28, the long-awaited Frankel Memorial Lecture will include a screening of “Farewell to My Country” a documentary by director Andrzej Krakowski about the 1968 exodus of the Jews from Poland.
1968 was a turbulent year across the world. But in Poland, it became the last chapter of the centuries-old history of the Jewish community there. That year, following student demonstrations, the Polish communist government incited anti-Zionist sentiments that led to the expulsion of Poland’s last remaining Jews, effectively ending the history of what was once the largest Jewish settlement in the world. FAREWELL TO MY COUNTRY tells the story of the silent elimination of the remaining Jewish community by the communist regime. Using rare and never-before-seen footage, the film intimately reveals the experience of emigrants by way of the communists’ state-sponsored persecution.
Joining us for the evening will be the director of the film Andrzej Krakowski, a filmmaker and a professor of film studies at City College, NY. Andrzej Krakowski is a producer, director, and screenwriters of many films, film series, and documentaries. Among films with which he was involved in his many capacities are “The Triumph of the Spirit” with William Defoe, and “Eminent Domain” with Donald Sutherland. He is also a producer of a TV Series “We are New York.”
April 28, The Goldsmith Family Cinema, 8pm