In search of the Polish Schindler

In search of the Polish Schindler

It is one of those powerful and generous stories that take the world by storm: that of a Polish doctor, Eugene Lazowski, who, during the Second World War, saved 8,000 Jews from the death camps by inoculating them with a false virus that declared them positive for typhus, placing the area of their village under quarantine.

Unveiled by the Chicago Tribune in 2000, this story has since travelled around the world, relayed by major newspapers such as Le Figaro, by serious Jewish institutions, and by quality television channels such as the History Channel in Great Britain. Yet this story was “too good to be true”. Conceived as a historical investigation, this film shows that this so-called Polish Just, forgotten by History, is not one. Eugene Lazowski, now deceased, never saved 8,000 Jews.

Between false scoop, financial interests of the press organs, political manoeuvres and rewriting of History, this documentary dissects the mechanics of a manipulation carried out on the rubble of the Shoah.