Documentary on the fighting Poles

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32565, 26 March 1971, Page 4

Documentary on the fighting Poles

At dawn on September 1, 1939, the German armies crossed the borders of Poland and claimed the first victim of the Second World War. The Soviet Union moved in swiftly from the East and joined hands with the Germans across the prostrate nation. Within a few weeks it was all over. Poland was crushed between the

German hammer and the Soviet anvil. A 8.8. C. programme “For our Freedom and Yours,” which has been bought by the N.Z.8.C., shows what happened during “the September catastrophe” (as the Poles themselves called it) and during the five years that followed. It is a story which helps to explain that fear of a resurgent united Germany which keeps a nation—-devotedly and almost wholly Catholic—firmly in the Soviet bloc.

“For Our Freedom and Yours” is., inscribed on the war memorial in the Polish cemetery at Cassino. The part played by the Free Polish forces in the Second World War is well known. Less known is what was actually happening in Poland during those five years. With the help of archive film from Poland (some of which was for years buried underground) and from East Germany, the programme shows the gallantry of Polish cavalry pitting itself against German tanks; the devastation of Warsaw under siege; a smiling Khruschev

pacing out the territory seized in the east. It shows a country of concentration camps and firing squads; the Nazi Governor-General Frank, later hanged for his crimes at Nuremburg; the discovery of the bodies of 5000 Polish officers in the forest at Katyn, and, in the heroic and tragic tradition of Poland, the Warsaw Rising of 1944.

Viewers also see something of the history of a country where the flame of independence has been kept alive through centuries of partition and oppression from stronger neighbours. They fought for their freedom at home against the Tsar’s Cossacks and in exile wherever freedom was threatened. Their courage was legendary. An officer of the Grand Army, watching the Polish legion gallop past, their banner proclaiming “For Our Freedom and Yours” streaming in the wind, remarked that they were mad. “I wish that all my officers,” replied Napolean, “were as mad as the Poles.” Poetry and music have been invoked to convey the spirit of Poland —above all the music of Frederic Chopin —so much the true voice of this indomitable nation that the sound of it was banned by the Germans during the years of occupation. The commentary is by Patrick O’Donovan, who has visited post-war Poland several times in his capacity as correspondent for “The Observer.”

CHTV3 2.00 p.m.: Headline news. 2.03: All Gas and Gaiters. Comedy. (Repeat.) 2.32: Inheritance—“ Misalliance.” Sixth of 10 parts. 3.24: The Jerry Lewis Show. Variety. 4.12: David Copperfield—“ Old Acquaintance.” Fifth of 13 parts. (Repeat.) 4.37: Trumpton. Puppets. (Repeat.) 4.52: The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Cartoon. 5.13: Gentle Ben. Adventure. (Repeat.) 5.38: Headline news, weather. 5.41: The Flying Nun—“ When Generations Gap.” Comedy. 6.05: The Challenging Sea—“ The World of Oceanography.” Adventure. 6.30: World Report. News review. 6.50: Sports magazine. 7.00: Network news. 7.20: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.40: Julia—“ Father of the Bribe.” Comedy. 8.03: Mod Squad—"To Line with Love.” Detective. 8.50: Search for Tomorrow. Science. 9.18: Newsbrief. 9.20: Film (1942)—“Casablanca” (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henried, Claude Rains). 10.58: German Mirror. 11.09: Late news, weather. 11.16: The Outsider —“A Wide Place.” Detective. (Final.)

NATIONAL PROGRAMME (Including 3YA Christchurch (690 kiloliertz); 2YA, Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kiloliertz); and 3YZ Greymouth <920 kilo hertz) 7.0 p.m.: Sports News. 7.7: Bing Crosby in Europe. 7.30: Time for Music. 8.0: World of Science. 8.15: The- Roger Wagner Chorale in France. 8.30: Weather and News. Checkpoint. 9.0: This Week on the Stock Exchange. 9.15: Music of the Maori. 9.30: The Jazz Hour. 10.30: News, Comment, Weather. 10.45: Eileen Farrell with Percy Faith and his Orchestra. 11.0: News and Commentary. 11.15: All Night Programme. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7.5 p.m.: Valerie Rigg (violin) Barry Margan (piano) Stravinsky: Duo Concertante (1932). 7.25: Berlin Festival. 7.41: Hummel: Trumpet Concerto in E flat—

Michel Cuvit (trumpet), Suisse Romande Orchestra under Ernest Ansermet. 7.59: Bach: Solo Cantata; My soul praises and Blorifies (BWVIB9) —Peter chreier (tenor), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Erhard Mauersberger. 8.15: Berlin Festival. 9.0: Double Bill. The Silence, by James Hanley. Like a Great Dead Fish. Translated by Derek Jordan. 10.22: Schumann: Overture: Genoveva, Op. 81. 10.32: Verdi: Lady Macbeth’s Sleepwalking Scene (Macbeth). 10.42: Chopin: Concert Rondo: Krakowaik, Op. 14. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Reprise. 10.4: Turf Topics. 10.15: Late Night Friday. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Sounds Right Now. 8.30: Things are Swinging.