The Vice-Rector for Research, prof. dr hab. Wiesław Laskowski has given permission for the purchase of the archival script for Alexander Ford's film about Janusz Korczak. Acquisition of the valuable document was requested by researchers from the Institute of Culture Studies: dr hab. Grzegorz Piotrowski, prof. UG and dr Karol Szymański. ‘Until now, we have not come across any traces of the film's production documents in the Polish archives. It was a priority in the director's plans for many years, but the story of its production remains enigmatic,’ says Karol Szymański.

‘Our interest in this script is part of a larger study of Alexander Ford, which we hope will culminate in four or five books. Within this series, we want to reinterpret Ford's work and modify the biographical narrative with the results of long-term archival research. The series of books would be called ‘Ford's Accounts’, explains Grzegorz Piotrowski. ‘ The first volume should appear in the spring of next year and will be devoted to the circumstances of Aleksander Ford's emigration in 1969 as the aftermath of the events of March’68 and in the context of the situation in Polish cinematography.

In 1945, Aleksander Ford became the first head of the newly established State Enterprise ‘Film Polski’. In the course of his 50-year career, he directed some of the most important works of communist and interwar cinema, including the superproduction ‘Krzyżacy’(1960), which remains to this day the highest-grossing film in the history of Polish cinema.

For many years Ford worked on telling the story of Janusz Korczak. In the 1960s, the film was to be made as a West German, Polish and, before the Six-Day War, Israeli co-production. ‘When everything was ready, the communist authorities, even before March, shut down the production,’ says Karol Szymański. ‘This is evidenced by an oft-cited statement by Andrzej Wajda, who reportedly witnessed the dismantling of the decorations for the film and said that he had never experienced such a thing and would not want to experience it again.’

Shortly after the aborted production, Aleksander Ford and his family left Poland as a consequence of the anti-Semitic campaign. In exile, he continued to try to make a film about Janusz Korczak. ‘This film was a dream and then became Ford's obsession,’ says Grzegorz Piotrowski. The dream finally materialised in the production of ‘You Are Free, Doctor Korczak’ (1974).

‘The film had a bad press, despite the fact that the Israeli premiere was attended by the country's Prime Minister Golda Meir. By cinema historians, Ford's last film is unfortunately considered a mistake,’ says Karol Szymański. ‘On the other hand, having seen it in the course of our research, we believe it is a great picture, truly outstanding and underrated.’

The script purchased by the University of Gdańsk comes from the Polish stage of making the film about Korczak. The documentary is dated January 1968 and is entitled ‘Korczak and His Children’. It was written by renowned screenwriter Ben Barzman. Prof Grzegorz Piotrowski and dr Karol Szymański found the script at an auction in an American auction house.