''1939 Battle of Westerplatte'', originally titled in Poland as ''Tajemnica Westerplatte'' ("The Secret of Westerplatte"), is a 2013 Polish-Lithuanian

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

written and directed by Paweł Chochlew. It portrays the

Battle of Westerplatte The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe. It occurred on the Westerplatte peninsula in the harbour of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). In the mi ...

between the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

and Nazi German forces at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939. The film focuses on the conflict between

Westerplatte Westerplatte is a peninsula in Gdańsk, Poland, located on the Baltic Sea coast mouth of the Dead Vistula (one of the Vistula delta estuaries), in the Gdańsk harbour channel. From 1926 to 1939, it was the location of a Polish Military Transi ...

commander

Henryk Sucharski Henryk Sucharski (1898–1946) was a Polish military officer and a major in the Polish Army. At the outbreak of World War II, he was one of the commanders of the Westerplatte position in Gdańsk, which troops under his command defended for seven d ...

(

Michał Żebrowski Michał Jan Żebrowski (born 17 June 1972) is a Polish actor and singer. He was the first actor to portray Geralt of Rivia Geralt of Rivia ( pl, Geralt z Rivii) is a fictional character and the protagonist of ''The Witcher'' series of short sto ...

) and his deputy

Franciszek Dąbrowski Franciszek Dąbrowski (17 April 1904 in Budapest - 24 April 1962 in Kraków) was an officer of the Polish Navy during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Life In September 1939, he served at Westerplatte military transit depot, which took part in ...

(Robert Żołędziewski).

Cast

− as Major Henryk Sucharski * Robert Żołędziewski − as Capt. Franciszek Dąbrowski *

Borys Szyc Borys Michał Szyc-Michalak (; born Borys Michalak; 4 September 1978) is a Polish film and theatre actor and musician. Life and career He was born in Łódź, Poland. He graduated from High School No. 26 in Łódź. In 2001, he graduated from Wa ...

− as Lieut. Stefan Grodecki *

Piotr Adamczyk Piotr Aleksander Adamczyk (; born March 21, 1972) is a Polish film, television, voice and theatre actor. He is known for portraying pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin in the biographical film ''Chopin: Desire for love'' (2002), Pope John Pau ...

− as Capt. Mieczysław Słaby *

Jan Englert Jan Aleksander Englert (born 11 May 1943) is a Polish film actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films since 1957. Since 2003 he has served as Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Warsaw, National Theatre in Warsaw. Biography In 1957 ...

− as Wincenty Sobociński *

Jakub Wesołowski Jakub Wesołowski, also known as Kuba Wesołowski, (born 7 May 1985, Warsaw) is a Polish film, television and theatre actor as well as journalist. Life and career He was born on 7 May 1985 in Warsaw. He is a graduate of the Marie Curie-Skłodows ...

− as Bernard Rygielski *

Andrzej Grabowski Andrzej Piotr Grabowski (born 15 March 1952 in Chrzanów, Poland) is a Polish actor, singer and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Ferdynand Kiepski in the TV series ''Świat według Kiepskich''. Career Grabowski graduated from ...

− as Adolf Petzelt * Przemysław Cypryański − as Lieut. Zdzisław Kręgielski *

Mirosław Baka Mirosław Michał Baka (born 15 December 1963 in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski) is a Polish actor. One of his best-known roles is Jacek in ''A Short Film About Killing'' (1988) directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. He also appeared in the comedy televis ...

− as Cpl. Eugeniusz Grabowski *

Mirosław Zbrojewicz Mirosław Zbrojewicz (born 25 February 1957) is a Polish actor. Filmography Actor cast * 2018: '' My Secret Terrius'' (내 뒤에 테리우스) as spy * 2013: '' Spies of Warsaw (TV Series)'' as Marek * 2011: '' Kac Wawa'' as "Kaban" * 2010 ...

− as Jan Gryczman

Reception

The film has sparked some controversy with allegations saying it was "anti-Polish" and "unpatriotic" in its revisionist attitude to the heroic myth of the Battle of Westerplatte which became a symbol of the against-the-odds defiance to the Nazi invasion, and a group of historians even dismissed it as a false depiction of the battle that is being "offensive to the dignity and honour of Polish soldiers." According to ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', "while the film has garnered its detractors, cinema critics have dismissed claims that ''The Secret of Westerplatte'' belittles the soldiers who fought and died in the battle. One critic described it as a "hymn to the heroism of the defenders of Westerplatte.'" Possibly in an attempt to deflect the negative criticism, which the title word "Tajemnica" (Secret), implying as it does that the film makes revelations and runs against the long-held perception of the battle as an heroic Polish defence, publicity posters omitting the word were produced and at least three other versions of the title have been used. These range from the non-committal "1939 Westerplatzer Battlefield" and "1939 Battle of Westerplatte" to another version that unambiguously addresses the issue, "Heroes of Westerplatte 1939".

References

{{Reflist 2013 war drama films 2013 films Films set in Gdańsk Films set in the 1930s Lithuanian drama films Polish historical films Polish war drama films 2010s Polish-language films World War II films based on actual events Siege films Films scored by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek 2013 drama films Polish World War II films