The film, XI: Do Not Be Indifferent, presents what its makers describe as the moral testament of Turski, the Polish Jewish historian, journalist, social activist, and Holocaust survivor who died in 2025 at the age of 98.
He was a prominent voice in Poland's debates over memory and human rights.
Turski, who was imprisoned in the Łódź Ghetto and later in the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp, is both the narrator and central figure of the documentary.
The film combines his personal memories with archival footage, focusing on contempt as one of the most destructive elements of the Holocaust experience.
In the film, Turski says the suffering of the Holocaust cannot be understood only through physical violence, hunger or inhuman living conditions. He points to the daily contempt shown by the perpetrators toward enslaved people as a central part of their humiliation and destruction.
The documentary includes graphic archival images, including scenes of torture and bodies being moved by bulldozer. It also recalls how, in the camp, broken glasses could mean death for a prisoner, and how fellow inmates pooled portions of bread to obtain glasses taken from murdered prisoners.
Turski presents such acts of solidarity as one of the ways people preserved dignity and survived cruelty.
The film was made by Andrzej Wolf, Andrzej Krakowski, Majka Elczewska and Anna Wolf. Krakowski said the project grew out of friendship and personal memory.
XI: Do Not Be Indifferent argues that responsibility for the Holocaust cannot be placed on Adolf Hitler alone. Its archival materials show the wider support and enthusiasm he received in German society during the Third Reich.
The documentary moves beyond history to address present-day forms of oppression, violence, dehumanization and contempt.
Its makers connect Turski’s warning to intolerance based on nationality, race, religion, immigration status and sexual orientation. The film includes excerpts from political speeches by figures including Donald Trump, former Polish President Andrzej Duda, and Polish right-wing leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
Turski lived to see an early version of the documentary. In it, he warns that individual freedom cannot endanger the safety of others, and that democracy means respect for minority rights as well as majority rule.
He also stresses the importance of education, while warning that distorted education can help create dictators.
'Auschwitz did not fall from the sky'
The film’s title refers to the "11th commandment" that Turski often invoked: do not be indifferent. He used the phrase as a warning against ignoring human suffering, historical lies, discrimination and the violation of social contracts.
The idea became internationally associated with Turski after his speech on January 27, 2020, during ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
"Auschwitz did not fall from the sky," he said at the time. He appealed to people not to be indifferent when they saw historical lies, the manipulation of the past for current politics, or the discrimination of any minority.
Krakowski said the film has been seen by renowned director Roman Polanski, who, according to Krakowski, described it as outstanding and urgently needed.
It has also been shown to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and his wife Anne Applebaum, who expected it to cause controversy, especially on the political right.
The filmmakers said they anticipate criticism from different sides of the political spectrum, but do not plan to change the film.
The documentary was financed entirely from private funds, without Polish or US government support. Its producers are seeking distributors and hope to reach a global audience.
Elczewska said earlier screenings in Poland revealed a generational difference in how viewers responded to the film’s brutality.
"Our children’s generation felt that this kind of film should not be seen by their children because it is too brutal," she said. "The grandchildren's generation, however, felt that it is a very important film and that everyone over 16 should see it."
'An important voice of a hero who is no longer with us'
Mateusz Sakowicz, the Polish consul general in New York, attended the closed screening last Thursday and called the film "an important voice of a hero who is no longer with us."
"It is a voice of prevention, important from today's perspective," he said.
Turski survived Auschwitz-Birkenau, death marches to Buchenwald and Theresienstadt, and became one of Poland's most prominent voices of Holocaust remembrance.
After the war, he worked with the International Auschwitz Council, the Jewish Historical Institute and the Association of Jewish Combatants and Victims of World War II.
He was also a longtime editor at the Polish weekly Polityka.
(rt/gs)
Source: dzieje.pl