The film’s opening scenes are of the Zabinskis’ idyllic life together with their son and their animals, making the subsequent footage of the zoo being bombed so much more shocking.
#THE ZOOKEEPERS WIFE TIMELINE MOVIE#
The movie takes its story from t he non-fiction book, The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman, which in turn was based on Antonina Zabinska’s own diaries. Over the course of the war, they courageously hid and helped an estimated 300 people to escape from Nazi-occupied Warsaw, with only two of that number being killed. It is based on the true story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who ran the Warsaw Zoo. This movie, available on video-on-demand, is wonderfully acted and brings to life a story that is well worth watching. I loved The Zookeeper’s Wife and appreciated but did not love Dunkirk. Some spoilers follow, although with both these movies being based on actual events, they are not really surprises. it’s actually not the craziest Nazi story we’ve ever heard.I watched two movies about World War II last week, and both did an excellent job of bringing horrific experiences to life. While it might seem crazy that he did all he did simply because he was obsessed with insects. What we don’t know is how much further Ziegler went to assist them, and how much he knew of their true intentions.
Ziegler, the insect-obsessed German officer who assists the Żabińskis, was very real, but his role in helping them is a mystery-and was a mystery even to Antonina! We know for certain that he gave Jan access to the Ghetto so Jan could contact Szymon Tenenbaum, and this ability to pass in and out of the Ghetto was crucial to the Żabińskis’ work. They would have been searched before they were too far along, and that would have been that.ĭr. It was incredibly dangerous, and the Żabińskis couldn’t do it the way it’s depicted in the film, just stuffing people under supplies in a truck and whisking them away. As you might imagine, the Nazis were very good at two things: finding and killing Jews and arresting (and executing) people who tried to help Jews. The Żabińskis worked very hard and planned very carefully in their efforts to smuggle Jews through the zoo to safety. As with many of the incredible stories of courage that came out of the Holocaust, some of the facts of the Żabińskis’ story are harder to believe than anything Hollywood might make up. Still, as incredible as the film and book are, the truth itself stands just fine on its own. Would you speak out and act to save lives, at great danger to yourself? Or would you step into the shadows and seek to protect yourself and your family? It really does make you think about man’s inhumanity to man and what you would do if you found yourself in a similar situation.
In a modern world where it seems like fascism and racial hatred is once again on the rise, the incredible story of the Żabińskis and the people they saved from Nazi death camps is an important one. The film starring Jessica Chastain has also been well-received and has prompted people to once again seek out the excellent source material (and the unpublished diaries of Antonina which Ackerman based her book on). Not only is their story well worth writing about-these acts of bravery that occasionally dot history give us all some faith that, as Hemingway said, “the world is a fine place and worth fighting for”-but Ackerman’s writing is beautiful. The book, by Diane Ackerman, is the real-life story of Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska, who ran the Warsaw Zoo during the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II and saved the lives of 300 Jews who had escaped the Warsaw Ghetto. The Zookeeper’s Wife is enjoying a lot of well-deserved success.
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