World War II · Film · 2011
In Darkness
W ciemności
A Polish sewer worker and petty thief in occupied Lvov agrees to hide a group of Jews in the sewers for money, and slowly becomes their only protector.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Lvov Ghetto
Searching the sewers under the ghetto, Socha finds Jews digging an escape route and makes them a deal.
Stop 2: Sewers under Lvov
Key location
Months in the dark follow: hunger, quarrels, a birth, floods from the river, and Socha risking his family to keep bringing food.
Stop 3: Liberated Lvov
When the Soviets enter the city, Socha opens a manhole and the survivors climb out into the daylight.
What really happened
Lwów had one of the largest Jewish communities in Poland, about 110,000 people before the war and more with refugees. After the German occupation of June 1941 most were murdered in pogroms, at the Janowska camp or in the Bełżec death camp; the ghetto was liquidated in June 1943.
Leopold Socha and his colleague Stefan Wróblewski hid about twenty Jews in the city's sewers during the liquidation; ten of them, including the Chiger family, survived fourteen months underground until the Red Army took the city in late July 1944. Socha was later recognised as Righteous Among the Nations. The film was based on Robert Marshall's book and Krystyna Chiger's memoir.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- W ciemności
- Directed by
- Agnieszka Holland
- Countries
- Poland, Germany, Canada
- Languages
- Polish, German, Yiddish, Ukrainian
- Released
- 2011
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Eastern Front
- Themes
- Holocaust
- True story
