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Story of the zookeepers wife11/5/2022 ![]() ![]() With many of the zoo's animals killed in bombings, by soldiers or transported to the Berlin Zoo, some pens and cages that typically housed them sat empty. Sitbon's father had learned about the Zabinskis through the underground resistance movement and had heard that the couple could shelter his family until they could find safety elsewhere. Sitbon's grandfather used to bring fruits he couldn't sell to the Warsaw Zoo, which is how her mother knew of the couple who oversaw the property: Jan and Antonina Zabinski. Sitbon said in a phone interview from her Toronto home. … But I want you and the kids to survive,'" Ms. What we have is some guns, some rifles and they come with tanks and airplanes and they will destroy the ghetto. Prior to taking part in the act of Jewish resistance, Shmuel urged his wife, Regina, to find refuge elsewhere. Her father, Shmuel Kenigswain, was a Jewish freedom fighter who fought against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943. Sitbon was born in February, 1939, seven months before the start of the war. She and her older brother, Moshe, are said to be the only known living survivors of the Warsaw Zoo rescue effort. Sitbon, 78, relocated to Canada from Israel in 1989. It's based on the book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, which includes references to Ms. The extraordinary true story of a Polish couple whose zoo served as a refuge during the German occupation has been translated in the new film The Zookeeper's Wife, starring Jessica Chastain, which is now in theatres. Tickets at AMC Sunset Place can be bought online for $10.69 for adults and $9.09 for seniors and children.Holocaust survivor Stefania Sitbon was among 300 Jewish men, women and children who found safe haven during the Second World War in the unlikeliest of places: the Warsaw Zoo. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is now playing in theaters. Yet these soft moments do not take away from the reality of the war story, merely heightening it. Indeed, the film captures charming moments as symbolized by the joy of Antonina’s piano, the sweetness of the animals and the innocence of children’s drawings. “Antonina used her gift to tend to these damaged Holocaust survivors and created an environment for them that was made bearable with art and music and tenderness and understanding,” she said. ![]() “And there was this just wonderful trust and communication between her and the animals.”Ĭaro said cannot imagine any other actress connecting so much with the animals in the film, dubbing Chastain a “genuine animal whisperer.”Ĭaro said she was also attracted to the story’s message of hope. Part of what made the film special was that “the animals would be so calm with Chastain and she with them,” Caro said. ![]() It’s not just experienced by men … Women, children and animals experience war also.”Ĭaro added the character of Ursula because she wanted “a child emblematic of all children who suffer so much in war.” The way Antonina cares for the child is similar to how she cares for the baby elephants of the zoo: with tenderness, with worry. Caro said she was drawn to the script’s true story “because war is experienced by everybody. Though the script was already written when it came into her hands, Caro worked to develop it, paying particular attention to the female characters. Ursula’s discreet smile shows that even immense hurt can give way to healing. As the bunny caresses her battered neck, there was a moment of hope. The scared girl lets her guard down, replicating the tenderness that Antonina displays toward the bunny. The young girl remains frozen from the shock, so Antonina hands her a bunny – one of the last surviving animals after the Nazis slaughtered the Warsaw Zoo’s prized animals. Niki Caro, the film’s director, was “inspired by Antonina’s courage and her care and her compassion, because she sheltered Jews at great risk to herself and her family, for no other reason than it was the right thing to do,” Caro said to The Miami Hurricane in a group press interview. Uncomfortable with humans but gifted with animals, Antonina has a tenderness that masks her strength. Played by Jessica Chastain, Antonina is an unlikely heroine for a Holocaust film. Ursula is one of the hundreds of Jewish people who hides in the animal cages until Antonina and her husband can send them somewhere safer. ![]() Antonina had converted her husband’s zoo into a safe house for Jewish people during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her doe eyes speak only fear.Īntonina, the zookeeper’s wife, kneels near her, reassuring her and attending to the girl’s wounds. After suffering abuse at the hands of two Nazi soldiers, the Jewish girl cannot speak. Ursula, a bony 14-year-old girl, crouches against the farthest corner of the zoo cage, crossing her hands in front of her chest. ![]()
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