INVINCIBLE. THE STORY OF GENERAL STANISŁAW MACZEK'S LIFE

As a young man, he dreamt of becoming an academic philosopher. In 1918, he was promoted personally by Commander Józef Piłsudski on the battlefield. In 1939, the Tenth Cavalry Brigade he led provided an effective shield for the Krakow Army against the Germans. In various locations liberated under his command in France and Belgium, and in particular in the Dutch town of Breda, the memory of General Maczek is alive until today. Stanisław Maczek - the only Polish general who did not lose a single battle during the Second World War - was a unique person yet is still little known in Poland. Rafał Geremek’s documentary attempts at systematising the key events and interesting items from the life of the commander of the First Armoured Division. Following in Maczek’s footsteps in, among other, today’s Ukraine, France, Scotland and the Netherlands, the director has taken up the major challenge of filming 102 years of a hero of five nations. Recollections of the general’s family and survivors who used to serve under his command have been skilfully compiled with photographs and filmed accounts from European archives. The film also shows the dramatic situation faced by soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West who were fighting for Poland’s freedom over six years yet often after the struggle unable to return to their fatherland. That was the fate of General Maczek himself, who after the war settled in Edinburgh and his jobs included that of a bartender. Supplemented with feature footage starring the actor Redbad Klynstra-Komarnicki as Gen. Maczek, the entire picture not only offers a broad view of the military accomplishments of the First Armoured Division but also helps the viewer see its commander as a righteous, very reasonable as well as highly optimistic and modest man.
60 MINUTES, POLAND 2019, PRODUCED BY THE POLISH HISTORY MUSEUM, DIRECTED BY RAFAŁ GEREMEK

[@mikeblewittblewitt310]

In 1968 I was a 16 year old junior technician working at the Kings Buildings Edinburgh University. An old gentleman called Stan worked there as a handyman/ painter etc. One day I said to Stan “ Old Stan what did you do in the war? “ “ Well my son ( he always addressed me ,my son) I was a General in the British Army, I thought he was kidding me, he was a lovely fatherly gentleman, Humble and kind. I always enjoyed talking to him. I should finish by saying he was General Stanislaw Maczek.

[@miketabecki724]

Thank you for making this film. My father served in1PAD throughout WW2 and I remember , as a child, our family visiting The General when he was at the hotel in Scotland. Unfortunately for me we had to wait in the car while father & mother visited him inside! I do remember Dad saying that all visiting Polish soldiers would salute their General - precisely as you show in the opening shot of the documentary. At the time of our visit the hotel was owned by one of the General's 1PAD soldiers.

[@danieldzwonczyk5870]

Sława for General Maczek because of him and his soldiers I am proud to be Polish thank you General.

[@paulzukowski6643]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart ! Greetings from Brooklyn! Wspanialy material , bardzo dziekuje i serdecznie pozdrawiam.

[@BikepackingJourney]

Great general.

[@imunderarrestfortaxinvasio35]

He was good

[@BikepackingJourney]

@@ewasonten6365 oby bylo jak najmniej wojen i cierpienia. Zapraszam na moj kanal :) Tematyka czysto podroznicza

[@leondeckers3298]

Very very very impressive. Will there be a version with Dutch subtitles in the near future? We would really like this movie to spread much further. Greetings from Breda.

[@rafageremek8142]

Yes, there is a Dutch version. I hope the Producer will release it quite soon. Greetings from Warsaw, Rafał Geremek, author

[@ingehorrevorst4295]

@@rafageremek8142 the version with Dutch subtitles has been shown already a few times in the region around Breda, but unfortunately the subtitles are missing in the last part of the movie. We will be showing the movie again later this year (in November) and it would be great to have a version fully subtitled in Dutch, so that both Polish speaking and Dutch speaking attendeed can watch and understand the full movie. Is there a way this can be fixed? We would be very grateful! On behalf of the liberation committee of Beerse (liberated in '44 by both polish and english soldiers)

[@michal2135]

smutne jest to ze w szkole nie uczy sie tego !

[@supreme3376]

Wolą o LGBT

[@ziomfernando]

Piękna historia! Dziękujemy generale!!

[@jozefk8948]

Great story

[@forestsun1542]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful documentary.🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱

[@foxvideo2233]

Great Boy

[@MuadPL]

The film is great but many parts are not translated - subtitles are missing, sometimes in the middle of a sentence...

[@foxvideo2233]

Dzieki Friend!

[@foxvideo2233]

dzieki

[@lamberha]

Thank you

[@2serveand2protect]

Interesting documentary. I might add that the bond between the fighting men of the Canadian Forces and the Poles created at Falaise did not die with the end of the War. Those Poles couldn't see their homes again because of the communist "ally". Those who went back were persecuted, arrested - often killed by the stalinist regime. Some stayed in Scotland but plenty of the men from that division went to Canada - more or less "invited" by their Canadian "counterparts". The overwhelming majority of them would never see Polish soil again.

[@foxvideo2233]

Tak dzieki

[@Skiskiski]

The Poles fought so hard on Hill 262 because they believed that any surrender to Waffen SS was suicide! They rather die fighting than to be executed. Albeit, looking on a hindsight, it is uncertain and even unlikely that they would have ended up executed, but they did believe themselves that they had no choice.

[@imunderarrestfortaxinvasio35]

Oh

[@Skiskiski]

@@imunderarrestfortaxinvasio35 ❤

[@ricban1950]

I met the General around 1958/1959 when my father took me to Edinburgh to meet him. He was my father's commanding General of the 1st Polish Armoured Division during WW2.

[@adrianelpol88]

Czołem panie Generale ❤

[@Rugia-ox7hx]

Ironically, Poles who lost everything fought to free others --- those others who did nothing to help Poland in her hour of need, whether in 1939 or in 1945.

[@srogi00pohg]

Wieczna cześć i chwała Bohaterom. Gen. Maczek przekot

[@Skiskiski]

When their captured the train, they captured four artillery pieces or cannons and not four divisions.

[@bogumibogumi6778]

Wielki Bohater wielu narodów.

[@philipnestor5034]

My father Joseph Marian Nestor was 20 years old and fought against the Germans in Warsaw in 1939. He was captured and escaped and made it to France.He joined with the Polish army in Northern France and fought again against the invading Germans in 1940. After escaping from the Germans a second time he eventually made it to England and then was in the First Armored Division stationed in Scotland.. He ended up in a Sherman tank. He always hated the Germans but loved Scotland and the Scottish people.

[@MrStanislav]

44:21 Mieli fantazję, chłopaki :)

[@mareksicinski3726]

Some questionable translations

[@RobRoy1978]

Tak, Polak nie może żyć bez polski. Tyle razy próbowali nam ja zabrać, nie możemy dopuścić do tego by się to powturzylo.

[@pauldockree9915]

R.I.P. Stanislaw Maczek.

[@jezajez9052]

...w wojsku nalezy byc nieprzewidywalnym i to jest gwarancja sukcesu...!!!

[@ziolo31]

What a shame that General Maczek has been deprived of Polish Citizenship as the communist's did those sort of things.

[@5Mariner]

🇵🇱

[@danielnowakowski601]

Raginis wiekszy!