An emotive new documentary film was screened last week by Polish TV channel TVP1 about a controversial chapter of Poland's wartime history.
'Goralenvolk' , the project of respected journalist Pawel Smolenski, sought to shed light on the troubled relations between the Nazi Occupiers and the Highlanders of the Podhale region.
Central to the documentary was the figure of Waclaw Krzeptowski, the leader of the so-called 'GoralenVolk' (Mountain Folk), whose links with the Nazi Party remain a shady aspect of the wartime occupation.
Together with the Nazis, Krzeptowski sought to promote an erroneous myth that the Highlanders were not in fact Slavs, but the remnants of a Teutonic tribe that had settled in the region many centuries before.
In 1940, fifteen per cent of the Highlanders (27,000 people) signed a document declaring that they were a special 'mountain people' . The signing of the document was seen by many Poles as a slippery bid to avoid humiliation by the Nazis.
However, it has been alleged that there was misrepresentation in the published poll, with many entries listed as 'Goralen' when the individual had in fact signed the categories of both 'Polak' and 'Goralen'.
Nevertheless, the specific activities of Krezptowski and his immediate circle were of a more acute nature. Krzeptowski, who was a scion of a prominent Highlander family, wasted no time in welcoming the Nazi Governor Hans Frank at Cracow's Royal Castle in November 1939. He later organized presents from the Highlanders on the occasion of the Fuhrer's birthday.
After his recruiting campaign began to falter in 1943, Krzeptowski went into hiding in the mountains. However, Poland's Underground Home Army (AK) soon caught up with him, and in the wake of a summary trial by the Underground court, he was executed.
Krzeptowski's cousin, a respected patriot, happened to be on a mission at that time as a courier for the Underground Army. By sheer coincidence he met his cousin's executioners on the highland paths, and he tried to persuade them to show mercy, claiming that his cousin had always been 'weak in the head'. However, the decision had already been made and the so-called 'Goralen-Prinz' was executed.
Journalist Pawel Smolenski was grateful to all those who agreed to be filmed in his cool-handed documentary. A large number of those who remembered the events declined to be interviewed, a factor that reflects the unease that is felt about the era until this day.
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