''Lenin in Poland'' () is a 1966 Soviet

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction such as c ...

directed by Sergei Yutkevich. Yutkevich won the award for Best Director at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film is set in 1914 at the outset of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, focusing on

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

's time in exile in the village of

Poronin Poronin , is a village in southern Poland; from 1999 it formed part of Tatra County of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (it was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998). It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of the r ...

, located in the Carpathian foothills on Polish lands within the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

. Lenin, along with

Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya ( rus, links=no, Надежда Константиновна Крупская, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvnə ˈkrupskəjə; – 27 February 1939) was a Russian revolutionary, politician and politic ...

and her mother, Elizaveta Vasilievna, had previously visited Poronin two years before the war. By the summer of 1914, they had returned, moving from nearby

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. This location was convenient due to its proximity to the border with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. However, as tensions escalated, Lenin was suspected of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

by the Austrian authorities. Eight days into the war, he was arrested as a subject of a hostile foreign power and imprisoned. Locals were so suspicious of Lenin that he faced threats of

mob justice Mob rule or ochlocracy or mobocracy is a pejorative term describing an oppressive majoritarian form of government controlled by the common people through the intimidation of authorities. Ochlocracy is distinguished from democracy or similarly ...

. Despite being ordered to report to the prison in

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Gorals, Goral dialect: ''Nowy Torg'' ) is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Go ...

voluntarily, Lenin delayed his departure to send urgent telegrams to influential Austrian social democrats. Among these was

Victor Adler __NOTOC__ Victor Adler (24 June 1852 – 11 November 1918) was an Austrian politician, a leader of the labour movement and founder of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP). Life Adler was born on 24 June 1852, in Prague, the son of a Jewi ...

, a parliament member who successfully lobbied for Lenin's release by persuading the Interior Minister that Lenin was a greater enemy of the Russian government than even the minister himself. On August 19, Lenin was freed and departed for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The film portrays the events surrounding Lenin's arrest and the struggle for his release as a central storyline.

Actual events

In the summers of 1913 and 1914

and

rented a holiday home in

Biały Dunajec Biały Dunajec , is a village in southern Poland situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of the regional capital ...

and often stayed in a nearby

inn. The area formed part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

at that time (as a result of the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

), and when

broke out in mid-1914 the Austrian authorities arrested Lenin on suspicion of spying for Russia (August 1914), but deported him to Switzerland soon after (September 1914), after Lenin's defenders convinced the authorities that Lenin was actually an enemy of the Russian government.

Cast

* Maksim Shtraukh -

* Anna Lisyanskaya -

* Antonina Pavlycheva - Krupskaya's mother * Ilona Kusmierska - Ulka * Edmund Fetting - Yakov Ganetsky * Krzysztof Kalczynski - Andrzej *

Tadeusz Fijewski Tadeusz Fijewski (14 July 1911 – 12 November 1978) was a Polish stage and film actor.Tadeusz Fijewski
at ...

- Prison secretary * Gustaw Lutkiewicz - Investigator * Kazimierz Rudzki - Priest * Zbigniew Skowronski -

Wachtmeister (Wm; German for 'master-sentinel' or 'watch-master') is a military rank of non-commissioned officers (NCO) in Austria and Switzerland. It is also used in civil authorities in German-speaking countries (police, judiciary, customs service, bord ...

Matyszczuk * Jarema Stepowski - Photographer

References

External links

* 1966 films 1966 in the Soviet Union 1960s historical drama films 1960s Russian-language films Soviet black-and-white films Films directed by Sergei Yutkevich Films about Vladimir Lenin Soviet historical drama films Soviet World War I films 1960s Soviet films Russian-language historical drama films {{1960s-USSR-film-stub