Editing Roman Polanski (section)

=== World War II and the Holocaust ===
The Polański family moved back to Kraków, Poland, in early 1937,<ref name="auto1"/> and were living there when World War&nbsp;II began with the [[invasion of Poland]]. [[General Government|Kraków was soon occupied]] by the German forces, and the racist and anti-Semitic [[Nuremberg Laws]] made the Polańskis targets of persecution, forcing them into the [[Kraków Ghetto]], along with [[Holocaust in Poland|thousands of the city's Jews]].<ref name="INA"/> Around the age of six, Polanski attended primary school for only a few weeks, until "all the Jewish children were abruptly expelled", writes biographer [[Christopher Sandford (biographer)|Christopher Sandford]]. That initiative was soon followed by the requirement that all Jewish children over the age of twelve wear white armbands, with a blue [[Star of David]] imprinted, for visual identification. After he was expelled, Polanski would not be allowed to enter another classroom for six years.<ref name="RPinterviewsxv" />{{rp|18}}<ref name="fail">{{cite book |last=Polański |first=Roman |title=Roman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkMRxv820VwC&q=%22hadn%27t+intended+to+give+refuge%22 |url-status=live |publisher=Morrow (ibidem) |date=1984 |page=93 |isbn=0688026214 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101113257/https://books.google.com/books?id=UkMRxv820VwC&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22hadn%27t+intended+to+give+refuge%22 |archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>

Polanski's father was transferred, along with thousands of other Jews, to [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp|Mauthausen]], a group of 49 German concentration camps in Austria. His mother, who was four months pregnant at the time, was taken to [[Auschwitz]] and killed in the [[gas chamber]] soon after arriving. The forced exodus took place immediately after the German liquidation of the [[Warsaw Ghetto]], a real-life backdrop to Polanski's film ''[[The Pianist (2002 film)|The Pianist]]'' (2002). Polanski, who was then hiding from the Germans, saw his father being marched off with a long line of people. Polanski tried getting closer to his father to ask him what was happening and got within a few yards. His father saw him, but afraid his son might be spotted by the German soldiers, whispered (in Polish), "Get lost!"<ref name="RPinterviewsxv" />{{rp|24}}

Polanski escaped the Kraków Ghetto in 1943 and survived with [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|the help]] of some Polish Roman Catholics, including a woman who had promised Polanski's father that she would shelter the boy.<ref name="RPinterviewsxv" />{{rp|21}} Polanski attended church, learned to recite Catholic prayers by heart, and behaved outwardly as a Roman Catholic, although he was never baptized. His efforts to blend into a Catholic household failed miserably at least once, when the parish priest visiting the family posed questions to him one-on-one about the [[catechism]], and ultimately said, "You aren't one of us".<ref name="Roman73 snippet">{{cite book |last=Polański |first=Roman |title=Roman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkMRxv820VwC&q=%22Black+Virgin+of+Czestochowa+above+my+desk%22 |url-status=live |publisher=Morrow (ibidem) |year=1984 |page=73 |isbn=0688026214 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101113257/https://books.google.com/books?id=UkMRxv820VwC&q=%22Black+Virgin+of+Czestochowa+above+my+desk%22&dq=%22Black+Virgin+of+Czestochowa+above+my+desk%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FTQBU-CyI5PpoATJiIDACg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA |archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> The punishment for helping a Jew in German-occupied Poland was death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chesnoff |first=Richard Z. |title=Pack of Thieves: How Hitler and Europe Plundered the Jews and Committed the Greatest Theft in History |url=https://archive.org/details/packofthieves00rich_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Anchor Books |location=New York City |date=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/packofthieves00rich_0/page/175 175] |isbn=978-0385720649}}</ref>

As Polanski roamed the countryside trying to survive in a Poland now occupied by German troops, he witnessed many horrors, such as being "forced to take part in a cruel and sadistic game in which German soldiers took shots at him for target practice". The author [[Ian Freer]] concludes that Polanski's constant childhood fears and dread of violence have contributed to the "tangible atmospheres he conjures up on film".<ref name="Freer" /> By the time the war ended in 1945, a [[Poland#World War II|fifth of the Polish population]] had been killed,<ref name="countrystudies" /> the vast majority being civilians. Of those deaths, 3 million were Polish Jews, which accounted for 90% of the country's Jewish population.<ref name="holocaust" /> According to Sandford, Polanski would use the memory of his mother, her dress and makeup style, as a physical model for [[Faye Dunaway]]'s character in his film ''[[Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown]]'' (1974).<ref name="RPinterviewsxv" />{{rp|13}}

In October 2020, Polanski went back to Poland and paid respects to a Polish couple who helped him hide and escape the Nazis. Stefania and Jan Buchala were recognized by [[Yad Vashem]], Israel's Holocaust memorial, as "Righteous Among the Nations". Polanski recalled Stefania Buchala as being an "extremely noble" and courageous person.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/roman-polanski-honors-poles-saved-holocaust-73632669|title=Roman Polanski honors Poles who saved him from the Holocaust|website=ABC News|first=Monika|last=Scislowska|agency=Associated Press|date=15 October 2020|access-date=21 December 2021}}</ref>