That period yielded the films: Przysięgamy Ziemi Polskiej (We Swear To the Land of Poland), documenting the formation and swearing in of the 1st Division of the Polish Armed Forces (1943) and Majdanek – Cmentarzysko Europy (Majdanek – The Cemetery of Europe) (1944) – a reportage shot on 24th and 25th July, 1944, immediately after the camp’s liberation by the Soviet Union.
Ford’s first post-war film, Ulica Graniczna (Border Street) (1948) shows the tragic fate of the Jewish community in occupied Warsaw. The director described it as ‘a film about small people against the backdrop of grand politics,’ as its protagonists include a group of children living in a Warsaw tenement house. The picture received the Gold Medal at the 1949 Venice Film Festival.
In 1951, he made Młodość Chopina (Youth of Chopin), whose script was based on novellas about the famous Polish composer written by Jerzy Broszkiewicz, Gustaw Bachner, Stanisław Hadyna, and Jan Korngold. Ford intertwines the musician’s artistic maturing with major social and political events from 1825-1830: Chopin is surrounded by young revolutionaries from Warsaw, after which leaves for the countryside, where he encounters traditional Polish music and peasant songs, and eventually emigrates, where he learns about the failure of the November Uprising.
The socialist realist Piątka z Ulicy Barskiej (Five from Barska Street) from 1954 marked a return to contemporary themes and tackling the effects of war. The drama, based on Kazimierz Koźniewski’s novel, tells a story of five boys who, unable to adapt to the post-war reality, go down the criminal path. The main characters are played by, among others, Aleksandra Śląska and Tadeusz Janczar. The film received the Jury Award at the Cannes Festival.