With a moving narration by film, television and stage actor, Blair Underwood and reenactments filmed at West Point, Saratoga, Philadelphia and Poland, the documentary tells the story of Kosciuszko’s fight for liberty for all. Hollywood actor Olek Krupa brings the Polish revolutionary to life with dramatic performance, along with interviews of former U.S. National Security Advisor Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Storozynski, Prof. Gary Nash, and Prof. James Pula.
There are more statutes of Kosciuszko in America than any historical figure except for George Washington and millions of New York TV and radio listeners daily hear of traffic jams on the Kosciuszko Bridge. Yet few know the real story of this Revolutionary War hero and champion of human rights.
Kosciuszko gave his salary from the American Revolution to Thomas Jefferson with instructions to buy slaves – and free them. Jefferson called, Kosciuszko “as pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known”. This Polish hero fought for the rights of serfs, slaves, Jews, Native-Americans, and women.
A military strategist, Kosciuszko’s plan won the Battle of Saratoga – the turning point of the war. He also built Fortress West Point, which Benedict Arnold tried to sell to the British in the most infamous act of treason in American history.
In 1791, when Poland passed the first democratic Constitution in Europe, Russia, Austria, and Prussia sent armies to crush this democracy. Kosciuszko led an army against the invaders to fight for rights for peasants, burghers, and Jews. His ally Berek Joselewicz formed the first wholly Jewish military unit since biblical times and called Kosciuszko “a messenger from God.”
Based on the book, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution, the film portrays Kosciuszko’s quest for liberty with his allies George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolutionaries against the tyranny of Britain’s King George, Russia’s Catherine the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Tickets: $0 for KF members, $5 for non-members
Seating is limited, first come, first served.
A discussion with the director Alex Storozynski will follow.
Where:
The Kosciuszko Foundation NY
15 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065
www.thekf.org
When:
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 @ 7:00 p.m.
