Julian at Sachsenhausen, with Julia Kunert,

cinematographer/translator, and Joaquim Muller, Holocaust scholar

The investigation took the crew on the train to Poland, where Julian tracked down Wiktor's nephew, as well as a woman who had served with him in the Underground. An interview with the former Communist director of a museum where Wiktor's works had reportedly been shown produced only a bewildering string of denials -- raising new questions about what happened to the countless paintings, sketches, photographs and other works Wiktor created.

More tantalizing clues turned up as to the whereabouts of Wiktor's "lost manuscript," and how he was ostracized by his family, friends and the country he had fought and suffered for. In an interview with Wiktor’s nephew, a harsh and tragic portrait began to emerge of Wiktor's last days. In response to a question posed to the nephew about why Wiktor’s family could have been "ashamed" of him, Julian learned the tragic wartime pressures that tore Wiktor's family apart, and turned father against daughter.

In a hushed and pained voice, Wiktor's nephew explained that the daughter, though Polish, had been educated and raised in the heavily German enforced culture of their small border city, and had fallen in love with a German officer. By the time Wiktor returned from Sachsenhausen, his town and his family was for all intents and purposes German. To the German citizens of the town -- who had literally dictated the fate of families like his -- Wiktor was a pariah. Wiktor’s daughter, so strongly influenced by her German surroundings and social structure, had to make the painful choice of being with the man she loved or giving him up out of respect for her father. It became clear that Wiktor’s daughter was also a victim of a tragic situation; in the twisted context of postwar Poland, his family's "shame" became easier to understand.

Wiktor’s nephew went on to explain that, because of Wiktor's allegiance to a free Poland in what had become a Communist state after the war, he was branded "persona non grata" and lived out the rest of his days virtually penniless and alone. His patriotic art and anti-establishment attitudes ensured that he never achieved the social standing that he deserved. Much of his art ”disappeared,” possibly confiscated and carted off to Moscow. His manuscript was ignored. He was shunned by former friends and neighbors, with the possible exception of a comrade from the Camps, who may have been his only companion at the end.

Wiktor had led a truly heroic life, but the grief and betrayal he must have felt after a lifetime of defending his homeland against the Germans and suffering five years in a concentration camp under the Nazis was probably too much for him to bear.

There were hints that he suffered a stroke, and possibly committed suicide. There were reports that Wiktor most likely was buried in a remote mountain monastery for indigent men in an unmarked grave. Such clues -- and the tantalizing mystery of the missing manuscript -- demanded to be addressed.

The details of Wiktor's final days were almost within reach. But just as the production team was close to solving the mysteries of Wiktor’s life, their small budget ran out. Julian and his crew returned to Berlin, said their good-byes, and he returned to Los Angeles. Encouraged by what they had managed to uncover in two short weeks, they all expected to be back on the trail again in a few months. Back in the States, Julian went to work to raise the necessary funds to continue the quest. The brief trip had unfurled a long list of unfinished tasks: to finally see Wiktor's manuscript rescued from its obscurity, translated and published; to uncover the truth of what happened to so much of Wiktor's "lost" art; to track down the people who knew Wiktor and could fill in the gaps in the story of his courageous struggle, his survival and his final days; to pay for a proper memorial at Wiktor's grave; and to complete the film that will document it all.

Raising the funds has become a full-time job itself. The film – just like Wiktor’s writings and artwork – remains unfinished – just as his tormentors would have wished. While the struggle to realize the film has been draining, Julian has received steady encouragement from many sources. As Julian relates the story to Polish survivors and scholars of the “Forgotten Holocaust,” he has been told over and over “not to give up,” no matter how difficult the task becomes. A screening of a short demonstration tape of the film was held in August 2002 before an enthusiastic Los Angeles audience. Dozens of people expressed their fascination and amazement at the little-known history revealed in the short work-in-progress, and all wanted to know more.

To date, more than 20 hours of footage have been recorded, including interviews with family members, acquaintances, and Holocaust experts. Research has turned up several fellow Polish survivors. Work is underway to track down the missing manuscript and facilitate its translation and publication.

The plan is to return to Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany to conduct interviews with people who knew Wiktor, and to document the details revealed in his manuscript. In Poland, the crew hopes to interview two Polish artists and Auschwitz survivors, Jozef Szajna and Marion Kolodziej. In addition they plan to film in Washington D.C. at the US Memorial Holocaust Museum, where much of Wiktor's artwork and writings are stored.

The project has established an Advisory Board, including Historian and Author Dr. Richard C. Lukas. Dr. Lukas is a recognized international authority on the Polish experience under the Nazis, and is the author of several seminal works on the subject, including “The Forgotten Holocaust,” and “Did the Children Cry?: Hitler’s War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945.“

“Wiktor Siminski’s story needs to be told,” Dr. Lukas states. “Siminski told us through his art what it was like to endure the degradations and horrors of the Nazis. His compelling art leaves no room for misinterpretation of what the Poles had to endure under the Germans.”

Those feelings are affirmed by another Advisory Board member, Dr. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Professor at the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. “There is a need for more documentaries telling the tale of survivors and the way such persons maintained their humanity in the face of barbarity.” Dr. Orla-Bukowska says. “Having met with Julian Siminski, and having met and come to know other persons who have joined this project, I am certain not only of its merit, but that the outcome will be an in-depth study of one life with universal meaning for the lives of many others.”

Other members of the Advisory Board include: Sachsenhausen survivor and author, Dr. Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski; Art Historian, Dr. Carol Zemel, Professor and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts at York University in Toronto, Canada; world-renowned Trauma and Holocaust psychologist, Dr. Yael Danieli; and Sachsenhausen Holocaust Historian, Joachim Muller. The Board members are providing scholarly guidance to the project, and have also agreed to give on-camera interviews to buttress the first-hand material and to place Wiktor’s experience in a broader historical perspective.

Officials at the US Memorial Holocaust Museum are also assisting with the research, and recently sent Julian hundreds of pages of documents, photos and copies of Wiktor's art. As part of their Congressional mandate to honor all victims of the Holocaust, the USHMM staff has been particularly intrigued by Wiktor's story.

Julian feels strongly that the film – while focused on events that occurred more than half a century ago – is extremely relevant today. The core of the project deals with what Julian calls “the untouched inner territory of the victim.” What is most provocative to me about this project," he says, "is that it deals with what a person does to survive, to hold on to Self, in the face of brutality and inhumanity. It is a timeless message, which speaks to anyone who has experienced racism, bigotry or been the victim of hate crimes – an unfortunately huge and growing audience today.

"Wiktor provides a model for countless Polish victims of terror, intolerance and hate,” Julian continues. “Here’s a man who had survived by connecting to his creative self. He used his artistic gifts to exorcise the pain and terror and humiliation he experienced under the Nazis and miraculously managed to hold on to his soul. That is what victims need to know: not simply that they are victims, but that there is a way to beat those demons, to conquer the terror, and survive. Wiktor's story shows all of us that there is life beyond these traumatic experiences. We can never forget the trauma life puts upon us, but we can learn to put it in a place so that we can have a normal life again.”

In his recent interview for the film, Wiktor’s fellow Sachsenhausen Survivor Freddy Diament tells Julian: “Elie Wiesel said, ‘For the dead, and for the living, you have to bear witness.’ There are survivors, like Wiktor, who felt if he was fortunate enough to survive, he has a moral obligation to tell the world what happened, and what will happen, when organized hatred takes over. In order to make the world a better place, it is imperative: you MUST tell the truth.”

That was Wiktor’s mission in life, and it is not complete. It is now the mission of “Wiktor: The Art of Survival.” Julian is determined to never abandon Wiktor and the film, no matter how long it takes. “It’s vital,” he says, “that the words 'Never Again,' really mean never again for all of us.”