#The Zookeeper's Wife: Interview with Teresa Żabiński

The film The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the real-life story of Antonina and Jan Żabiński, a Polish couple who were the directors of the Warsaw Zoo, one of the largest in 1930s Europe. The Żabińskis risked their lives during World War II to save over 300 Jews and underground resistance fighters by providing them with shelter in the zoo’s bombed-out animal enclosures, and in the basement of their villa home. The Żabiński’s were recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The story of Antonina and Jan Żabiński was recounted in Diane Ackerman's book The Zookeeper's Wife. American director Niki Caro based her film on Ackerman's book. The Żabiński couple is played by acclaimed actors Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh. Renowned German actor Daniel Brühl, known for his parts in Good Bye, Lenin!, Inglourious Basterds, and Rush, also performs one of the leading roles. This interview with Teresa Żabińska was recorded in April 2017 in the Żabiński Villa in the Warsaw Zoo. The house known as the Żabiński Villa is currently open to the public as a museum dedicated to her parents and all those they hid on the property and saved during the war. The video has been produced by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London.