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Letters From Poland (1978)

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A letter from Poland

Original classification rating: G. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Dana (Basia Bonkowski) arrives home from work to find a letter addressed to her in a handwriting she doesn’t recognise. With apprehension she reads the letter.

Curator’s notes

by Adrienne Parr

Dana learns via letter that her husband has another wife in Poland and that at the time he and Dana were married, he was already married to this woman. She learns that they have a ten-year-old child and that her husband will not be joining her in Australia. What’s more, the revelations come from the first wife herself.

The Second World War not only caused tremendous political upheaval in Europe, but tremendous social and family upheaval. Dana’s experience – where her husband had lost contact with his first wife during the War and married Dana soon after the War – was not at all unique. Across Europe and even in places like the USA and Australia, as the postwar dust settled, significant numbers of women found themselves and their children the casualties of bigamous wartime relationships.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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