Free Viewing: Jan Karski, Humanity’s Hero

Monday, July 20, 2015, 7:30 pm

Shakespeare Theatre Company

Lansburgh Theatre

450 7th Street North West, Washington, DC 20004

  Admission: FREE

Advance registration required. Click here to register.

Starring Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck; Lincoln), the play recounts the astonishing and largely unknown story of Polish World War II hero and Holocaust witness Jan Karski. 

Karski’s determination to report on the extermination of Jews in his native Poland led him on a dangerous mission to alert America and Great Britain about the horrors of the Holocaust. A rousing adventure story with elements of a spy thriller, Karski’s journey is an inspiring story of extraordinary heroism and courage. 

The play travels from Karski’s childhood in the Polish countryside to the Warsaw Ghetto and Nazi camps; from a fateful meeting with President Roosevelt to Karski’s shattering and revelatory testimony in Claude Lanzmann’s epic documentary Shoah. Through this theatrical journey, the enduring lessons of Karski’s life — especially his belief in humanity, even in the darkest times — are revealed.

Presented by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.