Witness to History

From “Saving Private Ryan” to “Inglourious Basterds”, there have been plenty of tales told in our popular culture about the exploits of World War II soldiers, as portrayed by stars such as Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt. Much less well-known is the story of a humble Northeast Ohio witness to the very start of the Second World War, seventy years ago. 96-year-old Jerzy Maciuszko recently shared some of his harrowing experiences with ideastream®’s David C. Barnett, who has produced a sound portrait that captures the fear along the front lines and the joy of playing violin in a prisoner-of-war orchestra.