During the Holocaust in Białystok, Poland,
a Nazi officer forced nineteen Jewish painters into a workshop.
Their task was simple.
Paint copies of famous masterpieces.
One painting every week.
For two years.
Highly trained artists who had studied in London and Paris were reduced to copyists.
They produced nearly two thousand paintings.
The officer sold them for profit.
None of the painters survived.
For decades, no one knew what happened to the paintings.
Until one surfaced in an unexpected place.
Rockford, Illinois.
Two local artists/antique dealers recognized what they had and made a remarkable decision.
Instead of selling it for a small fortune, they returned it to Poland.
I speak Polish, so I accompanied the painting on its journey back to Białystok.
That trip revealed a much larger story.
I am now producing my first feature-length documentary about the Copyists of Białystok, the painting discovered in Rockford, and the unexpected chain of people who helped bring a fragment of history home.
The film is currently in development.
If this story resonates with you,
I would value your thoughts.