Answer to Violence is a wartime thriller based on the famous assassination of Nazi war criminal Franz Kutschera, the SS and Police Commander for the District of Warsaw, by the Polish Home Army (AK) on 1 February 1944. Dubbed "the torturer of Warsaw" for ordering a series of mass executions, his death triggered immediate retaliation by the German occupier in which 100 innocent hostages were shot. But the assassination strengthened the spirits of fellow countrymen and rekindled their hopes for victory. The film gained not only domestic recognition but also international renown in countries which also had fought against fascism.
        Directed by Jerzy Passendorfer (1923-2003) and based on an original script by Jerzy Stefan Stawinski, Answer to Violence was filmed in 1958 and premiered in Warsaw on 12 January 1959. To date, the film has been seen by over 3.8 million viewers in Polish cinema and millions more via TV screenings, and is one of the most popular domestically produced war films. Its attraction is due to the swift action-dominated plot and the skillful realisation of the work, as well as the glorification of the legend of the Home Army. The theme was not only a symbol of the struggle against the invader but also an expression of the pro-Western aspirations of Poland, including resistance against annexing Poland into the Soviet sphere of influence and forcefully instituting a communist regime. Because it was so esteemed by most Poles, the Home Army was persecuted by the security apparatus and its exploits were ignored or minimised by authorities of the People's Republic of Poland (PRL) after the war. (In 2001, the director Wojciech Wojcik explored this theme in his "There and Back"). The result was that every well-filmed work favourable to the AK - even if, as in the case of "Answer to Violence", its name was never even mentioned - elicited an overwhelmingly positive response from society. In 1978, the successful formula was repeated with Operation Arsenal created by Jan Lomnicki, about the rescue from the Gestapo of the fighter Jan Bytnar (alias "Redhead" [Rudy]).
        Passendorfer debuted in 1957 with a virtually unnoticed film, Treasure of Captain Martens and specialised in war epics; he also helmed Heading for Berlin - the Last Days (1969) about the Polish First Army entering Berlin together with the Red Army. While Answer to Violence was much better received by the audience than by domestic critics, it gained significant international recognition. It was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize (International Federation of Film Critics) during the Seventh San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1959 and the Gold Medal during the First International Resistance Movies Festival in the Italian city of Cuneo in 1963.
        Answer to Violence and the Polish Film School
        Passendorfer filmed Answer to Violence during the "Storm and Stress" period and the crowning era of the Polish Film School, as depicted by three masterpieces concerned with settlement and martyrology: