Jessica Chastain will play a part of Antonina Żabiński in a movie

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 16 November 2016
Media reported that a movie about Jan and Antonina Żabińskis will be shoot in Hollywood. They saved Jews during the Holocaust in the Warsaw ZOO. The part of Antonina in this movie will be play by Jessica Chastain.

"The House Under the Crazy Star” – that is how a house within the confines of the Warsaw ZOO, inhabited by director Żabiński, his wife Antonina and their children was dubbed during World War II. During the war, in the house’s basement and garden facilities, the couple gave shelter to many Jews, including Magdalena Gross, a sculptor, Rachela Auerbach, a writer, and the family of a boxer, Samuel Kenigswein.

The film about Żabińskis be shoot on the the grounds of the book The Zookeeper 's Wife, written in 2007 by the American writer Diane Ackerman. The book based on the memoirs of Antonina Żabiński. The creation of the film has already been announced in 2013, but has not yet started to shooting. A teaser start work on the production may be coming to Warsaw actress Jessica Chastain, who will play a lead role in the film . She has published on their Facebook profile photos of Warsaw, including Żabińskis villa at the ZOO.

11 April 2015, took place the official inauguration of the revitalised villa of Jan and Antonina Żabińskis at the Warsaw Zoological Garden. From May, the villa is accessible to visitors.

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews launched a virtual exhibition within the framework of the project “The Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History” devoted to the history of the ZOO during the occupation, the history of its hosts and some people the Żabińskis provided aid. Visit the exhibition.