The Underground Theatre

Last year I watched a film called "Karol: A Man Who Became Pope," which was all about Pope John Paul II and his life leading up to the Papacy. Much of the film was new to me, including the death of his mother and his relationship with a girl he went to college with, but the most surprising aspect of his life to me was his actions during World War II. As a poor college student living in Nazi occupied Poland, young Karol Józef Wojtyła had little power to take Jews into his home. Instead, many of his fellow college students helped him organize underground performances of plays that they wrote themselves, which defied the Nazis. I had no idea that John Paul II had originally wanted to be an actor and wrote many plays himself, including one called THE JEWELER'S SHOP, which was turned into a movie in addition to being performed on stages across the United States. I would love to explore his works more deeply and see if they gave any clues to his future as Pope.


My excitement that one of my role models shared one of my personal interests aside, I was amazed at how, in fact, Wojtyla used theatre to defend what he believed in. One scene in the movie depicted how the students were performing one night in a home when several Nazi officers knocked on the door and were curious about the number of people gathered. To cover for themselves, Wojtyla pretended  that there had been a wedding ceremony between himself and his girlfriend. He was able to save their mission of providing underground methods of rebellion entertainment to relieve some of the pain that every person under Nazi control was suffering from. I truly admire his strength, motivation, and ability to incorporate his beliefs into what he enjoyed doing.~Julie