“Home War” is one of the most famous series of the People’s Republic of Poland, which quickly fell in love with all of Poland. The production was based on the columns of Mira Michałowska, who published them in “Przekrój”, and later published them in the form of books. Readers loved the story of two families living next door, so it was only a matter of time to create a film adaptation of their adventures.
Behind the success of “Civil War” is the script and the cast
This is what its director Jerzy Gruza said about the series in an interview with “” in 2009: “»Civil War« brought to our reality a delicate absurdity, surrealism and playfulness, which were not welcome. -youth, meanwhile it turned out that the reception is surprisingly wide.
The series quickly became popular. The viewers liked the brilliant script and the excellent cast, which included Irena Kwiatkowska, Kazimierz Rudzki, Alina Janowska, Andrzej Szczepkowski and Jarema Stępowski, who appeared as a man asking in each episode for dry bread for a horse. However, the real favorites of the viewers became the youngest actors, i.e. Krzysztof Janczar and Elżbieta Góralczyk as Paweł and Anula.
Although both successfully passed the audition, their past and future were quite different. He was the son of a well-known actor who initially advised the child not to participate in the series so that it would not be said that he got a “role after acquaintances”. The teenager, however, bet on his own and appeared at the casting, which he won. Later, his acting career took off. Currently, we can watch him in the telenovela “Klan”.
The role in “Civil War” fell from the sky
The story of Elżbieta Góralczyk was different. For her, the involvement in “Civil War” was an opportunity to escape from the unpleasant reality. When the girl became famous, newspapers wrote about her toxic and abusive father, who mentally abused her. Besides, he was an alcoholic and wasted the money his daughter earned on drinks.
She enjoyed working on the set of the series very much. There was a calm and friendly atmosphere, and the older actors looked after the younger ones and gave them valuable advice. She was closest to her serial guardian, Alina Janowska, who recalled those moments in “Tele Tygodnia”:
Jerzy Gruza asked me to take care of Anula and Paweł and work with them on their texts. Having ballet pedagogy, song interpretation pedagogy and pedagogical inclinations behind me, I did it with great pleasure. I like teaching. I would invite them to my house, and we would talk about everything, about life, syntax, etc. It was in the nature of private conversations using film text, but it produced good results. Gruza was pleased
The good streak for the actress ended quickly
Unfortunately, the series ended after 15 episodes. Although it was appreciated by viewers, one scene made the then head of the Cinematography Committee of the People’s Republic of Poland, Jerzy Wilhelmi, strongly forbid the continuation of “Civil War”. This is what the director said about this situation for “Rzeczpospolita”: “The series disappeared when it was noticed in one of the episodes that the dog was peeing on “Kultura”.
The actors sadly accepted this news and got involved in new projects. Only Elżbieta Góralczyk’s good streak ended. After the end of “Civil War” she only managed to play in the TV series “Nose” and as a guest in “Życie na hot”. The girl didn’t expect it. She liked working on the set very much, but new offers did not come, so she decided to change her career a bit. After graduating from high school, she passed makeup school and worked in this profession for Telewizja Polska for several years. Later, however, she stated that it did not develop her in any way and turned her life 180 degrees.
Another new start turned out to be a dud
She left for Vienna, where she planned to start a new life. However, the idyll again did not last long. From that moment, the media ceased to be interested in her and remembered the actress only at the end of her life, but the press contained residual information, which showed that the actress was not doing very well. In Vienna, the actress married a respected lawyer and in 1975 gave birth to a daughter, Dominika. As the magazine “Na Żywo” wrote, marriage was a torture for Góralczyk. Her husband turned out to be a tyrant and treated her like a servant. He was to give her successive duties, which he strictly enforced, expecting complete obedience.
»Nothing in my life was as I wanted« – she admitted years later
Over the years, Góralczyk was getting more and more fed up and finally decided to divorce her husband. She also planned to return to Poland with her daughter, but young Dominica did not like this idea. She told her mother that she did not want to move because Vienna was her home and she did not want to leave Austria and her father. This made the actress also decide to stay in Vienna. She did not want to part with her beloved daughter. She rented an apartment in an attempt to improve her relationship with her daughter, who was increasingly reluctant to her.
Tired and resigned, very confused and unable to find herself, seeing no other solution, she decided to ask her husband for a divorce and return to Poland with her daughter – but, to her surprise, she encountered stubborn resistance from the teenager. The girl told her mother that she did not want any radical changes, Vienna was her home and she did not intend to leave either Austria or her father. Góralczyk, who in turn could not imagine her life away from her beloved child, stayed abroad, rented an apartment and tried to repair relations with her increasingly reluctant daughter. Dominika is now 48 years old and has been active on the Austrian music scene for over twenty years, where she performs under the pseudonym Anik Kadinski.
Little is known about Góralczyk’s later life. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with a serious kidney disease that the media began to take an interest in her life again. She reportedly avoided conventional medicine at first, only opting for dialysis when her condition deteriorated. Soon the disease turned into cancer and it was too late to help her. The actress died alone on January 16, 2008 at the age of 57. She was buried at the Viennese Sievering cemetery, and the news of her death reached Poland with a two-week delay.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
