The Polish director died from 24 stab wounds to the heart. Her mother’s body was found in the bedroom

Zofia Dybowska-Aleksandrowicz was a pioneer of directing in Poland. She was responsible for the iconic “Alice in Wonderland” from 1951, “Anatomy of a Murder” directed by Otto Preminger, “The Little Mermaid” and “Rich Man Poor”. — With the work of my whole life, I have tried to prove that dubbing is an art, creating a new artistic structure, often enriching the original with new values ​​— in an interview for “Ekran” just three months before his tragic death.

When the killer entered the apartment, she was taking a bath. Neighbors were the first to arrive at the crime scene

It was September 8, 1989. Just a few hours before her death, Zofia Dybowska-Aleksandrowicz attended the premiere of a new play by the Rampa Theatre. After returning to her apartment located in the Old Town of Warsaw, she decided to take a shower. It was probably then that the person (or persons) who wanted to steal entered the room through the open window. The exact course of these events is unknown, as none of the neighbors heard any disturbing sounds. The next day, a married couple wanted to visit the director. For several minutes they knocked on the door and rang the bell, but no one answered. When they grabbed the handle, they found the door open. Concerned, they went inside, and their eyes met a terrifying sight.

Zofia Dybowska-Aleksandrowicz was lying bloody in the hall, while the body of her 89-year-old mother was in the bedroom. “Grandma had her throat slit, and my mother was stabbed 24 times around the heart,” said the artist’s daughter, Miriam. Although the apartment was demolished, the perpetrators of the burglary did not take anything valuable. Only the documents concerning the last leader of the Home Army, Leopold Okulicki, and the village of Stępina, where the Germans probably hid the works of art stolen during the war, have been lost.

The police secured a lot of traces. The perpetrator was never found

The police were immediately called to the scene and an investigation was launched. It turned out that the perpetrators left many traces, including fingerprints on the murder weapon – a knife that came from the kitchen. Blood that did not belong to any of the victims was also revealed. It was presumed to be the blood of the killer who had been cut when one of the women tried to defend herself. At the time, investigators believed that it would only be a matter of time before the killers were identified. “There were fingerprints all over the house. There were some cigarette butts in the ashtray. My mother smoked but did not wear make-up, and one of the butts had traces of lipstick, recalled Dybowska-Aleksandrowicz’s daughter.

This event started a series in this area. The police determined that five more crimes of this type were committed in Warsaw’s Old Town at a similar time. The victims were gagged and bound with electrical cables. A blond-haired lame man was seen several times near the crime scenes. Despite many clues and evidence, the perpetrators have never been identified. At the time of her death, Zofia Dybowska-Aleksandrowicz was 61 years old.