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As war brews over in 1939 Warsaw, and while life is still running its course, the Germans are gradually making their presence felt, with secretly preparing for the invasion of Poland. Under those volatile circumstances, the couple of and continue with their daily routine as owners of the Warsaw Zoo; however, their lifes work, and the city, will turn to ashes when the Luftwaffes horrific Stukas begin to hammer the capital. Now, with the zoo liquidated for the war effort, and many of its animals tragically perished, what was once a menagerie, will now serve as a sanctuary, where the pair of veterinarians can hide the persecuted Polish-Jewish people in plain sight. Indeed, that was the dangerous plan of the two altruists, who, regardless of the consequences, refused to wither before the Nazi menace, and sheltered three hundred Jewish men, women, and children right under the noses of the enemy. Will the world remember the zookeepers wife?
Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) is the director of the Warsaw Zoo, one of the largest and most prolific zoos in 1930s Europe. He is aided by his wife, Antonina (Jessica Chastain). On September 1, 1939, the aerial bombardment of Warsaw commences as German forces storm Poland. Bombs raze the zoo cages, killing many animals while others escape into the streets. Antonina and her son Ryszard (Timothy Radford and later, Val Maloku) barely survive. As Polish resistance collapses, Dr. Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), the head of the Berlin Zoo and Adolf Hitlers chief zoologist and Jans professional rival, arrives at the zoo when Jan is away. He offers to house the prized animals and return them to Warsaw after the war. Heck later returns with Nazi soldiers to shoot the remaining animals. It becomes evident that Heck has developed a romantic interest in Antonina.
Jessica Chastain
Antonina Zabinska
Johan Heldenbergh
Jan Zabinski
Daniel Brühl
Lutz Heck
Timothy Radford
Ryszard Zabinski (Younger)
Efrat Dor
Magda Gross
Iddo Goldberg
Maurycy Fraenkel
Shira Haas
Urszula
Michael McElhatton
Jerzyk
Val Maloku
Ryszard Zabinski (Older)
Martha Issová
Regina Kenigswein
Daniel Ratimorský
Samuel Kenigswein
Frederick Preston
Miecio Kenigswein
Theo Preston
Stefcio Kenigswein
Viktoria Zakharyanova
Stefania Keningswein
Goran Kostic
Mr. Kinszerbaum
Arnost Goldflam
Dr. Janusz Korczak
Marian Mitas
Stefan
Martin Hofmann
Szymon Tenenbaum
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