THE HISTORY OF THE WARSAW ZOO IN WWII

Visiting the Warsaw Zoo has been on my agenda since the premiere of the ‘Zookeeper’s Wife’ movie, and reading Diane Ackerman’s book, and I was finally fortunate to spend a few hours on the site. In this detailed 8000-word article I tried to meticulously recreate the history of the Warsaw Zoo from the royal hunting grounds in the XVII century, to World War Two, the occupation of Poland, the Holocaust, and its rebirth after the war. Specifically focusing on Jan And Antonina Zabinski reveals an incredible story of courage and devotion. I used every printed book I found on the occupation of Warsaw, Zabinski’s works in Polish, booklets, aerial photos and maps, 70 archival images, some of them never published before, and my own photographs from a 2019 trip to the site.

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Antonina and Jan Zabinski: the Warsaw Zoo during WWII

The history of the warsaw zoo in wwii