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Było sobie miasteczko...

2009 documentary film directed by Tadeusz Arciuch

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ5004734
Source-derived summary

Było sobie miasteczko... (English: There Once Was a Town...) is a 2009 Polish historical documentary film about the 1943 Kisielin massacre in the village of Kisielin (now Kysylyn), located in the Wołyń Voivodeship in Poland before World War II, (now in Ukraine). The film, directed by Tadeusz Arciuch and Maciej Wojciechowski, was produced by Adam Kruk for Telewizja Polska.

Description

The film tells the story of a small town which, until World War II, belonged to the Second Polish Republic Eastern region of Kresy. People of different nationalities used to live there in peace: Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, and Czechs. Kisielin was wealthy and prosperous. It had a publishing house, a library, an oil pressing factory, a distillery, a brickyard, and a dairy plant. Today, only ethnic Ukrainian villagers remain. The ruins of a Polish Catholic church serve as witness to the tragedy that took place there during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia. On 11 July 1943, a group of Ukrainian nationalists slaughtered the 60 to 90 Polish worshipers inside the Kisielin Catholic church, and set it on fire.

Editorial summary

“Było sobie miasteczko...” enters the record as 2009 documentary film directed by Tadeusz Arciuch. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Było, sobie and miasteczko can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009, 1943—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2009-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Było, sobie and miasteczko.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Było sobie miasteczko...” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Było, sobie and miasteczko provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5004734. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009 and 1943.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Było sobie miasteczko...”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Było sobie miasteczko... primary sources, Było sobie miasteczko... archive and Było research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Było sobie miasteczko...”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Było sobie miasteczko...” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.