Pope John Paul II – The War Years

This is the remarkable story of the five years which transformed the life of Karol Wojtyla – the man who would become John Paul II – and set him on the path to the Vatican.

Karol was 19 when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. He had no intention of joining the church but the devastating experience of Nazi occupation led him first to join the underground resistance and then to risk his life studying in secret to become a priest.

Interviews with all the key survivors from the period who knew him well and the Pope's own writings are combined in a powerful drama-documentary which tells the story of the young John Paul II's coming of age, his brushes with death and the horrors he witnessed that helped to shape his thinking. (Source: BBC Press Office)