In 1945, an SS officer was shot by a Jewish woman near the gas chamber in Auschwitz. It is said that the act of heroism was done by Francesca Mann, a Jewish dancer from Warsaw. This act of heroism did not receive the resonance it deserved, perhaps because of the rumours that Francesca was an accomplice.
The multitude of versions gave birth to a myth, built on a grain of truth (the officer was shot and died by a woman, and the shooting was carried out with his gun). Francesca left behind almost nothing – a few photos, a few press articles about her appearances in Warsaw before the war and an abundance of different and contradictory testimonies about her conduct during the war.
The filmmakers weave together the historical stories and build the myth that is Francesca. The myth takes different forms, according to the different witnesses and their worlds.
A balladeer/ dancer/ whore/ stripper/ partner, who of all these was she?