Genre: Feature Documentary Film
\nDuration: 90 min
\nYear: 2026
\nScreenplay: dr. Uro\u0161 Zavodnik
\nDirector: dr. Uro\u0161 Zavodnik
\nFeaturing: Stanislav Zavodnik, dr. Uro\u0161 Zavodnik, dr. Christian Kl\u00f6sch, Patricia (Pat) Palmer,
\nMichael Palmer, Roger Stanton, Ian Brown, Alistair Simpson, Janez Uj\u010di\u010d, dr. Daniel Siter,
\nImages, video: ftp.arsmedia.si (username: arsmedia-press, password: Arsmedia). Access to the FTP is possible via programs such as FileZilla, CyberDuck.<\/p>\n
The heroism of two strangers on occupied Slovenian territory during World War II, Liza and Leslie, along with six-year-old Stanko – the only living witness who, as a child, forged a bond of trust between them – led to the largest escape of Allied soldiers in occupied Europe. This extraordinary story has remained untold for more than 80 years. For both of them to survive, two separate escapes were necessary.<\/p>\n
In occupied Slovenia in 1944, the friendship and trust between Liza Zavodnik and Allied prisoner of war Leslie Laws led to the largest successful escape and liberation of Allied soldiers from a Nazi labour camp in occupied Europe during World War II. The operation was immediately classified as “Top Secret” by the British government under Winston Churchill. The escape and liberation, exactly as they took place, would have remained an untold story forever were it not for the sole surviving witness, Liza’s son, Stanko Zavodnik (87). Through him – whom Leslie treated as “his own son” – a bond of trust was established between Leslie and Liza, who consequently connected Leslie with the partisans. Of great importance were also the notes Leslie left to his daughter, Pat Palmer, which helped preserve the story. The Zavodnik family should pay for the liberation and freedom of the Allied soldiers with deportation to Auschwitz. Yet a dramatic turn of events occurred. A German Wehrmacht railway supervisor, who was the supervisor of Stanko’s father, Avgust Zavodnik, intervened. By placing a railway wagon under the family’s house, he enabled their escape from the Gestapo, and, in doing so, also protected himself, since he had never revealed the family as supporters of the Partisan resistance (\u2018Partisan family\u2019). In reality, there were two escapes. For both, Leslie with his POWs and Liza to survive, finally four different sides became involved in an extraordinary and unique way: the patriotic Zavodnik family, the Pohorje Partisans, the imprisoned Allied soldiers, and a German railway supervisor in Maribor, which makes the event even more unique.<\/p>\n
The film is conceived as the story of Stanko Zavodnik (87), the only living witness of the largest escape of Allied soldiers from a German labour camp in occupied Europe, as told to his son, Uro\u0161. When Leslie’s daughter, Pat Palmer, visited Stanko in 2019, she told him that her father had told her, when she was a young girl, that she had one more family in Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Liza’s family. Without Liza’s help and courage, he would never have escaped captivity and returned to England in September 1944, together with the other rescued prisoners (87 in total). Uro\u0161 made a promise to Stanko and Pat that he would try to bring this story to the screen, a story that has remained untold for more than 80 years, and tell it as it truly happened.<\/p>\n