Jerzy Siwy

When it is discovered that the Zygmunt mine in Upper Silesia has been deemed unprofitable and is to be closed by flooding, the miners go on strike and a violent demonstration ensues.

The end of the 1930s. Wilek Lizoń, a true-blue Silesian, together with his troupe of actors and circus performers, stages a play in the courtyards of miners' tenement houses. The main character is Franciszek Buła, a figure from folk tales. Buła's story begins during the Silesian Uprisings. The courtyard artists present vivid images of Frank's school years, his work in the mine, his communist activities, his imprisonment, and his constant poverty. Fantasy mixes with reality.

During the 1920 Silesian uprising, seven brothers take part in the struggle with the Germans to keep the region in the Polish hands.

With the Nazi occupation of Poland, several children in a village there become very unhappy and then get in deep trouble for a drawing of the Nazi Führer hanged from a tree.

Henryk Matula has flashbacks to being imprisoned in Auschwitz after he gives a lift to an American tourist who wants to see it

The story stretches from 1863 to 1945. Its main characters are representatives of the Pasternik family, who live in the fictional village of Wielowice near Pszczyna. The protagonist of the first three episodes is Franciszek Pasternik, the following parts tell about the fate of his many children and even more grandchildren. The viewer follows their history against the backdrop of great changes and historical events that influenced the lives of Silesian Poles. So there is the Kulturkampf, Prussian rugi, the revolution of 1905, World War I and the Silesian Uprisings.