A Hollywood movie about a Polish couple who sheltered Jews in World War II is not being screened in France, Gazeta Polska Codziennie has reported, adding that the country collaborated with Nazi Germany.

The Polish daily said France handed Jews over to Nazi German authorities during the war.

The paper quoted Eryk Mistewicz, head of Poland’s New Media Institute, as saying that French film distribution networks have refused to screen the movie, but that none have admitted that the decision is politically motivated.

Mistewicz added that the decision shows that much needs to be done to improve Polish-French relations and that there are “reprehensible anti-Polish stereotypes”, Gazeta Polska Codzinnie reported.

The Zookeeper’s Wife depicts the lives of Jan Żabiński and his wife Antonina, caretakers of Warsaw’s zoo, who sheltered hundreds of Jews in their home and in empty animal enclosures during the German Nazi occupation of Warsaw in WWII.

The couple have been awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations. (vb/pk)