Netflix releases 'Heweliusz', Jan Holoubek's series on the 1993 ferry sinking

Netflix released the Polish drama series Heweliusz in November 2025. It was directed by Jan Holoubek and became one of the platform's most prominent Polish productions of the year.

The series dramatises the sinking of the ferry Jan Heweliusz, which capsized in the Baltic Sea on 14 January 1993 during a storm, off the German island of Rügen. The ship had been sailing from Świnoujście, in north-western Poland, to Ystad in Sweden. Most of the people aboard died, and the disaster remains one of the worst peacetime maritime tragedies in Polish history.

Beyond the wreck itself, the story follows the aftermath: the maritime chamber investigations that sought to establish responsibility, questions about the ship's technical condition, and the pressure on survivors and victims' families. The series revived public debate in Poland about how the case was handled.

Its success matters for the current story because the same creative team is now reported to be preparing a further Netflix series, this time on the Łódź "skin hunters" scandal, another real case that shook Polish public opinion.