Mikhail Mehra's parents returned to Poland from France just two years before the World War II began: both were taken later to concentration camps. Young Mikhail managed to escape the ghetto and learned to survive wandering through the Polish countryside and living with the different Catholic families. Though local people usually ignored cinemas where mostly German films were shown, Mikhail seemed not very much concerned about patriotism and frequently went to the movies. In 1945, he reunited with his father who sent him to business school, but young Mikhail seemed to have already made his choice, that choice was movies.