In 1938 Witold Zacharewicz got an offer to sign a deal with the Hollywood studio United Artists.

He tried to defer his military service in order to go to Hollywood, but on September 1, 1938, Zacharewicz enlisted in the Polish Army.

[1] On October 1, 1942, Zacharewicz was arrested by the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany, for aiding Jews.

With ten other people, including his mother, he had been involved in the production of false documents for Jews hiding in Warsaw.

There are two accounts of his death: two eyewitnesses stated that he was murdered with an injection of phenol to the heart, but other former inmates have claimed that he was executed.