The new HBO Max series “Niebo” (“Heaven”), despite not being scored very high by viewers and critics, might still be worth your time. Set in the 1990s and based on real events, the series is a fictionalized account of life in the religious sect “Niebo” or “Zbór Chrześcijański Leczenia Duchem Bożym” (“Heaven” or “Christian Church of Healing by the Spirit of God”). “Niebo” was established by the self-proclaimed prophet, charismatic spiritual leader and healer, Bogdan Kacmajor (1954 -2022) and at its peak had close to 60 people living in isolated communities in Eastern Poland. The sect, despite many accusations, among them of child abuse and theft, and run-ins with the law, was able to operate throughout the 1990s and remains the most infamous of all of the religious sects which ever operated in Poland.
How people become members of religious sects, who is susceptible to joining, and how cults can recruit and control their members – all of this has been well researched and documented. The victims are usually dissatisfied and disaffected people, who often suffer from loneliness, depression and low self-esteem, due to – for instance – ongoing psychological or financial crises. The sect first “love bomb” vulnerable recruits by giving them lots of attention and the love they crave, in addition to some dubious-spirituality, and then isolates and takes control of them, as well as of their assets, if they have any. We witness it when the series’ protagonist, a young man named Sebastian Keller (played by Stanisław Linowski) joins “Niebo” shortly after the sect’s leader, Piotr, “heals him” from some excruciating pain, which conventional medicine could not relieve. The pain started after Sebastian gave up his dream of becoming an actor and gave in to his mother’s request to study law.
Sebastian Keller is a real person, one of the first people who managed to leave the sect in 1995. In 2011 he published the book, Heaven. Five years in Hell on which the series’ screenplay was based.
Fomenting a fear of the outside world – materialistic, chaotic, corrupt, immoral and deeply unhappy – helped to keep the members in line. Kacmajor preached that the world would end soon; among his other unsubstantiated claims: the ability to make people grow their teeth back and the power to bring the dead back to life. The sect also stripped members of their identity and agency by giving them new names. Bogdan Kacmajor coined names for both children and adult members of the sect. Among them, „Jak Bochenek Chleba” (As a Loaf of Bread”) “Razem” (“Together), „Wszystko Jasne” („Everything is Clear”), “Śrubokręt Nie Pomoże” (“Screwdriver Won’t Help”). The name of the sect “Niebo” (meaning: “heaven”) at a certain point became the combination of the words “Nie” and “Bo”, the names Kacmajor gave to himself and his wife.
What is interesting in the series, however not explored in depth, is the backdrop: Poland in the early nineties of the last century, which was just beginning to transition from the communist system to a market economy and democracy. The changes were coming at a rapid rate, people were losing jobs, factories were closing, very quickly there was unemployment, something Poles had not experienced before, prices were climbing while inflation was raging, reaching 250 percent at the end of 1990. Many Poles felt insecure, frightened and even lost as they lacked the skills needed to navigate this completely new economic reality. Naturally, there were also some who flourished. In the series we see the owners of a mushroom farm, very well-off by the Polish standards of the time, whose daughter also becomes a member of the sect.
The perception of the precariousness of the times contributed to the popularity of bio-energy healers, with such “mega stars” as the Ukrainian Anatolij Kaszpirowski and the Pole Zbigniew Nowak drawing large crowds to their meetings and to TV sets, as both had their TV programs. Kaszpirowski even visited our area and held “healing meetings” in Hamtramck.
In the series “Niebo”, Piotr, the fictitious leader, of “Niebo”, claims to be (and perhaps believes that he is) a healer and makes money by “curing” people of illnesses (often first falsely diagnosing them) by laying hands on them. The real Bogdan Kacmajor reportedly made a lot of money this way; this income allowed him to buy the property where the community lived. Like Kacmajor, Piotr refuses the members of his group medical treatments outside of the compound, which has dire consequences, but with manipulation and brainwashing he is still capable of maintaining control over his flock and even strengthening the beliefs of some of them. After many run-ins with the law and changing locations, the real leader of the sect emigrated to Great Britain, where he went back to his early interest in art.
Especially in a time of uncertainty and economic or/and political upheaval, people yearning for easy answers, stability and spirituality might be attracted to self-proclaimed prophets and gurus. For this reason, critics find the series “Niebo” relevant today. In addition, the series has sparked some interest in religious sects, or sect-like communities (Wrocław’s Agalliasis, Szearijt in Łomianki near Warsaw, and others) present in Poland today and their destructive role in people’s lives.
So far three (out of six total) episodes of “Niebo” have aired. New episodes air on Fridays. The first episode aired on December 26, 2025.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmA4jxlMAoM
Photo: HBO Max
Sources:
https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/na-tropie/wewnatrz-sekty-kacmajora/q4gwb
