Czesław Jacek Centkiewicz (October 18, 1904 – July 10, 1996) was a Polish engineer, explorer, writer and journalist. He is best known for a number of books he authored (or co-authored with his wife Alina Centkiewicz) on history of exploration of polar areas and the daily life of Inuit.

Biography

Czesław Jacek Centkiewicz was born on October 18, 1904, in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

to Stanisław and Stanisława née Bresteczer. In 1924, he graduated from Saint Kazimierz Gymnasium and then the

University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...

in Belgium. An engineer by trade, until World War II he worked at the State Meteorological Institute in Warsaw. With that institution, he organised and led the first Polish expedition to the Bear Island in 1932. Soon afterwards he also published his first books: an account of saving the

SS Chelyuskin SS ''Chelyuskin'' ( rus, «Челю́скин», p=tɕɪˈlʲuskʲɪn) was a Soviet steamship, reinforced to navigate through polar ice, that in 1934 became ice-bound in Arctic waters during a navigation along the Northern Maritime Route from M ...

's crew (1934) and a reportage on Anaruk, a young Eskimo boy (1937). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he remained in

and after the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944 he was arrested by the Germans and deported to the

Neuengamme Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

. After the war he became a director of a large power plant cluster in Lower Silesia (in

Jelenia Góra Jelenia Góra (; ; ) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, close to the Karkonosze mountain range running along the Polish-Czech bo ...

) and at the State Hydrological-Meteorological Institute. In 1950, he returned to Warsaw where he continued to promote the exploration of polar areas and published numerous books on that topic. During one of his lectures on polar exploration, he "re-discovered"

Jan Nagórski Alfons Jan Nagórski (1888–1976), also known as ''Ivan Iosifovich Nagurski'', was a Polish engineer and pioneer of aviation, the first person to fly an airplane in the Arctic and the first aviator to perform a loop with a flying boat. Bi ...

, a Polish polar explorer who had been presumed dead since 1917. Most of his books were co-authored by his wife Alina. He died on July 10, 1996, in Warsaw, and was buried at the Wólka Węglowa cemetery in Warsaw. As many of his books were targeted at younger readers, in 1970 he received the

Order of the Smile The Order of the Smile ( Polish: ''Order Uśmiechu'') is an international award given by children to adults distinguished in their love, care and aid for children. History The idea of the Order of the Smile was established in 1968 by the Polis ...

. He was also awarded with numerous state medals. His ''Anaruk, chłopiec z Grenlandii'' (Anaruk, a boy from Greenland) remains an obligatory book for children in Polish schools.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Centkiewicz, Czeslaw 1904 births 1996 deaths Polish explorers Polish male writers Polish travel writers Explorers of the Arctic 20th-century Polish engineers Recipients of the Meritorious Activist of Culture badge Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland