Czesław Lewicki (26 April 1906 – 16 March 1979) was a Polish composer. He has been recognized as one of the
Polish Righteous Among the Nations
The citizens of Poland have the highest count of individuals who have been recognized by Yad Vashem as the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, for saving Jews from extermination during the Holocaust in World War II. There are Polish men and w ...
for his efforts to rescue the Polish-Jewish composer
Władysław Szpilman
Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish pianist, Classical music, classical composer and Holocaust survivor. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the Roman Polansk ...
during
the Holocaust in Poland
The Holocaust saw the ghettoization, robbery, deportation and mass murder of Jews, alongside other groups under Nazi racial theories, similar racial pretexts in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland by the Nazi Germany. Over th ...
.
Biography
Before the war
Lewicki was born in
Mołczany
Mołczany is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dołhobyczów, within Hrubieszów County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. It lies approximately north of Dołhobyczów, south-east of Hrubies ...
on 26 April 1906. In 1935 he graduated from the
Warsaw Conservatory
The Chopin University of Music (, UMFC) is a musical conservatorium and academy located in central Warsaw, Poland. It is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe.
From 1935 to 1938 he worked in
Wilno
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
(today Vilnius, Lithuania) as an orchestra conductor and lecturer at Karłowicz's Wilno Conservatory (Konserwatorium Wileńskie im. Karłowicza), as well as an conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Council of Artistic Associations (Rada Zrzeszeń Artystycznych) and the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra (Wileńskia Orkiestra Symfoniczna). In August 1938 he was an orchestra conductor for in Germany and Latvia. In 1938 he left Poland to study music in Paris. He returned to Poland before the war; until the outbreak of the war he was one of the conductors of the
Polish Radio
The Polish Radio (PR; Polish: ''Polskie Radio'', PR) is a national public-service radio broadcasting organization of Poland, founded in 1925. It is owned by the State Treasury of Poland. On 27 December 2023, the Minister of Culture and Nationa ...
Symphony Orchestra.
World War II
In mid-February 1943, during the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...
, Lewicki's colleague from the Polish Radio, Polish-Jewish composer
Władysław Szpilman
Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish pianist, Classical music, classical composer and Holocaust survivor. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the Roman Polansk ...
, was working outside the ghetto. Szpilman was able to contact his friend and colleague from the Radio, actor Andrzej Bogucki, who took him from his workplace. Bogucki and his wife Janina sheltered Szpilman in their apartment for two weeks. After that, on 27 February, they moved him to a bachelor's apartment of Lewicki's in
Mokotów
Mokotów () is a district of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It is densely populated, and hosts many companies and foreign embassies. Only a small part of the district is lightly industrialised (''Służewiec Przemysłowy''), while the majori ...
( Puławska Street 83), where he was able to stay for another five months. Lewicki regularly visited the apartment, bringing food and other necessities for Szpilman. In the aftermath of these events, Szpilman described Lewicki as a "close friend".
Lewicki was also active in the Polish resistance (
Armia Krajowa
The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...
) and became wanted by
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. He carried a
suicide pill
A suicide pill (also known as the cyanide pill, kill-pill, lethal pill, death-pill, cyanide capsule, or L-pill) is a pill, capsule, ampoule, or tablet containing a fatally poisonous substance that a person ingests deliberately in order to achie ...
in his teeth. In June he advised Szpilman to leave the apartment due to fear that Germans might come looking for him in that apartment (Szpilman chose to stay there until the situation forced him to leave it on 12 August). Some sources state that he had a wife, Helena, who also helped Szpilman, although another source states that Lewicki did not get married until after the war. Szpilman stayed in Helena's apartment after the incident of 12 August.
In 1944 Lewicki participated in 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 ...
.
In the 2002 movie '' The Pianist'', some of Lewicki's story was merged into that of the character Marek Gębczyński. Lewicki's apartment is also featured in that movie, although in an incorrect location.
After the war
After
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 worked at the Polish radio and television industry in Warsaw, where he held positions such as a director, manager and music editor. In 1946, he became the director of the Polish Radio Warsaw II. He continued, although sporadically, as a conductor of symphony concerts. In later years, he worked at the Polish Film State Enterprise (Film Polski). In about 1954 or 1955 he became a musical advisor to the Central Office of Cinematography. Around 1964 he was the music director of Television Warsaw.
On 23 May 1978, Janina and Andrzej Bogucki and Czesław Lewicki were recognized by
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
as
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
. They were among thirty or so non-Jewish Poles involved in helping Szpilman during the war.
Lewicki died on 16 March 1979 in Warsaw.