Stanisław Staszewski (18 December 1925 – 22 January 1973) was a Polish architect and poet. He was the father of Kazimierz Staszewski and the author of many songs and ballads, sung both by his son and by

Jacek Kaczmarski Jacek Marcin Kaczmarski (22 March 1957 – 10 April 2004) was a Polish singer, songwriter, poet and author. Life He was the son of painter Anna Trojanowska-Kaczmarska, a Pole of Jewish background, and the artist Janusz Kaczmarski. Kaczmarski ...

Biography

Stanisław Staszewski was born on 18 December 1925 in

Pabianice Pabianice is a city in central Poland with 63,023 inhabitants (2021). Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County. It lies about southwest of Łódź and belongs to the metropolitan area of that city. It is the thi ...

to an impoverished

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

family of a gymnasium headmaster. 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 ...

young Stanisław was a member of the

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 ...

. In its ranks he took part in the failed episode of 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 borough of

Praga Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter. History The historical Praga was a small settlement located at the e ...

. Taken prisoner by the Germans he faced the risk of being executed and instead managed to convince the German soldiers of his German ancestry and willingness to join the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Along with several of his colleagues he was allowed to join the German army - and defected the following day. However, he was again caught by the Germans and sent to

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

. There, in March 1945, he narrowly escaped death when he became a

Muselmann Muselmann (German plural ) was a term used amongst prisoners of German Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust of World War II to refer to those suffering from a combination of starvation (known also as "hunger disease") and exhaustion, ...

and was placed on a pile of corpses bound for cremation. However, he was discovered by the inmates running the camp and managed to survive until liberation. After the war Staszewski returned to Warsaw, where he graduated from the faculty of architecture of the

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

. He also became an active member of various student cultural societies. About that time he also wrote some of his first songs and poems. In 1961 he moved to

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

, where he became the city's chief architect. Although initially a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and a member of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

, Staszewski's poems were found ''dangerous'' by the party's authorities and he was expelled from it. In 1967, through

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, Staszewski with his wife emigrated to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and then to

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

, where he wrote the majority of his poems. He also recorded some of them as bootleg songs on a tape recorder. He died on 22 January 1973 in

and was buried at Warsaw's

Bródno Cemetery :''You may also be looking for the Bródno Jewish Cemetery.'' Bródno cemetery () is an old cemetery in the Targówek district, in the eastern part of Warsaw, Poland. Occupying an area of , it is the largest cemetery in Warsaw. With more than 1 ...

. Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Staszewski's songs became popular in late 1970s and 1980s thanks to

, who performed a number of them during his concerts. Staszewski's son Kazik published two popular records with his band Kult featuring his father's compositions: ''

Tata Kazika ''Tata Kazika'' is an album by Kult, released in April 1993. It contains the songs written by Kazik's father, Stanisław Staszewski. Track listing All tracks by Stanisław Staszewski except where noted. Credits * Kazik Staszewski – lead v ...

'', ''

Tata 2 Kult is a Polish rock band formed in 1982 in Warsaw. Kult's early works were strongly influenced by alternative, progressive and punk rock, as well as the British new wave, but the band gradually incorporated more diverse and innovative styl ...

'', and one in solo discography ''

Tata Kazika Kontra Hedora Tata or TATA may refer to: Places * Jamshedpur, a city in Jharkhand, India also known as Tatanagar or Tata * Tata, Hungary, a town in Hungary * Tata Islands, a pair of small islands off the coast of New Zealand * Tata, Morocco, a city in Tat ...

External links

*
Stanisław Staszewski memorial site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staszewski, Stanislaw 1925 births 1973 deaths Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Polish musicians Polish resistance members of World War II Warsaw Uprising insurgents 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish architects