Aleksander Kulisiewicz (7 August 1918 – 12 March 1982) was a Polish singer, journalist and a political prisoner during the
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 ...
occupation of Poland
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
.
Early life
Kulisiewicz was born on 7 August 1918 in
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
. He studied law in
German-occupied Poland and worked as a journalist. In 1940, in reaction to his article "Heil butter! – Enough of Adolf Hitler!" he was deported to the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...
. In the camp, he sang and learned songs passed on to him by other inmates, especially from fellow prisoner
Martin Rosenberg (known as Rosebery d'Arguto), including his
Tsen Brider-inspired "Jüdische Todessang" (Jewish Death Song), which d'Arguto had composed in 1942.
Post War
Following liberation and the end of World War II, he began to document the songs he had learned from other inmates. He dictated hundreds of songs in four languages to a nurse in Kraków. Due to his extensive interpretations of camp songs, he was nicknamed the ''Singer from Hell.''
Kulisiewicz died on 12 March 1982 in Kraków.
He is buried at
Salwator Cemetery.
References
Further reading
* Long-form article with photos and sound files.
*
External links
"The life and musical legacy of Aleksander Kulisiewicz with Alan Dein" video 1:04:55
*
"Le barde des Enfers" Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...
(audio, 2 episodes, in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulisiewicz, Aleksander
1918 births
1982 deaths
Journalists from Kraków
Musicians from Kraków
Polish Holocaust survivors
Polish male singers
Polish journalists
Burials at Salwator Cemetery
Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors