Born: April 8, 1917
Died: April 18, 1991
Buried: parish cemetery in Bielsko-Biała (Poland)
Family: parents – father Tadeusz, mother Sylwina (nee Bieńkowska); siblings – 1 brother; children: son and 2 daughters
Fate before World War II:
Already at a young age, he showed great talent for painting and sports. Made then his drawings, only a few of which have survived to this day, are testimony to his incredible painterly sense of beauty and boded him a great artistic career. However, art won over sport, and of the many disciplines he practiced, such as football, skating, skiing, fencing, rowing, volleyball and basketball, it was boxing that won his heart. Although he achieved his first successes as a member of the scout team Zawisza Czarny, under the supervision of Feliks Stamm, as a representative of Legia Warszawa, he began to achieve success on the national arena, including winning the title of Warsaw Champion, and also stood on the podium of the Polish Championship. Hard training, rapid sports development, motivation to work on himself and fascination with boxing made him one of the hopes of the “new era of boxing” and were a good omen for a great international career, which was hindered by the outbreak of World War II.
Fate during World War II:
With the outbreak of World War II, as a reservist with the rank of cadet, he took part in the defensive war, and after the capitulation of Warsaw, he decided to join the conspiracy, and finally decided to illegally leave Poland and get to France, there to join the ranks of the newly formed Polish army units. While making his breakneck move south, he was stopped and arrested on the Hungarian-Yugoslav border. After brutal investigations in numerous Gestapo facilities, with a court verdict (Sondergericht), he was finally deported from the prison in Tarnów to KL Auschwitz along with the first transport of Polish political prisoners. On June 14, 1940, he became number 77.
Together with his fellow prisoners in the camp, he experienced incredible sadism, hunger, dirt and excessive work. His situation changed after his first boxing fight in March 1941, when, close to exhaustion, he decided to fight with a well-fed, strong German kapo. Won, thanks to his extraordinary determination and great technical skills, the duel brought him a loaf of bread, the opportunity to choose a commando and recognition. He shared bread with his fellow prisoners, a selected commando of animal feeders gave illegal and risky, but still real access to food, and from number 77 he became a well-known and respected boxer. The privileged position in the camp allowed him not only to rebuild the physical strength necessary to win subsequent boxing fights (and he fought over 40 of them in the camp!), but also to engage in cooperation with Witold Pilecki and the camp resistance movement. The fame of the camp’s boxer, as he himself put it in secret message to his mother, the “champion of all weights of KL Auschwitz”, who shared the food he won in the ring with others, made him extremely popular among prisoners, but also gave a dangerous recognition among SS men and functionary prisoners.
In March 1943, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to be transferred to KL Neuengamme, where he successfully continued his camp boxing career, fighting with excellent boxing prisoners from many countries of occupied Europe.
Post-war fate:
After being evacuated to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and liberating it in April 1945, he decided to join the 1st Armored Division of General Stanisław Maczek, representing which – already as a free man and soldier – he fought many victorious duels with representatives of the free world. He fought in rings in France and Belgium. In the 1st Polish Armored Division he was assigned to the sports department.
In 1946 he returned to Poland. He graduated from the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw’s Bielany and became a PE teacher and coach of the ZRYW Warszawa boxing club. Then he lived in Nowy Targ, where he also ran a boxing club. After a short time, he moved to Bielsko Biała, where he became a coach and teacher at Primary School No. 12 in Leszczyny in Bielsko Biała. He actively participated in ceremonies related to preserving the memory of KL Auschwitz prisoners.
Additional information:
While staying in the Neuengamme camp, he promised himself that if he survived the camp hell, he would devote his entire life to youth.
Life motto: “To be is to be the best”
The story of Tadeusz Pietrzykowski was described by his daughter – Eleonora Szafran in the book entitled “Master. Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski”.
author: Witold Gudyś
source: information provided by Ms. Eleonora Szafran. The photos come from her family archive
