Stanisław Staszewski

He was the father of Kazimierz Staszewski and the author of many songs and ballads, sung both by his son and by Jacek Kaczmarski.

Stanisław Staszewski was born on 18 December 1925 in Pabianice to an impoverished szlachta family of a gymnasium headmaster.

There, in March 1945, he narrowly escaped death when he became a Muselmann and was placed on a pile of corpses bound for cremation.

In 1967, through Hungary, Staszewski with his wife emigrated to Paris and then to Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he wrote the majority of his poems.

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Staszewski's songs became popular in late 1970s and 1980s thanks to Jacek Kaczmarski, who performed a number of them during his concerts.