[1][2][3][4] Pietrzykowski was born on 8 April 1917 in Warsaw[5] to father Tadeusz, an engineer, and mother Sylwina (née Bieńkowska), a teacher, both members of the Polish intelligentsia.

[7][8] Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Pietrzykowski took part in the Siege of Warsaw, volunteering for a light artillery regiment.

[6] In March 1941, Pietrzykowski joined the Auschwitz resistance movement, Związek Organizacji Wojskowej, working directly under Witold Pilecki.

The fight was inconclusive, but Pietrzykowski was considered by many to be the winner as his opponent was better fed, better rested, and had a 40-to-70 kg weight advantage.

[9][6] Although boxing matches were intended as amusement for camp personnel, the fights became popular with the prisoners as well, and Pietrzykowski's victories over German opponents or collaborators boosted morale among the inmates.

Pietrzykowski tried to adjust his style to his opponents, avoiding injuring them (unless they were German kapos) and prolonging the fights for the amusement of the onlookers.

[6] Due to his style, which favored evasion, the Germans nicknamed Pietrzykowski the Weißer Nebel (White Fog).

However, in March 1943, a visiting German official, Hans Lütkemeyer of the newly opened Neuengamme concentration camp, recognized Pietrzykowski, whom he had met during a match in 1938.

As in Auschwitz, his fights were popular not just among the guards, but among the prisoners, a number of whom mentioned in their diaries that they were the cultural and sport highlight of their otherwise miserable lives in the camps.

One of his most notable opponents was German-American heavyweight boxer, Schally Hottenbach, nicknamed "Hammerschlag" (Hammer Strike), whom Pietrzykowski defeated in August 1943.

[14][15] Another movie about his life, The Champion, with Piotr Głowacki as the main protagonist, was announced in 2019 and was planned to premier in Poland in the autumn of 2020, but was delayed till spring 2021.

[19] His story is also featured in Andrzej Fedorowicz's 2020 historical book Gladiatorzy obozów śmierci (The Gladiators of the Death Camps).

[20] In 2021, a Łódź-based Polish rapper Basti released an album entitled Osobisty Zbiór Wartości (Personal Set of Values) featuring a song "Teddy" devoted to Pietrzykowski.

[21] a ^ Joanna Cieśla and Antoni Molenda, Tadeusz Pietrzykowski “Teddy” (1917–1991) (Katowice: Towarzystwo Opieki nad Oświęcimiem, Oddział Wojewódzki, 1995); and, Bogacka, Bokser Z Auschwitz (Demart SA, 2012).