ethnographer, collector of folklore, pedagogue; b. 25th October 1909 in Oldrzychowice (Zaolzie), d. 16th December 1990 in Katowice. In 1927-30 he studied at the State Teaching Collage in Cieszyn (under K. Hławiczka, among others), then moved on to study at the State Conservatory of Music in Katowice. In 1938 he began working at the Silesian Institute making recordings for the Central Phonographic Archives in Warsaw. His fieldwork conducted between WWI and WWII brought about a collection of folk songs from Cieszyn and Zaolzie: written accounts of over 600 Silesian songs and dances and 50 records (phonograph cylinders). During World War II he was held in concentration camps in Dachau and Gusen (1940-41) and the Linz-based Eisenwerke Oberdonau labour camp. During that time he wrote 550 poems and songs written together with Aleksander Kulisiewicz. After the war he settled in Bielsko-Biała. In 1950-61 he worked for the State Institute of Art and took part in the nationwide Fieldwork Collection of Musical Folklore, collecting and cataloguing folk songs and dances from the region of Śląsk Cieszyński, Górny Śląsk, and Śląsk Opolski. In 1967-76 he worked with the ethnographic section of the District Museum in Bielsko-Biała, doing field research on musical folklore and oral traditions (on the borderlands of Silesia and the Krakow region, mostly in the area of Żywiec), collecting songs, documenting rites, gathering information on musicians, singers, poets and folk story-tellers. He archived thousands of lyrics, songs, and dances, some of which were published in the collection Pieśni ludowe z polskiego Śląska (Folk Music of Polish Silesia) released by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Polska Akademia Umiejętności). He published papers, sheet music, descriptions of related rites and customs, sketches on the history of folkloristic research in Silesia, profiles of informants, collectors and musicians, as well as descriptions of dances and folk instruments in "Kalendarz Śląski", "Kalendarz Beskidzki" or "Zaranie Śląskie". He was a member of the Polish Ethnological Society.
updated: February 2015 (mkk, ab)
