Walczyli o Polskę nie tylko sztuką. Wybitni artyści muzycy w służbie ZWZ i AK – Roman Padlewski i Jan Ekier .......... 301

THEY FOUGHT FOR POLAND NOT ONLY WITH ART – THE OUTSTANDING ARTISTS IN ZWZ AND AK (HOME ARMY) SERVICE – ROMAN PADLEWSKI AND JAN EKIER

This article is devoted to two outstanding artists  – pianists and composers – who performed and created music in the cruel reality of occupied Warsaw. Roman Padlewski (1915–1944), rightly called by Jan Krenz “the musical equivalent of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński”, was not only a pianist and violinist but also a promising composer; he participated in the underground musical life of occupied Warsaw and fought with weapons, both during the tragic September 1939 defending war, he also engaged himself in the structures of the Polish Underground State, and finally – with weapons in his hand as an insurgent soldier with the Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising. Mortally wounded in the ruins of the ghetto while attempting to disarm a Goliath, he died in one of the Old Town fi eld hospitals. Jan Ekier – winner of 8th prize in the last pre-war Chopin Competition (1937) – was involved in both clandestine concerts and education, and was also the author of songs for the Polish Underground State. During the Warsaw Uprising, he gave numerous concerts in extreme conditions for Home Army soldiers and civilians; the repertoire then invariably featured the music of Fryderyk Chopin… He survived the Uprising and the war; he became famous as a world-renowned pianist and also served as a juror in subsequent editions of the Chopin Competition. As it turns out, Chopin’s music, even in the terrible conditions of occupied and fighting Warsaw, was as necessary as bread…