One of the photographers identified
!
According to what we understand,
there were several
photographers at Murnau
camp. All of them unknown. But at the time being, one of them
can be identified. On july 2013, we received a letter from Jaroslaw
Baczyk of the Museum of the Wielkopolska Uprising (Odwach) -
Poznan, Poland. He worked on the exhibition about Murnau camp
who lasted from may to august 2013. He told us that after visiting
the exhibition of Murnau's photos a man, Andrzej Budzynski, gave
him the following information.
Before the Second World War
his father – plutonier (a rank of noncommissioned officer)
Sylwester Budzynski was a soldier of the 7th Military Police
Squadron in Poznan. In the service he attended different military
courses, among other things the course of photographers. On September
27th, 1939 he was taken prisoner by the Soviet troops which invaded
Poland. It happened in Kamien Koszyrski (to the north of Kowel).
In October 1939 Sylwester Budzynski and the others POWs, who
lived to the west of Poland, were delivered to the Germans. Budzynski
was transported to Stalag VII A Moosburg and – in May 1940
– to Oflag VII A Murnau. He was working as the oflag's photographer
and was taking pictures of actors-officers during performances
and groups of POWs – official, legal (photos marking “geprüft”)
and stealthily (mainly – his friends). The camera was in
the oflag's headquarters and the films were developed in the
city of Murnau. His father had two cameras (!) : the legal -
in the oflag's headquarters and the private – a Leica camera.Therefore
many times Budzynski was leaving the oflag (under guard). He
took pictures during the liberation day, too. Andrzej Budzynski
remember that as a little boy he saw these photos at home (the
same as in the exhibition). In June 1945, after the liberation,
Sylwester Budzynski was taken to Italy to the 2nd Polish Corps
and promoted to sergeant. In December 1946 he returned to Poland.
Budzynski lived in Poznan and died in 1979.
This photo shows the
group of Polish privates and noncommissioned officers in Murnau.
In the middle – Sylwester Budzynski (on the left of the
officer with the dark coat).
Budzynski (on the
left) and a colleague in Murnau
Sylwester Budzynski
in Murnau
........
Two other photos of
Sylwester Budzynski
Identity card of Sylwester
Budzynski
What happened to the photos
Andrzej Budzynski saw when his was a child ? According to his
account he took them to a school when he was a pupil of a primary
school about 50 years ago. They have probably been lost there.
More
photos about Sylwester Budzynski
Looking closely at the photos
of Murnau, we can see some photographers in the camp. All of
them are not identified. The four following photos have been
cropped.
Number 130 :