Digital Art for Liberation Day, May 8, 2022

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Kazimierz Grabowski – resistance fighter, forced labourer, liberated

Barbara R. Grabowski is a singer. Her father Kazimierz, who fought against the Nazis in the Warsaw Uprising, was deported to Salzgitter in Germany as a forced labourer. In April 1945 he was liberated by the Americans. In her music video, the singing lecturer honors her father, who died in 2020 at the age of 95.

“My father was born in Warsaw in 1925. As a young man he fought against the Nazis. His brother died with the partisans. My father himself was shot during the Warsaw Uprising. He was arrested and finally deported to Germany as a forced labourer. There he had to slave away in the steelworks of Salzgitter. He told me stories that were always difficult to imagine and hard to digest. At night, the forced labourers sabotaged the equipment. Those who got caught were hung by the Nazis from the ceiling above the conveyor belt, where they were exhibited as deterrent. My father was lucky. At some point he was also allowed to work outdoors, where he met other Germans, people who threw an apple or a piece of bread over the fence. On April 10, 1945, he was liberated by Americans. At least that’s the date in his stories.”

Barbara R. Grabowski lives in Mannheim, Germany. She is part of the Salon Collective. It consists, among others, of the duo LABOR:HACE, who provided the image material in the video above. Barbara’s own Trio Kalliope is also part of the collective. In the video, the three artists perform a song by Johannes Brahms with lyrics by Klaus Groth.