The 20th anniversary of the death of Mieczysław Fogg – the Righteous Among the Nations

Daria Boniecka-Stępień, 16 November 2016
3rdSeptember this year marks the 20thanniversary of the death of the Polish artist Mieczysław Fogg. He made his debut at the Warsaw theatre Qui Pro Quo in 1928. During the Nazi occupation he lived in Warsaw, where he performed in cafés open to the Polish audience. He was called “the troubadour of the Warsaw Uprising” – as a member of the Home Army he sang for the insurgents and Warsaw inhabitants on the barricades, in hospitals and in shelters.

Mieczysław Fogg helped Iwo Vesby, the Qui Pro Quo bandmaster, to escape from the Warsaw Ghetto and, together with his family, to flee from Poland. For his bravery Fogg was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. After World War II, Fogg received recording equipment from Iwo, thanks to which he managed to set up his own recording company named Fogg Records.

In 1958 he was chosen the most popular singer by the audience of the Polish Radio, in this way repeating his success from the year 1937. During his career, which lasted over sixty years, he performed in approximately 16 thousand concerts. He sang in twenty-five European countries, in Brasil, Israel, Ceylon and in Polonia centers in New Zealand, Australia and repeatedly in the USA and Canada. He died at the age of 89 in Warsaw and was buried at Bródno Cemetery.