Zbigniew Grochowski was born on 31st August 1926 in Lublin. During the outbreak of war his family stayed in Brest (currently Belarus). In late autumn 1939, after first deportations of Poles to Siberia in Soviet Union, Grochowski’s parents decided to flee to Lublin to join their relatives. Due to his father’s underground activity and imprisonment of his mother’s relatives, the family moved to Warsaw where they survived nazi occupation. There Grochowski completed the underground secondary school and joined Szare Szeregi (Grey Ranks - boy scout underground movement), taking part in petty sabotage actions and taking photos of German installations and street executions. Grochowski spent the first month of Warsaw Uprising in the Old Town at 10, Sapieżyńska Street, using code name Stefan Zabłocki. After the fall of the Old Town he, together with his mother and brother, was evacuated among the civilian population to transit camp Dulag 121 in Pruszków, and then sent to Germany to work at a farm. After the war he returned to his native Lublin, graduated from the department of geology at Maria Curie Sklodowska University and worked as a teacher. In early 50-ties he was posted to Legnica where he continued teaching physics and mathematics and where he lives until today. His great passion has been leading youth summer camps in the most beautiful regions of Poland. Each year for over 20 years he gave several hundred lectures on pedagogical matters in rural evening courses and „parents’ universities”. He has remained an avid cultivator of knowledge and memory of Warsaw Uprising, devoting much time to lecturing on this subject. He received many awards and decorations for his professional and volunteer work.
