Tadeusz Pietrzykowski was born on 8 April 1917 in Warsaw. On 14 June 1940 he was part of the first transport to Auschwitz - 728 political prisoners were transported from Tarnów prison on this first transport; Tadeusz was registered as number 77.

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At the onset of WW2. He was at the Cavalry Training Center. He fought with the 1st Warsaw Defense Battery in defence of the city. In the spring of1940 he tried to get to France with the intention of joining the Polish Army. After being arrested by the Hungarian gendarmerie near the Hungarian-Yugoslavian border, he was handed over to the Germans. Tadeusz was held and tortured in the prisons in Muszyn, Nowy Sacz, and Tarnów, from where on 14 June 1940 he was sent to Auschwitz.

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 Known as the "Boxer from Auschwitz", he had a mall stature and weighed 40 kilograms. He was famous for his excellent technique, resistance, and speed, and earned the nickname "White Fog". On demand of the SS, he fought with many heavier and stronger opponents. He boxed for the proverbial "slice of bread" and fought for his life with his fists. He fought more than 40 duels in KL Auschwitz. He won almost all of them.

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 He was a prisoner in the Bergen-Belsen camp where he saw the end of the war and joined the 1st Polish Armoured Division where he served as a liaison officer in Lubeka.

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Boxing provided sports entertainment to soldiers of Allied troops. He drove from garrison to garrison in Germany, but also in Belgium and northern France, including Hanover, Luxembourg, Lubeka, Brunswick, Liege, Cologne, and Stuttgart. Not counting the dozens of smaller towns. He became the deputy chief of sport and physical education in the Armoured Division of General Maczek. In 1946 he won the lightweight division title among the Allied troops.

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In 1947 he returned to Poland. In the 1950s he completed his studies at the Warsaw Academy of Physical Education and then became a physical education coach and teacher.

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Tadeusz passed away on 18 April 1991 in Bielsko-Biała, Poland and was buried in the parish cemetery of God's Providence in Bielsko-Biała.

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Source: 1 Dywizjia Panceraj Facebook post (in Polish)

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