* Andrzej Linert born on 25 August 1944 in Bielsko-Biała in a family of teachers. He graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice in 1969. University in Katowice. He obtained his PhD in 1977 at the University of Łódź under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jerzy Starnawski, and his habilitation at the Faculty of Humanities of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. From 1999 to 2018, he worked at the Institute of Information Science and Library Science at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University, where he was head of the Department of the Book and its Function in Social Communication from 2002. Researcher of the history of theatre life of Upper Silesia and Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. Author of 18 books and over 150 monographic scientific and popular texts on drama theatres, puppet theatres and non-professional companies, as well as biographies of actors, directors and theatre life animators important for the region. The President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski awarded him the title of Professor of Humanities on 9 September 2013. Among other things, he is the author of the book: Jerzy Adam Brandhuber and his paintings of Auschwitz, published by the Auschwitz Museum Publishing House in 2021.
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The author would like to express his sincere thanks to Mr Szymon Kowalski from the Archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for his help during the stage of collecting the materials as well as their verification
The Pikoń family at the dawn of the 1930s. Seated are Tekla and Konstanty Pikoń with the youngest Eugenia between them. Standing from left are Stanislaw, Kazimierz and Matylda.