Bogdan

A story of my great-grandfather’s death which remain to be a mystery to this day.

The picture of great-grandfather Bogdan was always there. In the beginning it was hanging in a special place in the house of my grandparents. After the years I found it hanging on the doors of the boiler room, maybe miraculously saving it from vanishing. The migration of the picture is as unfortunate as it is significant. Especially in the context of circumstances of my great-grandfather’s death which remain to be a mystery to this day.

For many years I’ve tried to discover what really happened. The expression “grandpa died during the war” was enough for my parents’ generation. But it stirred up a desire in me to reexamine the evidence. I’ve started with the photos, conversations, inquiries in the field and I finished with creating my own imaginarium.

All of the narratives that I’ve heard were retold by many people multiple times. Discovering the truth after almost 80 years seems impossible. The only solution I’m left with is to draft three parallel scenarios that emerged during my investigation. They are as follows: crime of passion / NKVD’s revenge for participating in the polish-bolshevik war / collaboration with Nazis.

All of the scenarios have the same end. In March of 1945, just after the Red Army entered Poznań, Bogdan is put in a captive camp. He gets escorted by militia to work in a town near Poznań, where he manages a farm. On March 19th when he was coming back from work, he was ushered into a forest and murdered. For the next 40 years three of his children will search for the burial place of their father.