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Stefan Knapp

* 1921 in Bilgoraj (Poland), † 12.10.1996 in London (England), painter and sculptor

Stefan Knapp (1921 - October 12, 1996) was a Polish painter and sculptor who worked in Great Britain. He developed a painting technique using lacquer paint on steel. In 1935 he began studying at the Lwów Polytechnic. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Lwów was occupied by the Soviet Union, Knapp's father was murdered and he was exiled to a gulag in Siberia. There, among other things, he helped to build schools for Russian orphans whose parents had been imprisoned or murdered for political reasons. In the gulag, where his artistic activities were restricted, he made chess pieces out of bread and playing cards out of garbage for his fellow prisoners. He was released in 1942 after the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement was signed between Poland and the Soviet Union. He joined the Anders Army and volunteered for the air force in order to get to Great Britain. On June 29, 1942, he began training as a pilot in Hucknall. He served in the Royal Air Force as an officer and Spitfire pilot. During this time he also took up painting and drawing portraits of his fellow pilots in Squadron 318. After the war he stayed in London and used a veteran's scholarship to study at the Royal Academy and the Slade School of Fine Art.

wikipedia (English) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Knapp