The Remembrance Museum of the Land of Oświęcim Residents invites you to a premiere concert by Janusz Majcherek, taking place on Sunday, June 22nd at 16:00. For the first time he will perform live songs from his latest album, “1913 – A Love Story of an Emigrant Woman.” Free admission.
The album was inspired by the family story of Janusz Majcherek’s great-grandmother, Eleonora, a resident of Babice near Oświęcim. In 1913, at just 17 years old, she set off alone for America. The reason for this decision was… love for a boy she met in Poland.
Many facts remain unknown
Life, however, had a different script in store. In the United States, Eleonora met another man, whom she married. After nine years, she returned to Poland with two small children — Helena and Władysław. The fate of her husband remains a mystery, as do the events during Eleonora’s stay in the US.
My cousin Robert – enthusiast of history, journalist, and writer — began researching our family’s past. He contacted the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York, from which he received scans of passenger lists and many details about our great-grandparents. Over time, our whole family became involved in reconstructing this nearly forgotten history. We looked through old photos, connected memories and stories of people we knew. That’s when the idea for the album was born – says Janusz Majcherek.
An Instrumental Impression in Sound
As the artist emphasizes, the music on this album is the result of search and exploration to uncover the fate of his great-grandmother Eleonora. This instrumental impression is divided into two parts. The first — more subtle and piano-driven — portrays Eleonora’s life before her journey to the United States. The second part is more dynamic, with significant amount of the electronic sounds, focusing on her time in America and the decision to return to Poland alone. The titles of the individual tracks refer to both places and situations that Eleonora likely encountered. The single promoting the album “1913 – A Love Story of an Emigrant Woman” is titled “Goodbye America” and is available on streaming platforms. The album has been released on CD and vinyl — the latter format perfectly capturing the nostalgic tone of the story.
The Story of the Great Emigration in Oświęcim
Janusz Majcherek notes that this is also a musical and historical project, which, in addition to family elements, also includes little-known facts from the history of Oświęcim.The entire concept fits within the broader context of the Great Emigration at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Oświęcim was then a town in so-called Galicia province (Austrian partition), near the Prussian border. In 1901, a licensed travel agency run by Zofia Biesiadecka was established in the city, offering tickets for transatlantic ships — primarily to the USA and Canada — as well as train tickets to major European cities. Every day, hundreds of emigrants passed through Oświęcim in search of a better life in Europe or the Americas. The album includes a booklet with photos and descriptions of the historical context behind the music.
About the Artist
Janusz Majcherek is a graduate of the Faculty of Art and Education at the University of Silesia in Cieszyn and the M. Karłowicz State Secondary Music School in Katowice. He is an educator, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He has co-created and performed music across a wide range of genres — from pop and jazz to rock and electronic music. It is electronic music that has fascinated him the most. He co-founded the band Memo, with which he received the Złoty Laur Retro award for promoting Polish music from the 1920s and 1930s. Together with the band Cocoon, he won the Grand Prix at the “Brzmienie ’99” Festival of Composers and Arrangers held at Studio Buffo in Warsaw. He is also the co-creator of the children’s music project Latający Batyskaf (“The Flying Bathyscaphe”). In 2022, with financial support from the town of Oświęcim, he released his first solo album, “SAMEMU” which featured 11 instrumental compositions for piano and synthesizers in the ambient genre.
Janusz Majcherek is also the co-founder of the synthpop band Ultrasonic, whose songs have been frequently broadcasted on Trójka – Polish Radio Program Three and many other stations across the country.
We invite you to the premiere concert of Janusz Majcherek, featuring live performance of songs from the album: “1913 – A Love Story of an Emigrant Woman”
The Remembrance Museum of the Land of Oświęcim Residents Maksymiliana Kolbego 2A, 32-600 Oświęcim
June 22nd, 2025 (Sunday), 16:00
Admission is free
Please note: due to a limited number of seats, we kindly ask you to confirm your attendance by June 20th, 2025. Tel: +48 33 447 40 84 Email: biuro@muzeumpamieci.pl
