He was a real celebrity in the interwar period - his face appeared in movies and commercials. Everyone knew him and it would be difficult for him to hide. Nevertheless, at one point he suddenly disappeared like camphor, and for years no one knew what happened to him. Where was he? And how did it end?
Bohdan Eugène Junod, performing under the pseudonym Eugeniusz Bodo, was one of the most recognizable Polish actors of the pre-war period. In fact, you can honestly call him a true celebrity:not only did he act in the greatest productions of the time, but he also sang and danced, as well as directed and produced films.
Hits by the star, such as "I'm already so cold bastard", "I kiss your hand, madame" or "Oh, sleep, my love" are known and liked even today. As we read in the new book by Iwona Kienzler "War fate of pre-war stars":
[...] was quickly recognized as an icon of style, elegance and masculine fashion, using modern terms, advertised Old England jackets, Kielmann shoes, Chojnacki's ties and Młodkowski's hats , brands whose products he willingly wore himself. He also featured on advertisements of cherry-flavored toothpaste, Wedel chocolate and sheet music published by Gebethner and Wolf. "
Stubborn like a Bodo
It seems unlikely that a person so famous and commonly associated would simply disappear without a trace. And yet that's exactly what happened! When the specter of war loomed over Poland, Bodo, at the urging of his mother, left the capital. He realized that the anti-German skits presented on the Tip-Top cabaret stage could cost him his life.
He went to Białystok, where he worked for a short time with the Theater of Miniatures. However, later - together with other actors from Warsaw - he fled to Lviv. There, he could feel safe for a few years, continuing his artistic activity under the Soviet occupation.
Widely recognizable and surrounded by a wreath of fans - how is it possible that Eugeniusz Bodo suddenly disappeared without a trace? (in the photo in the movie "Song of Warsaw").
In the newly created group, Tea Jazz, he not only played, but also acted as an announcer during a tour of European cities of the Soviet Union. Musician Henryk Wars recalled that:"The issue of the existence of this band was not only of simple, artistic significance. It was a way to save lives, avoid concentration camps, and transport people to camps in Siberia or anywhere, and even death. " Thus, it would seem that Eugene Bodo was in no danger. Together with Henryk Wars, they even received the highest categories of stage artists!
The eternally restless Bodo, however, left the group Tea Jazz in 1941, shortly after Germany's aggression against the USSR. Instead of returning - like his colleagues - to Lviv, he wanted to emigrate to America, which was to be helped by Swiss citizenship. He was tired of living in the realities of the USSR and being under constant surveillance by assigned "guardians".
“It came as a surprise to our team members as none of us knew that Bodo was Swiss by origin. We tried to persuade him to come with us, but Bodo insisted, "recalled Gwidon Borucki, an artist from Tea Jazz.
Anyone See Anyone Know
And then, unexpectedly, the Bodo was gone. The last trace he left was an application to the Lviv Philharmonic for release from duties, and an application to allow him to go abroad addressed to the authorities. According to some information, while waiting for the documents, he was supposed to live in a house in Brzuchowice near Lviv.
Where is the star? One version of the events says that by expressing his will to leave and betraying his citizenship, he became a suspect for the communist authorities and was kidnapped by the Russians. Later, NKVD men fleeing the approaching German troops were to murder him along with other political prisoners and bury him in a mass grave at the Łyczakowski Cemetery. But there is no compelling evidence for this theory.
In 1972, another proposal to solve the mystery of the actor's disappearance appeared, proposed by Józef Misiak, a former Pogoń Lwów football player. He claimed to have seen Bodo in the company of a young girl in the Jesuit Garden in Lviv . NKVD officers were to arrest him there and then shoot him between the trees. However, this scenario also turned out to be false.
So where has the famous actor gone? The truth was revealed thanks to the involvement of journalist Stanisław Janicki, who asked for help in solving the case in his program. Thus, he renewed interest in the fate of Bodos. The historian Stanisław Niciej later published an article in "Tygodnik Polski" published in London and described the mystery of the celebrity's disappearance. Among the dozens of letters sent, there was one that turned out to be the key to the puzzle.
Eugeniusz Bodo after he was arrested by the NKVD in 1941
“Bodo died in the Soviet camp on December 24, 1943. The camp was called Peresylnyj Punkt No. 1 and was located in Bołtinka near Kotlas, Arkhangelsk region. The causes of death were pellagra and starvation . I know about these facts, because I was there too - and my father, Leon Feiner, died on the same day on the neighboring bunk "- wrote Aleksander Feiner in reply to the article.
These data were corrected a little later:Bodo died not in December but on October 7, and it was difficult to recognize him in the photos attached to the death certificate. Where did he come from in the labor camp at all? The NKVD sentenced him to 5 years of hard correctional camp as a socially dangerous element.