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Jan Jakob Kamienski
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Cartoonist, artist, author.
Born at Poznan, Poland on 9 May 1923, son of Lucjan Kamienski and Linda Harder, he began art training there then studied at Ecole des Arts et Metiers in Paris, France. During the Second World War, he was recruited into the Polish Resistance to the Nazi regime. He studied painting and graphics at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts before moving to Canada in 1949 and settling at Winnipeg where he found work as a commercial artist.
From 1958 to 1980, he was an editorial cartoonist for the Winnipeg Tribune. He also wrote columns, art criticism, and restaurant reviews, and directed and animated films and television commercials. In 1968, he served as President of the Winnipeg Press Club. After the closure of the Tribune in 1980, he worked at the Winnipeg Sun until retirement in 1988. Three collections of his political cartoons, each entitled Kamienski: 100 Cartoons were published by the Sun, in 1981, 1982, and 1983. He published a memoir of his experiences during the Second World War, entitled Hidden in the Enemy’s Sight: Resisting the Third Reich From Within (2008).
He was married twice, first to Christine Kamienski in Poland with whom he had a daughter, Barbara Kamienski (?-2019). They were divorced in 1962. He later married Nadya Zurkowski and had a second daughter with her.
He died at Winnipeg on 26 March 2010.
“City cartoonist, author a ‘Renaissance man’” by Morley Walker, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 April 2010, page D4.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 April 2010.
Jan Kamienski, JanKamienka.ca.
“A special tribute to Barbara Kamienski ('71),” NTCI Foundation, 15 November 2020.
Winnipeg Divorce File Index, 1917-1984, Archives of Manitoba.
We thank Barbara Kamienski for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 April 2026
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