The Photographer Who Preserved the Warsaw Uprising: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun

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A portrait of photographer Sylwester Braun, code-name Kris, against a backdrop of ruins; photo: Eugeniusz Haneman / Museum of Warsaw

The Photographer Who Preserved the Warsaw Uprising: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun

photography

Michał Dąbrowski

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The photographs by Sylwester Kris Braun are among the most important records of the Warsaw Uprising. Discover the story of the man to whom we owe this invaluable documentation of the 63-day struggle for independence.

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun. Photographer of the Uprising, 2024, photo: Museum of Warsaw

Sylwester Kris Braun is among the most important photographers of the Warsaw Uprising. Many of his photographs have become iconic, instantly recognisable as images of the Uprising even without captions. Braun’s original prints are among the most valuable items in the Museum of Warsaw’s photographic collection relating to the Warsaw Uprising. The photographs below, and the information accompanying them, are drawn from an album published to mark the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.

Piotr Głogowski, curator of the 2024 exhibition, introduced visitors to the world of Braun’s photography with the following words:

The story of Braun’s photographs is not just about the moment he exposed the negatives. Their turbulent history includes concealment, rediscovery, a journey around the world, the loss of a significant portion, and inclusion in a museum collection. Identifying and tracking down Braun’s assistant – and, at the same time, the photographer behind some of the images – Berta Weissberger, who, after emigrating to the United States and marrying, took the name Betty Lauer, also sheds new light on Braun’s life and work.

Early years & playing truant with a camera

Sylwester 'Kris' Braun, ‘Self-Portrait’, c. 1930, photo: Museum of Warsaw

Sylwester Braun was born on 1 January 1909 in Warsaw. His father, Andrzej, died a few years after his son’s birth. His mother, Rozalia (née Chabalewska), remarried to Henryk Czopowski, a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology and head of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics. It was his stepfather who sparked young Sylwester’s interest in photography and lent him a Kodak camera. The possibilities offered by this equipment proved more appealing than school. As Braun later recalled, his ‘photographic truanting’ took place in Bielany Forest. A self-portrait from the early period of his career has survived. Braun later recalled that he was passionate about film, fashion and sport.

Finding his way

Sylwester 'Kris' Braun, Nowy Świat from the junction with Ordynacka Street, early August 1944, photo: Museum of Warsaw

Sylwester Braun graduated from the Adam Mickiewicz State Boys’ Grammar School on Emiliana Konopczyńskiego Street in Warsaw and then studied at the Faculty of Surveying at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1932, he graduated, undertook military training at the officer cadet school in Modlin, and married Wera, whose maiden name remains unknown to this day. Their son was born the same year. The marriage lasted just under two years. In the years that followed, Braun travelled to Italy, Spain, Germany and Yugoslavia, among other places. It was in Yugoslavia that he met Krystyna, with whom he remained in a relationship for several years. Piotr Głogowski, one of the authors of the book discussed here, although unable to establish the identity of Braun’s girlfriend, notes some circumstantial evidence pointing to Krystyna Markowska, a dancer and actress who was popular at the time.

The outbreak of war

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Insurgents on the barricade on Żelazna Street, mid-August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Before the Second World War, Braun worked in the City Planning Department, one of the City Hall divisions, which was headed at the time by Mayor Stefan Starzyński. The department was responsible, among other things, for compiling photographic records of buildings in the capital. Braun may have been involved in creating that iconography, but he did not mention it in his memoirs. When the war broke out, he was unable to reach Przemyśl, the location specified in his military posting, and remained in besieged Warsaw. As early as the beginning of September, he experienced a bombing raid and observed residents’ reactions.

Documentalist

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Escape from a bombing raid, c. 2 September 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

After the city’s surrender, Braun used the severance pay granted to municipal employees by Mayor Starzyński to buy a Leica Standard camera small enough to fit in his jacket pocket. From early October, he began documenting the destruction of the city. As Głogowski notes, Braun’s work from this period is characterised by thoughtful composition and a dispassionate depiction of the ruins, as if commissioned for an official report.

During the occupation, photographs of the ruins of Warsaw were extremely popular. People bought Braun’s prints as a testament to the truth about Nazi German atrocities and to show the situation in the Polish capital to the outside world. Years later, he admitted that the photographs had brought him considerable profits at the time.

Code-name

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Soldiers from the Andrzej Company of the Home Army’s ‘Bartkiewicz’ Group, mid-August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

In early 1940, Braun began marking his works with the stamp ‘Copyright by KRIS | Warsaw 1940’. On the one hand, this was a way of emphasising his authorship of the photographs; on the other, it served to protect his identity in occupied Warsaw. Where did the idea for the pseudonym come from? Most likely, it came from the name Krystyna, or from a combination of the names Krystyna and Sylwester. Braun himself also spoke of a reference to the keris, a curved dagger and a national symbol of Malaysia, an artefact believed to possess magical powers.

In the spring of 1940, Braun joined the underground military organisation Wilki, where he was responsible for personnel matters. The organisation, which numbered several hundred members, was eventually absorbed into the Union of Armed Struggle, which was later renamed the Home Army.

Prints

Eugeniusz Haneman and Sylwester Braun, code-name Kris, showing their photographs to insurgents at the rear of the tenement building at 154 Marszałkowska Street; photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

The threat of arrest for underground activities affected the photographer’s work – he scaled it back around 1942. As Głogowski admits, it is difficult to assess the reach of the photographs produced by Braun and circulated by others. Judging by the large number of prints that began to find their way to the Museum of Warsaw after the war, it was significant.

Distributing photographs documenting the destruction caused by the war carried the risk of serious consequences. Over time, interest in this type of work also waned. As a result, Braun changed direction once again – he began to specialise in portrait and theatre photography. His contacts at the Ziemiańska Café helped him secure portrait commissions from members of Warsaw’s artistic community, and the success of these sessions confirmed his talent as a photographer. To practise his profession and obtain the necessary certification, Braun took a job at Zygmunt Kopera’s studio. There, he learnt his craft under the master’s guidance.

Studio owner

A concert by Andrzej Markowski in the garden of the U Aktorek Café, mid-August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Braun was awarded the title of master of the photographic craft on 21 February 1944. From that day onwards, he was officially authorised to run his own studio – which he named ‘Sylwester Braun’s Film Studio’. Due to the rapidly changing situation on the fronts of the Second World War, his career as a portrait photographer was interrupted. On 1 August 1944, the long-awaited Warsaw Uprising began.

The Uprising

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, the armoured vehicle Kubuś in the garden of the Music Conservatoire on Okólnik Street, with Berta Weissberger on board, 17 August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Thanks to the recognition he had gained at the start of the war and the contacts he had made through his underground activities, Braun managed to join the Photography Section of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army High Command. With his Military Press Correspondent’s pass, he began documenting the struggle to regain freedom. Although he operated within the organisation’s structures, he managed to retain his autonomy – he received neither orders nor assignments.

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Insurgents at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Cross, 23 August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Braun developed the exposed films in his home darkroom at 28 Kopernika Street. He was allowed to keep the negatives and was required to hand over only the prints. Back in August, Berta Weissberger – who had until then been hiding with her mother in the cellar of their home – joined the photographer. Weissberger had been trying to help at a medical centre, but shortages of equipment left her unable to do much. When Braun visited her one day, she decided to accompany him. Kris helped her obtain a permit to move around the occupied capital. His future assistant appears in several of his photographs, including one taken aboard the Kubuś armoured car, in which she is wearing a camera around her neck. In her memoirs, Weissberger mentions several occasions when she took photographs herself. In particularly dangerous situations, Braun would not risk his companion’s life and would take the photographs himself. Braun also often worked with Eugeniusz Haneman, who took the photograph of him showing his prints to insurgents.

A lesson from the ruins

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, The bombing of St Alexander’s Church, 9 September 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

After Kris’s flat on Kopernika Street was burnt down, along with all his equipment and archives, documenting the Uprising took on new meaning for him and Berta Weissberger. They focused on recording the city’s destruction and ensuring the material was properly safeguarded. The couple set up a new darkroom in the basement of the Weissberger house at 53 Marszałkowska Street. Towards the end of the Uprising, they placed the archive in two Weck jars, sealed with paraffin, and buried them under the floor. On 5 October, the priest Stanisław Olszewski provided the photographers with a fictitious marriage certificate – the couple feared being separated when the Germans expelled the residents from Warsaw.

A story straight out of a film

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Wspólna Street after the air raid, 9 September 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

After several days’ journey by train, Braun and Weissberger arrived at the transit camp in Spellen, near the Dutch border. They then took advantage of an Allied air raid to escape together to Essen. There, they went to the Gestapo station to ask to be sent to their family in Silesia. Their strategy, straight out of a film, worked – they first reached Berlin, and then travelled by train via Wrocław to Katowice.

After the front had passed in February 1945, they arrived in Warsaw on one of the first trains. They went straight to the cellar where they had hidden the valuable archive. Given the photographs he had taken in September 1939, Braun must have been aware of the immense significance of the photographs documenting the Uprising. The beginnings were not easy, however. The lack of interest in the collection in the first few years after the war may well have been a source of frustration for him, but as Piotr Głogowski admits, ‘it never dashed the photographer’s dream of honouring it as it deserved’.

Post-war reality

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, A panoramic view of the ruins of the city centre, c. 18 September 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris' Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Back in Warsaw, Braun once again photographed the places he had visited during the Uprising, as well as those he had not managed to reach at the time, including the Old Town and Teatralny Square. However, war-torn Warsaw was an extremely difficult place to live, so Braun and Weissberger returned to Silesia. They opened a photography studio in Świętochłowice. Their clients included soldiers from the Red Army stationed in the area. The political situation in the country led the couple to decide to flee. They managed to do so on 6 June 1946 – one of the sailors on a Swedish cargo ship helped them reach Sweden in exchange for a motorbike.

Stockholm was intended only as a stopover on the way to the United States, but Braun was reluctant to continue the journey. He was also reluctant to formalise his relationship with Weissberger through marriage. In the Swedish capital, he opened a photography studio and collaborated with Polish refugees. When they separated, Braun and Weissberger agreed not to remain in contact and divided their photographic collection. She took numerous prints with her, while he retained the negatives. In the autumn of 1946, Weissberger set off for New York. Braun later donated all the surviving negatives from August and September 1944 to the Historical Museum of Warsaw.

Emigration

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, Negatives, August 1944, photo: Museum of Warsaw

In Stockholm, Braun set up another photography studio in partnership with an unknown Swedish photographer. He also tried to interest the Swedes in his photographs of the Uprising – to no avail. At one of the Polish community gatherings, Braun met Joanna Larsson (née Janusz), whom he married in 1958. The couple then decided to move overseas – they first lived in Vancouver, Canada, and then in San Pedro, California. It was then that Braun finally gave up his career as a photographer and began working as an engineer. The couple were doing very well in the United States. In the years that followed, Braun continued to take photographs, though no longer professionally. As with the Polish community in Sweden, the Polish community in the USA was not particularly interested in photographs from the Uprising.

A turning point

Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun, A shell exploding in the Prudential Insurance Company building, 28 August 1944, photo: Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun / Museum of Warsaw

Braun’s work was successfully popularised in the late 1970s, partly thanks to the interest shown by Wacław Gluth-Nowowiejski, a journalist and former insurgent, and Hanna Dorota Trojan, an editor, who visited Braun in the United States. In Poland, restoring the Uprising to public memory required ingenuity and diplomacy, as commemorating it was treated as an anti-regime act under the communist regime. To mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of its founding, Kurier Polski organised a campaign to ‘search for’ the photographer behind the famous photograph of the explosion at the Prudential Building, already knowing his whereabouts.

A month later, Braun was ‘found’, and a small exhibition was subsequently held, with the photographer in attendance. Interest in the works was immense, both among surviving insurgents and among Varsovians, who did not accept the censored history of the city. The exhibition intensified public interest in Braun’s story – that of a courageous photojournalist, a witness to history and a refugee. In the years that followed, recognition of his work and public interest in the Uprising continued to grow. Further exhibitions were organised, and photo albums were published. During his frequent visits to Poland, Sylwester Braun continued to photograph the capital, focusing primarily on its architecture and urban planning.

Sylwester 'Kris' Braun: Photographer of the Warsaw Uprising – Image Gallery

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In 1994, Braun was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his outstanding contribution to the struggle for independence. He died in Warsaw on 9 February 1996. He was buried in the Czopowski family tomb at Powązki Cemetery.

More details about Sylwester Braun and his archive can be found in the album Sylwester ‘Kris’ Braun: A Photographer of the Uprising, published by the Museum of Warsaw in connection with the 2024 exhibition of the same name.

Translated from Polish by Agnieszka Mistur

Published: Jul 30 2026

Last updated: Jul 30 2026

Author: Michał Dąbrowski

Michał writes about photography, books & design. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Warsaw and one in media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

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