Bogdan Bartnikowski was born in Warsaw in 1932. At the beginning of August 1944 he joined the Warsaw Uprising and on 12th August was arrested along with his mother and sent to Auschwitz. His father died in the Uprising.
After the war Bartnikowski and his mother returned to Warsaw. He graduated from the Polish Air Force Academy and in the years 1952-1982 served in the Polish Army. Additionally, he worked as a journalist in the military press where he made his debut as a prose writer. His first book, “Opowiadania nad chmurami” (Stories above Clouds), was published in 1969 and first volume of verse, “Strofy jesienne” (Autumn Strophes) in 1999.