He was born on 2nd February 1949, in Toruń. He is a theatre and film director, commentator and writer. During the time of the Polish People’s Republic, he was an activist of the pro-independence anti-communist opposition movement.
He graduated from Secondary School No. 4 and the Karol Szymanowski Complex of Music Schools, in Toruń. He studied at the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology of the Warsaw University of Technology. During the turbulent period of the so-called March 1968, he was expelled from the University twice, accused of being a co-initiator and chairman of a university strike committee. In 1974, he defended his diploma thesis, which was written under the academic supervision of Witold Straszewicz, PhD. Eng., an expert in the field of Architectural Acoustics. Unfortunately, the University Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party did not give their consent for Bogdan Czajkowski to pursue an academic career.
After graduating from the university, Bogdan Czajkowski was involved in training and supervising sound engineers and journalists at Ośrodek Doskonalenia Zawodowego Radia i Telewizji (Professional Training Centre for Radio and Television), which later transformed into Akademia Telewizyjna (Television Academy). In 1976, he was dismissed from the Training Centre, upon an explicit request of the Security Service (SB). In 1977, he was given the position of head of the acoustic studio at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, and also started studying at the Department of Drama Directing of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. He graduated in 1981. Still in 1981, he was invited by Tadeusz Łomnicki, who was back then the director of the Wola Theatre in Warsaw, to work on the stage play “Amadeus”, in cooperation with Roman Polański.
After imposing martial law in Poland, he became an underground activist and his apartment in Warsaw became a spot for secret meetings of the editorial team of “Tygodnik Mazowsze” weekly newspaper.
In the 1980s, Bogdan Czajkowski directed stage plays for various theatres, for example for the Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń, the Dramatic Theatre in Słupsk, the Juliusz Osterwa Theatre in Lublin, or for the Aleksander Węgierko Drama Theatre in Białystok.
In the years 2006-2013, he immigrated to Australia. While there, he was commissioned by the Institute of National Remembrance to conduct a research programme about Polish immigrants in Australia and New Zealand, especially immigrants who were members of the Solidarity Movement. The result of his work for several dozen of filmed footage with accounts of Polish immigrants. Thanks to his efforts, it was possible to declassify the New Zealand’s archive dedicated to the orphans deported by the Soviets and later saved by Anders’ Army – they were called the Children of Pahiatua.
In 2017, he competed for the position of the director of the Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń, but to no avail.
