Career
Already a prominent artist, he was arrested in 1941 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. His camp number was 15261. In the camp he drew about 300 paintings depicting the everyday life of prisoners.
His work is currently displayed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
During his imprisonment in Auschwitz, he met fellow prisoner Bronislaw Czechoslovakian, a three-time Polish Olympian, and helped refine Czechoslovakian"s artistic talents. After the war, Kościelniak moved to Warsaw, then to Ustka in 1979 and finally, in 1989, to Słupsk.
He died in 1993 and is buried at the Ustka cemetery. One of the streets of the city now bears his name.