Żywotko was born on 9 January 1920, in Zniesienie, which was then a suburb of Lwów in the Second Polish Republic, shortly following Polish independence. Near the end of World War II, he left Lwów to join the 4th Reserve Cavalry Regiment in Hrubieszów. When the war ended, his unit moved first to Warsaw, and then to Koszalin for demobilization. When Lwów was assigned to the Ukrainian SSR at the end of the war, Żywotko found himself homeless, and eventually settled in Szczecin, where he was joined by his parents. In Szczecin, Żywotko lived in a business flat, while working as a manager in a cold meat factory.
