Countess Karolina Lanckoronska
Encyclopedia
Countess Karolina Maria Adelajda Franciszka Ksawera Małgorzata Edina Lanckorońska (born August 11, 1898, Gars am Kamp
, Lower Austria
— August 25, 2002, Rome, Italy) was a Polish World War II
resistance fighter, historian
and art historian.
, a Polish nobleman from a Galician family, and his third wife, Princess Margaret von Lichnovsky, daughter of Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky. Karolina was reared and attended university in Vienna
(capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which much of Galicia was then part), living at her family's palace, the Palais Lanckoronski
.
After Poland regained independence in 1918, Lanckorońska taught at Lwów University
. Following the invasion of Lwów by the Soviet
Red Army
and later the rest of Poland by Nazi Germany
in September 1939, she witnessed at first hand the terror and atrocities committed by the Soviets and Nazis, which she later described in her War Memoirs.
Lanckorońska was active in the Polish resistance and was arrested, interrogated, tortured, tried and sentenced to death at Stanisławów
prison. During her stay there, the local Gestapo chief, Hans Krüger, confessed to her that he had murdered 23 Lwów University professors—a war crime that she made it her mission to publicize.
Thanks to her family connections, Lanckorońska was not executed but was instead sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp
for women. She somehow survived and, immediately after release in 1945, wrote her war memoirs. After the war, she left Poland and lived in Fribourg, Switzerland, and later, until her death, in Rome
.
A patriot all her life, Lanckorońska bequeathed her family's enormous art collection to her beloved Poland only after her homeland became free from communism
and Soviet occupation. The Lanckoronski Collection may now for the most part be seen in Warsaw
's Royal Castle
and Kraków
's Wawel Castle
.
She did not want her war memoirs published in her lifetime. After much persuasion, however, she consented to publication in Poland, by ZNAK Publishing of Kraków
, in 2001, just a year before her death. The book, whose British version is titled Those Who Trespass against Us: One Woman's War against the Nazis, sold over 50,000 copies in the Polish original and is now selling well in English. The U.S. edition was published in hardback in Spring 2007 by Da Capo Press
(Perseus Publishing Group) under the new title, Michelangelo in Ravensbrück.
In 1967 Lanckorońska established the Lanckoroński Foundation
, which promotes and supports Polish culture, awarding over a million złotych per annum (US $330,000) for scholarships, publication of learned books, research into Polish archives in countries such as Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, and similar projects.
Countess Karolina Lanckorońska died in 2002, aged 104.
Gars am Kamp
Gars am Kamp is a town in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria....
, Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
— August 25, 2002, Rome, Italy) was a Polish World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
resistance fighter, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and art historian.
Life
Karolina Lanckorońska was the daughter of Count Karol LanckorońskiCount Karol Lanckoronski
Count Karol Lanckoroński was a writer, art collector, patron, traveler, and vice-president of the Society for Cultural Protection in his native Galicia...
, a Polish nobleman from a Galician family, and his third wife, Princess Margaret von Lichnovsky, daughter of Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky. Karolina was reared and attended university in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which much of Galicia was then part), living at her family's palace, the Palais Lanckoronski
Palais Lanckoronski
The Palais Lanckoroński was a palace in Vienna, Austria, located at Jacquingasse 16-18, in the Landstraße District. It was constructed in 1894-95 for Count Karol Lanckoroński and his family as a personal residence, and it housed the count's enormous art collection. The palace was built in a...
.
After Poland regained independence in 1918, Lanckorońska taught at Lwów University
Lviv University
The Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine...
. Following the invasion of Lwów by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and later the rest of Poland by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in September 1939, she witnessed at first hand the terror and atrocities committed by the Soviets and Nazis, which she later described in her War Memoirs.
Lanckorońska was active in the Polish resistance and was arrested, interrogated, tortured, tried and sentenced to death at Stanisławów
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
prison. During her stay there, the local Gestapo chief, Hans Krüger, confessed to her that he had murdered 23 Lwów University professors—a war crime that she made it her mission to publicize.
Thanks to her family connections, Lanckorońska was not executed but was instead sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
for women. She somehow survived and, immediately after release in 1945, wrote her war memoirs. After the war, she left Poland and lived in Fribourg, Switzerland, and later, until her death, in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
A patriot all her life, Lanckorońska bequeathed her family's enormous art collection to her beloved Poland only after her homeland became free from communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and Soviet occupation. The Lanckoronski Collection may now for the most part be seen in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
's Royal Castle
Royal Castle, Warsaw
The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located there from...
and Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
's Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
.
She did not want her war memoirs published in her lifetime. After much persuasion, however, she consented to publication in Poland, by ZNAK Publishing of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, in 2001, just a year before her death. The book, whose British version is titled Those Who Trespass against Us: One Woman's War against the Nazis, sold over 50,000 copies in the Polish original and is now selling well in English. The U.S. edition was published in hardback in Spring 2007 by Da Capo Press
Da Capo Press
Da Capo Press, is an American publishing company with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers. it had additional offices in offices in New York City, Philadelphia and Emeryville, California...
(Perseus Publishing Group) under the new title, Michelangelo in Ravensbrück.
In 1967 Lanckorońska established the Lanckoroński Foundation
Lanckoronski Foundation
The Lanckoroński Foundation is a Swiss-based charitable organisation with offices in Vienna and London providing assistance to Polish causes, mainly in the cultural sphere....
, which promotes and supports Polish culture, awarding over a million złotych per annum (US $330,000) for scholarships, publication of learned books, research into Polish archives in countries such as Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, and similar projects.
Countess Karolina Lanckorońska died in 2002, aged 104.
Works
- Karolina Lanckorońska, Wspomnienia wojenne (War Memoirs), KrakówKrakówKraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Znak Publishing, 2001, ISBN 8324000771 - Karolina Lanckorońska, Mut ist angeboren (Courage Is Inborn), ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Boehlau Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3205770862 - Karolina Lanckorońska, Those Who Trespass against Us: One Woman's War against the Nazis, Pimlico, 2006, ISBN 1844134172, 366 pp.
- Karolina Lanckorońska, Michelangelo in Ravensbrück: One Woman's War against the Nazis, translated from the Polish by Noel Clark, Merloyd Lawrence / Da Capo, 2007, 341 pp., $26.
Honours and awards
- Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991)
- Cross of Valour (1942)
- Bronze Cross of Merit with Swords (1946)
- Home Army Cross (1968)
- Order of Merit of the Italian RepublicOrder of Merit of the Italian RepublicThe Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was founded as the senior order of knighthood by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi in 1951...
(1997) - Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the GreatOrder of St. Gregory the GreatThe Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
(awarded by Pope John Paul II to commemorate the 100th anniversary of birth) - Honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau