The Czartoryski Archive

Biographical Entry for Adam Czartoryski -- by Piotr Szymon Los

Biographical Entry -- by Piotr Szymon Los

CZARTORYSKI ADAM MICHAL, Prince, arms: Pogon Litewska (16.01.1906-11.06.1998); AK codename "Szpak"; owner of the estates of Babki and Gluszyna in the Poznan district; son of Witold (1864-1945), deputy to the Galician Diet, member of the Austrian Chamber of Lords, Senator of the Republic of Poland, owner of Pelkinie; and of Jadwiga nee Countess Dzieduszycka. Master of Engineering in Forestry; Doctor of Biology; Geologist. Born in Pelkinie.

Siblings: 1. Maria (1890-1981), married Michal Count Krasinski; 2. Anna Maria (1891-1951), in religion Sister Maria Weronika, Visitation Sisters; 3. Kazimierz Jerzy (1892-1936), administrator of his wife's estate, Zurawno in the Zydaczow district, married Helena nee Skrzynska, owner of the estate Zurawno (descendants); 4. Jerzy Piotr (1894-1969), priest, military chaplain; 5. Wlodzimierz Alfons (1895-1975); 6. Jan Franciszek (1897-1944), in religion Father Michal, Dominican. Studied architecture at the Lwow Polytechnic. Was among the co-founders of the Association of Catholic Academic Youth "Odrodzenie" in Lwow. Was a Defender of Lwow 1918-1919, sergeant-reserve of the Polish Army, chaplain of ZWZ-AK during the Warsaw Uprising; murdered by the Germans. Decorated with the Medal of Independence, the Cross for the Defence of Lwow 1918-1919, the Knight's Cross, and the Cross of Valour; 7. Roman Jacek (1898-1958), owner of the estate Konarzewo, Captain (Reserve), Polish Army, prisoner of war in an oflag 1939-45, married Teresa nee Countess Zamoiska (descendants); 8. Stanislaw Ignacy (1902-1982), Prelate, Doctor of Theology, studied in Krakow and Rome, curate in Niegowa near Krakow; from 1930 prefect, then vice-rector of the Krakow Theological Seminary. Was an Apostolic Protonotary, Dean-Prelate of the Krakow Metropolitan Chapter, worked in student chaplaincy at the Church of St. Anne. In 1936-1937 accompanied Archbishop A. Sapieha to the Eucharistic Congress in Manila. After the outbreak of WWII took the parish in Makow Podhalaski. Socially active, co-founder of the hospital in Makow. After the war returned to Krakow, lived at Wawel, working intensively; was a canon of the Krakow Chapter, directed the pastoral department, was rector of the lower seminary, member of the Polish Repatriation Committee, directed the charitable department of Caritas. Outstanding churchman who supported those in need; 9. Witold Tadeusz (1908-1945), owner of the estate Surochow, married Elzbieta nee Princess Radziwill (descendants); 10. Piotr Michal (1909-1993), owner of the estate Bieliny, married Anna Maria nee Countess Zamoiska (descendants).

A. M. Cz. completed gymnasium in Lwow and the University of Poznan, and the Reserve Officers' Mounted Artillery School in Wlodzimierz Wolynski; Lieutenant, AK; Captain, Polish Armed Forces. From 1937 he managed the estates of Babki and Gluszyna.

He fought in the September Campaign as battery commander in the 17th LAR of the Poznan Army, escaped German captivity, settled in the Nowy Sacz region. In Szczawnica he assumed the position of director of the spa establishment. In 1942 he joined the AK and was appointed commandant of the Szczawnica Post. In Szczawnica he also directed the work of the RGO (Relief Council). In July 1944, on orders from the District Command, he initiated Operation "Burza" in Szczawnica. He focused attention on a group of blue policemen, whom he recruited into the AK ranks and ordered them to eliminate three German NCOs who supervised the police school. Faced with approaching SS men from the direction of Nowy Targ, he ordered the dispatch of the police group to the District Commander and himself hid, not wishing to risk an engagement with larger German forces. The Germans arrested his wife, took hostages, planning reprisals for the killing of two (of three) German NCOs. Thanks to a statement by one of the Germans that the Szczawnica population had not participated in the action, an almost certain execution was averted.

After the war he worked as a research scholar at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan and at the State Scientific Institute of Rural Economy in Pulawy. After retirement he lived in Koscielisko, then in Warsaw. Decorated with the Cross of Valour, the Cross of Merit with Swords, and the AK Cross.

On 24 June 1937 in Nawojowa he married Jadwiga Countess Stadnicka (born 1913), qualified merchant, daughter of Adam, owner of Nawojowa, and Stefania nee Princess Woroniecka. Descendants:

1. Jerzy Andrzej (born 1939), Master of Geography, cartographer, Knight of Malta, married Grazyna Maria nee Babinska (born 1951); their children: 1.1 Adam Maria (born 1973), 1.2 Aleksander Jan Maria (born 1975), 1.3 Dominik Witold (born 1977), 1.4 Izabela Maria Gabriela (born 1980).

2. Maria Krystyna (born 1940), Master of Geography, married Wladyslaw Potocki (born 1940), mechanical engineer, representative of "Citroen" in Poland.

3. Izabela (born 1942), Master of Psychology, Dame of Malta, married Jean Caillot, Doctor of Law, Knight of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Polish Order of Merit, President of "Thomson CSF International-Poland," President of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Warsaw; their children: 3.1 Barbara, married Christoph Dubus; their children: 3.1.1 Witold (1995), 3.1.2 Constantin (1996), 3.1.3 Roman (1999), 3.1.4 Thekla Izabelle (2001); 3.2 Elzbieta, artist painter, married Michal Jerzy Rafal Count Sobanski (born 1975), son of Marek and Renata nee Lopuszanska; their son: 3.2.1 Feliks Adam Jerzy (17.01.2005); 3.3 Krystyna, married Frederic Winkler; their children: 3.3.1 Chloe (2000), 3.3.2 Gabriel (2003).

4. Jadwiga Anna (born 1953), Master of Sociology.

Source: see biographical entry for Wlodzimierz Alfons Czartoryski.

Piotr Szymon Los

In Memory of Adam Czartoryski (1906-1998) -- by Adam Wolk

In Memory of Adam Jozef Czartoryski (1906-1998)

He was born on 16 January 1906 in Pelkinie, his parents' estate. He came from one of the oldest princely families of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, related to two kings: Jagiello and Stanislaw August. He received his given name from his great-great-grandfather Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, who together with his wife Izabela transformed Pulawy into "the Polish Athens."

It was a deeply religious family with strong traditions of Polishness and patriotism. The young Adam's early formation was shaped both by contact with the natural history collections at his maternal grandparents' home in nearby Lwow, and by his mother herself, who from childhood taught him not only Polish names for things but Latin ones as well. His love of trees he inherited from his father. As a boy he learned craftsmen's trades on the family estate. In the home -- he recalled in later years -- simplicity was cultivated, but crudeness was not tolerated.

After obtaining his school-leaving certificate he studied at the Department of Forestry at the Lwow Polytechnic. As his father's seventh son, he was destined to take charge of the forests of the family estates.

He completed his military service at the Reserve Officers' School in Wlodzimierz Wolynski. After completing the battery commanders' course in Torun he was promoted in 1932 to the rank of lieutenant. In 1939 he served in the September campaign in the Poznan Army as battery commander, taking part in the fighting on the Bzura River and in the Kampinos Forest, for which he received the Cross of Valour. After the capitulation at Lomianki he managed to avoid captivity and in October reached Pelkinie.

Earlier, however -- in 1937 -- he had married Jadwiga Countess Stadnicka of Nawojowa. They settled in Babki near Poznan, where they hoped to make their home. The war destroyed these plans. In the chaos of war they managed to meet in Pelkinie, from where they went to Nawojowa, where the young forester took up work in the forests of his father-in-law, also a professionally trained forester: Adam Count Stadnicki. Then, in 1942, Adam Czartoryski became director of the Szczawnica-Zdroj spa establishment, property of the Stadnicki family. He also managed the Szczawnica forests. From the outset he was engaged in clandestine work, serving as commandant of a Home Army (AK) post. For this activity he was decorated with the Cross of Merit with Swords and promoted to the rank of captain. At the end of 1944 he was forced to hide in the forests.

"Liberation" brought catastrophe for the entire family -- expropriation and plunder of estates, followed by personal persecution lasting many years. He was forbidden to reside in the counties where the family estates were located.

He reported to the Forestry Institute in Krakow, where he received from Professor B. Niklewski an offer of work at the Department of Plant Physiology at the University of Poznan. He took up the post in May 1945. From February 1946 to the end of March 1948 he worked as a senior assistant in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the Adam Mickiewicz University. He was then dismissed because of his origins, despite the efforts of the Rector, Professor K. Ajdukiewicz.

In April 1948 Adam Czartoryski managed to find work at the State Scientific Institute of Rural Economy in Pulawy, where a Department of Agro-Forestry Biocoenotic Research was set up within the Plant Protection Division and he became its head. He undertook research into the biological balance of the agricultural landscape and the role of tree plantings as a kind of substitute for forest. Before long he was dismissed there too. He then found a helping hand at the Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where Professor Stefan Bialobok employed him on various commissioned work (soil mapping, etc.). He kept his gratitude for this help from his former Pulawy colleague for ever.

Despite these setbacks he published articles and undertook numerous studies commissioned by the provincial planning commissions (of Poznan and Bydgoszcz) and by the Ministries of Reconstruction and Agriculture. These were: land use plans for the Wielkopolska National Park, numerous projects for field-shelter tree belts on the Kujawy and Wielkopolska plains, tree planting along the Warta-Odra-Vistula waterway, and others. He raised the issue of the forests of Wielkopolska and their water-retention function. His breadth of interest and extensive interdisciplinary knowledge is illustrated by a study on Prunus-genus stones found in early-historical Polish excavations. He was a recognised expert in identifying the species to which plant remnants belonged (for instance in bird stomach contents). His knowledge of dendrology extended to the finest details.

The lack of a regular income, acutely felt with four children, dragged on for nearly three years. The situation was worsened by the repression the whole family suffered -- a police officer's family had been billeted with them in their shared flat. This "minder" changed from time to time, sometimes for a less brutish militiaman... The lifeline in existence under the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was his wife's work at the US Consulate in Poznan. This later had the consequence that three of their children emigrated -- there being no good prospects for them in their homeland. A change came with his appointment, after many attempts, to the Department of Nature Conservation within the Chair of General Zoology (from September 1950). There he was able to continue the research into the biological foundations of landscape planning that had been interrupted at the Pulawy Institute. He spoke out on the so-called "steppification" of Wielkopolska, a process resulting from excessive forest clearance and faulty drainage works. He participated in studies on nature conservation.

The best period in this scientifically limited career -- restricted for political reasons -- was his collaboration with Professor Zygmunt Czubinski, which took place after 1954. He worked as adjunct at the Adam Mickiewicz University until his retirement in September 1971.

He completed his doctorate at the Department of Nature Conservation of the Adam Mickiewicz University, on the basis of a dissertation entitled "The Forests of the Wielkopolska National Park -- Past and Present, and Directions for their Transformation" (1965). He was a member of the Council of the Wielkopolska National Park.

As a university teacher he was valued and liked for his nobility of character, knowledge, patriotism, great honesty, and conscientiousness. He was a great authority on nature conservation, national parks, and nature reserves. For young people he was -- rare already in those times -- a model of tact, elegance of manner, kindness, courtesy, skill in conversation, and openness to others. He always had great respect for people and a positive attitude towards them. He had a sense of humour and liked to joke. He did not speak ill of others, but he did not associate with people he did not respect. His distinctive personality was remembered for ever by former students. He stood out against the background of his time.

After retiring he left Poznan to live the happiest -- finally unsupervised -- period of his life in his beloved mountains below Giewont. The house in Koscielisko, simple and in the Highlander style, gathered the family -- close and distant -- who came to visit. He knew the mountains on both the Polish and the Slovak side, and he knew the Pieniny range like the back of his hand. In old age, however, the Czartoryskis moved to Warsaw, where they lived to see true independence. They were met, at last, with the respect and honours due to their family.

On 11 June 1998 Adam Jozef Czartoryski died -- forester, Doctor of Natural Sciences. He was buried in the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw, the place associated with his great-great-grandmother...

The Senior of Polish dendrology has departed -- a connoisseur and lover of trees. Member of the Dendrological Section of the Polish Botanical Society. A forester who loved the forest and knew it in the fullest sense. A remarkable expert in the history of our homeland has also departed. Honour to his memory!

Adam Wolk\
Pulawy, 6 December 1998

The End of an Era -- Farewell to Adam Czartoryski (newspaper)

From "Polska" newspaper:

The End of an Era -- Farewell to Adam Czartoryski

Last Wednesday Warsaw bid farewell to Adam Czartoryski of Pelkinie. A veteran of the September 1939 campaign, Captain of the Home Army codename "Szpak" (Starling), Commandant of the Szczawnica District, decorated with the Cross of Valour and the Cross of Merit with Swords, he was buried at the Warsaw Powazki cemetery. Earlier, a Funeral Mass was celebrated at the Church of the Visitation Sisters on Krakowskie Przedmiescie.

The 92-year-old Adam Czartoryski, Doctor of Natural Sciences and research fellow at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, was farewelled by his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The church was also filled by many distinguished figures, former members of parliament, colleagues from the State Scientific Institute of Rural Economy in Pulawy, and university students.

Fine weather graced the funeral ceremony at the Old Powazki Cemetery. A great crowd of people, hundreds of flowers and wreaths marked the grave well. Here was buried a man who symbolised a certain era -- a man who attained his life's maturity in the inter-war years, and who did not hesitate to risk his life in the defence of his homeland.

Honour to his memory.

Tomasz Bagnowski