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Famous People

Famous People associated with Radzyń Podlaski

Ignacy Potocki
born on 28th February 1750 in Radzyń, son of Marianna and Eustachy Potocki – who owned the palace and the lands in Radzyń. His parents had great hopes for him. Even as a small child, he stood out against his peers in terms of intelligence and many skills. At first his mother has been schooling him. Intended for priesthood, he finished Collegium Nobilium in Warsaw, and then studied in Rome. In 1772, he married Elżbieta Lubomirska. Ignacy Potocki quickly made a political career, and has become the leading figure in Polish public life during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. He went down in history e.g. as one of the originators of the Constitution of May 3 (together with Stanisław August Poniatowsk, Stanisław Małachowski and Hugo Kołłątaj), activist of the National Education Commission, initiator and chairman of the Society for Elementary Books, member of the WarsawSociety of Friends of Learning. Since 1991, there is a monument of the Constitution of May 3 in Radzyń Podlaski, in the square named after him. There is a legend that the Constitution's text was being developed e.g. in the local palace. Eustachy Potocki died on 30th August 1809 r.

Karol Lipiński
one of the greatest composers and violin virtuosos. Lipiński was born in 1790, son of Feliks Lipiński, kapellmeister and music teacher at the Potocki residence in Radzyń Podlaski. Since childhood, he showed particular musical talents. In 1814 he went to Vienna – after meeting Louis Spohr, decided to be a violinist. Three years later he went on a journey to Italy, during which he performed twice together with Niccolo Paganini. Later performances of both violinists in Warsaw (1829) provoked a noisy polemic in the press as to which one of them should be given the palm. Before 1839, Lipiński gave concerts in almost all over Europe, enjoying high success. For the next 20 years he performed the function of Kapellmeister at the Saxon court and the concertmaster in the Dresden Opera Orchestra. He also dealt with pedagogical work. After retiring, settled in the estate in Urłów (now in Ukraine), where he tried to fulfill his dream of a music school for talented peasant children. Unfortunately, he died suddenly at the end of 1861 as a result of acute asthma attack. Karol Lipiński had magnificent skills – his compositions require the performer to show pronounced technical proficiency. The form he seemed to prefer were polonaises: he wrote over thirty. Moreover, he composed violin concertos (including the famous Concerto No.2 in D Major, called "the military"), symphonic works (Symphonies E-flat major, C major and B major), overtures (Overture D major), solo violin caprices, rondos, variations and fantasies.

Józef Buchbinder
Born to a Jewish family on 17th December 1839 in Radzyń Podlaski. He was raised by Bernardines in Łuków. At some point in his life, he went to Mordy, where his talent has been discovered by Michał Zembrzuski, co-owner of the estates there. In 1856, he began studying at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw, which he continued until 1861. On 9 January 1857, Józef Buchbinder has been baptized. He continued his education in Dresden and Munich. He worked in Dusseldorf and Paris. He has been living in Rome for 6 years, where he painted altar paintings and copied the masters of the Renaissance for St. Lucas's Academy. In 1870, he returned to Poland and settled down in Warsaw, where he mainly painted portraits and genre scenes. During that time, e cooperated with the magazines "Illustrated Weekly" and "Ears", for which he had made numerous illustrations. Buchbinder was a conservative in his art, did not give up to artistic trends. He mainly painted religious themes, referring in his compositions to the great masters of the Renaissance, representing Nazarenism in Poland. Józef Buchbinder carried out orders for many churches in Warsaw, Masovia, Kielecczyzna, or Lubelszczyzna. Most of the paintings in the Radzyń's church of the Holy Trinity were painted by him (1880-1909). After entering the church, it is worthwhile to notice two enormous paintings: "Christ's appearance to St. Margaret" and "St. Isidore the Laborer" depicted in clothes worn by local peasants in the Podlaskie countryside. In the main altar there are: "The Holy Trinity" and "Adoration of the Cross", which is displayed during Lent. In the side altars there are: "St. Vincent", "Transfiguration on the Mount", "St. Anthony", "St. Nicholas", as well as "St. Francis Borgia" (altar of the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary) and a portrait of dean Fr. Franciszek Wasilewski. Józef Buchbinder supervised conservation works in the church in Radzyń (1895). He died on 14th May, 1909 in Warsaw.

Tadeusz Prejzner alias Adam Sokulski
Born in Radzyń in 1925, composer, pianist and arranger, as well as journalist and educator. He started learning to play the piano from Zbigniew Drzewiecki during the occupation. After the war, he continued his studies in Krakow. Graduate of the Department of Theory and Composition at the National College of Music in Warsaw, in class lead by Kazimierz Sikorski. During his studies, he playedthe piano in duet with Marian Radzik as well as in Zygmunt Karasiński's band Tysiąc Taktów Muzyki Jazzowej (A Thousand Rhythms of Jazz Music). In 1950, he created an academic jazz big-band at the Rotunda club in Krakow, which included: Roman Dyląg, Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Andrzej Trzaskowski. In the years 1954-57 he was the musical director and conductor of the Song and Dance Ensemble at the Community Center in Starachowice. In 1957, he moved to Warsaw to continue his study on music. He cooperated with students' cabarets in the Stodoła club. He composed music for the cabarets: Szpak, Dudek and STS. In the 1960's he lead his own band, with which he had made numerous recordings for the Polish Radio, as well as the long-play "A Walk by the Sea", issued by Muza. He published articles and reviews in "Jazz" and "Jazz Forum". During the years 1974-78, he worked in the Music Editorial of the Polish Radio. Until 1985 he cooperated with the WSPS and AWF as academic teacher. He composes symphonic and chamber music, e.g. 1st Symphony for the great symphony orchestra, Scherzo of Fours for the small orchestra, Four preludes for chamber ensemble, Two compositions for two string quartets, Variations for string quartet, Eight chamber etudes for wind quintet and string quartet, Three etudes for wind instruments, Brass quintet, 2 Trios for horn, trumpet and trombone, Series of songs with the piano to texts by Wanda Bacewicz; instrumentals; musical illustrations for the theater and films; songs, e.g. for Ali-Babki, Iga Cembrzyńska, Andrzej Dąbrowski, Urszula Dudziak, Fryderyka Elkana, Kalina Jędrusik, Maria Koterbska, Hanna Rek, Andrzej Rosiewicz and Irena Santor, as well as for children. He is the award winner of ZKP competition in 1963 for his Four preludes for chamber ensemble, and the 1st prize in the stage song and cabaret song category during KFPP Opole '65 for his Global Life. Tadeusz Prejzner died in 2010. After his death, his memories were published under the title "Music has Always Been Among Us" (editorial "Pani Twardowska"), with financial support of the Radzyń Music Society of Karol Lipiński.

Włodzimierz Nahorny
outstanding saxophonist, jazz pianist and composer. Born on 5 November 1941 in Radzyń Podlaski, of which he is honorary citizen (since 2010). Although his parents did not stay here for long on their way from Wołyń to central Poland – Radzyń had a special impact on the artist's entire creative life. A resident of Radzyń, Jan Sitkowski, who later became Nahorny's brother-in-law, had a passion for jazz, played the piano and owned an enormous record collection. In 1964, he graduated the National College of Music in Sopot. After his first success in the country (Jazz nad Odrą 1964, two first prizes: individual and team awards, and third prize for composition), the time has come for international success (Vienna – second prize at the World Modern Jazz Competition (1966) and a medal for the first place at the Jazz Festival (1967), given by Duke Ellington himself). In Warsaw, where he moved in 1965, he started cooperation with major figures of Polish jazz. One of the firs people who helped him was a Radzyń resident, Tadeusz Prejzner (composer). In 2009, his album "Kwiaty Polskie" (Polish Flowers) was released, and a year later, Włodzimierz Nahorny (NAHORNY SEKSTET) recorded the album "Chopin – Geniusz Loci". Due to the effort of the Rzadzyń Music Society in the person of Zygmunt Pietrzak, his latest album was released with the financial support of "Spomlek" Dairy Cooperative, which took patronage over the project. In the program of Nahorny's jubilee concert, organized as part of the 27th Days of Karol Lipiński, we can read: "The most Slavic and romantic of all Polish jazzmen. His music is poetry, it is a reflection. Critics refer to him as "the Chopin of Jazz".

Stanisław Kostka Potocki
Son of Eustachy and Marianna Kątsk (owners of Radzyń), brother of Ignacy Potocki. Polish politician, general, deputy, member of the Patriotic Party during the Great Sejm, educational activist, free mason, chairman of the State Council and of the Council of Ministers of the Duchy of Warsaw, president of the Senate of the Polish Kingdom in the years 1818-1821, archeologist. He became famous as an excellent speaker during the proceedings of the Great Sejm. Stanisław Kostka, together with Ignacy is the co-originator of the work "On the Establishment and Downfall of the Polish Constitution of May Third", author of "Polish Winkelman" and "Journey to the Land of Bigotry". Pupil of Piarists (Collegium Nobilium), he owned Radzyń for a short time. Due to his collector's passions, after selling the estate he took care of the collections held here, as well as the library and family records. Undoubtedly, the contents of the library and valuable memorabilia repeatedly supported the originators of the Constitution of May 3rd.

Jakub Fontana
(1710-1773) – Italian Baroque architect, court architect of Polish kings. In his designs we can see the impact of Saxon Baroque, French Rococo, and early Classicism. He studied in Rome and in France (Paris). After returning to Poland, he perfected his architectural skills under the care of his father Józef. Together they have designed and built the towers of the Piarist church in Łowicz. The turning point in his life was when he designed and rebuilt the Branicki Palace in Białystok. In 1749, on request of Eustachy Potocki, he began the reconstruction of the palace in Radzyń Podlaski. Within the next 10 years, he turned Szczuka's fortified Baroque palace into an open, vast late-Baroque palace-park complex, which has become the example of a magnificent baronial mansion from mid 18th century. In Radzyń, he cooperated e.g. with the sculptor Jan Chryzostom Redler and painter and interior decorator Jan Bogumił Plersch.

Fr. Stanisław Kamiński
Philosopher and methodologist, he dealt with e.g. the history of logic, formal logic, philosophy of science, methodology of classical philosophy. He was ordained priest in 1946. In the years 1947-1954 he was the vicar in the parish of the Holy Trinity in his hometown. During that time he started philosophy studies at the Lublin Catholic University (KUL); from that moment he was tied for a lifetime with this university (Doctor 1949, Docent 1958, Associate Professor 1965, Full Professor 1970). He was the co-originator of the Lublin school of classical philosophy; his bibliography includes about 335 items. Stanisław Jarmuł once mentioned that Fr. Kamiński "for all his life kept in close touch with Radzyń and its parish church. He, a world-renowned scholar - philosopher, with the fervor of a country pastor, celebrated all resurrections and midnight masses in the church of the Holy Trinity in Radzyń, took part in first masses of young priests originating from this parish". Fr. Stanisław Kamiński died on the night of 20th to 21st March 1986 in Freiburg, where he went for treatment. During the mass performed after receiving news of his death in the KUL academic church, Fr. Prof. Marian Kurdziałek said: "Fr. Kamiński preached his last sermon on 2 XII 1985 at the cemetery in his native parish in Radzyń Podlaski. He then stood among the graves of his parents and of his brother – a Polish scout, executed by Germans in the forest near Radzyń. (…) The people who were struggling to save his life in Freiburg were of the same nation, whose other representatives took the life of his beloved brother". Fr. Kamiński was buried in the cemetery at Lipowa St. in Lublin.

Stanisław Małkowski
Excellent geologist, professor at the University of Stephen Bathory in Vilnius, a deserved inspirer of protection of monuments of inanimate nature. He was born in 1889 in Radzyń Podlaski to a landowner family. He graduated in Krakow. In 1918 he voluntarily enlisted to the Polish Legions. After the war he worked in the National Geological Institute. In 1932 he had established the Museum of the Earth Society, whose major purpose was to popularize knowledge on geology. Two years later he has been appointed professor at the University of Stephen Bathory in Vilnius. He has been arrested by the Gestapo in August 1944, and taken to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen near Berlin, where he was held until release. During the years 1946-48, he engaged in organizing the Museum of the Earth, and has become its first director. He has published over 150 research papers on various topics. He died in 1962 in Warsaw, and was buried at the Powązki cemetery.

Eugeniusz Markowski (1912-2007)
Excellent painter, cartoonist, stage designer, teacher, journalist, ad diplomat. He passed his high school diploma in 1930 in the Assembly Middle School in Radzyń. Before the war he was a student, and after 1970, a painting professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Exhibition of his works had inaugurated the opening of the "Orangery" Gallery in Radzyń Podlaski.

Mieczysław Stagrowski (1909-1986)
He came from Wielącza near Zamość. Even as a gymnasium student, he engaged in scouting activity, was interested in tourism and sightseeing. In 1934, he received a Master's Degree in Philosophy at the Lublin Catholic University. After the war broke out, he was arrested by the Germans and spent several months in the Castle of Lublin. In fear of repressions (he and his wife have been teaching at secret classes in Zamojszczyzna), he sought refuge in Radzyń Podlaski. He did not cease his underground operation. After the liberation, he took a teaching job in a private mechanical gymnasium as Latin teacher, head of school teaching, and later, the principal. He also taught in an evening school for adults. He was engaged in reactivating scout troops according to pre-war models. In 1946, he was one of the people organizing an exhumation of the scouts murdered in the forest near Sita. In the face of liquidation of scouting by the authorities (1950) Mieczysław Stagrowski engaged in didactic-educational activity in high school. During the school year 1957/58, after restoring the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, he set up a scouting team here. At the very first camp (Kąkolewnica 1959) the idea of gathering accounts from the past was born, and the firs ethnographic records started appearing – the beginning of the museum. In 1960, the "Węzeł" Scouting Tribe was formed in the school. This has become the basis for organizing the PTTK branch in Radzyń Podlaski, which Mieczysław Stagrowski did after retiring (vice-president for several terms in a row); he was also the president of the Senior Club operating under the PTTK. He gathered documents regarding the past. This resulted e.g. in revealing a plaque commemorating the location of the town by Grot of Ostrów. In 1983, Mieczysław Stagrowski published an illustrated tourist-sightseeing guide titled "Radzyń Podlaski and surrounding areas". He received many awards for his work, including the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Rebirth of Poland). He died at the age of 77, and was buried in the parish cemetery in Radzyń.

 

Famous People Associated with Radzyń County

Marianna Bocian (1942-2003)
Excellent poet from Bełcząc; she has been associated with Wrocław for most of her life. Her attachment to the land shows through all of her work. She made her debut with a volume of poems Poszukiwacze przyczyny (Seekers of the Cause) (1968) under the pseudonym Jan Bełczęcki. Other poetic works of Marianna Bocian are: Wieża Babel pospolita(Common Babel), Narastanie (Increase), Proste nieskończone (Simple infinite), Ograniczone z nieograniczonego (Limited from unlimited), Spojrzenie (The Look), Gnoma, Bliskie i konieczne (Close and Necessary), or the posthumously published Ciągła odsłona (Constant Reveal). The poet also wrote prose pieces, such as e.g. the story Odejście Kaina (Departure of Cain) or a novel for the youth Przebudzeni do życia (Awoken to Live). In order to popularize her work, the Czemiernice Regional Society organizes annual conferences and recitation contests for children and youth.

Ignacy Chrzanowski 
Born in Stok (Ulan-Majorat county) to a landowner family (1866), and died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (1940). There was distant kinship between him and Joachim Lelewel and Henryk Sienkiewicz. He was a distinguished expert on Polish literature; for many years he was a professor at the Jagiellonian University, author of a monumental work titled History of Literature of Independent Poland (1906). He was arrested by the Nazis on 6 XI 1939, together with a group of the University's academics – he was held captive in prisons in Krakow and Wrocław, and then in concentration camps in Sachsenhausen and Oranienburg. His son, Bogdan, died in Katyń.

Aleksander Chudek
Born in 1914 in Stoczek (Czemierniki county). A RAF pilot, served in Polish Fighter Squadrons 303 and 315, ace of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain. Decorated e.g. with the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, four times with the Cross of Valour. He died in 1944, shot in Le Plessis Grimoult (Normandy). His figure is commemorated by the monument revealed next to the Franciscan monastery in Stoczek. The boulder is about 300 m from the house where Aleksander Chudek was born, and comes from the field previously managed by his family. The symbolic grave of the pilot and his brother Stanisław, who had gone missing in September 1939 can be found in the parish cemetery in Czemierniki.

Seweryn Franciszek duke Świętopełk-Czetwertyński (1873-1945)
Polish national politician from the time of the Second Republic, Deputy Marshal in the Sejm, landowner, economic and social activist. In the years 1939-1941, he lived in his estate in Suchowola, where he was arrested by the Germans. He was imprisoned in the Castle of Lublin, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald. Together with his wife Zofia nee Przeździecki, he funded the parish church in Suchowola (consecrated in 1929).

Wacław Tuwalski (died 1995)
Teacher and social worker. Patron of the Regional Society in Wola Osowińska and the Interregional Folk Poetry and Prose Recitation Contest.

Leon Kot
Hero of the January Uprising. Sources tell us that this 27-year old unit commander came from Kąkolewnica. In winter 1863-1864 he and his men fought against the Russians. He has been captured on 7 III 1864 in an encounter at Lipniki and put on trial in Siedlce. What is interesting, his unit still fought actively despite of the arrest of their leader (Drelów, Kąkolewnica, Siemień). Accused of joining the "band" of Karol Krysiński as well as leading a "band" of his own consisting of 18 mounted men – he was sentenced to death by hanging. His execution took place on 2 VIII 1864 in his hometown of Kąkolewnica, in the presence of a large assembly of people.

Colonel pilot Zdzisław Krasnodębski (1904-1980)
Organizer and first leader of the No. 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Fighter Squadron; born in Wola Osowińska (Borki county). His father was the administrator of estates belonging to Aleksander Kazimierz Makowski. Krasnodębski took part in the Battle of England in 1940, was shot down and barely survived. Decorated e.g. with V Class Virtuti Militari, three times with the Cross of Valour. He died in exile, in Toronto, not living to see liberated Poland. The primary school in his home town has been named after him. In Wola Osowińska, the Memorial Day is held for No. 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Fighter Squadron.

Stefan Lisowski (1906-1940)
Before the war, he was a gymnastics teacher in the Primary School in Czemierniki (1928-1935), where he set up and organized the 1st Scouting Team of Karol Chodkiewicz. He was married to Krystyna - daughter of Władysław Lizis (head of the school in Czemierniki). In 1939, Stefan Lisowski appointed secret scouting regiments in Radzyń, which were related to the Union of Armed Struggle. He died on 5 VII 1940, murdered by the Nazis in the forest near Sitno (see forest near Sitno). The Public Gymnasium in Czemierniki has been named after him.

Prof. Feliks Skubiszewski (1895-1981)
Born in Czemierniki. Founder and for many years the head of the 2nd Surgery Clinic. The first rector of the Medical Academy in Lublin. Teacher and tutor of several generations of surgeons. The hospital in Radzyniu Podlaskim has been named after him.

Stanisław Samuel Szemiot
Came from a Lithuanian noble family of count Łabędź, and after marrying Zofia Klara Kierdejówna (1676) settled in his wife's dowry estate in Przegaliny Duże. He started to work on the land there as well as took up literary works. He died in May 1684, soon after the death of three of his children. His Diariusz peregrynacyi na różne miejsca święte szczęśliwie odprawionej anno 1680 (Diary of peregrination to various sacred places aptly performed anno 1680 - discovered in the 1930's) is a record of an extraordinary sightseeing tour, or more of a pilgrimage to sanctuaries throughout the Crown, which took place between 29 VIII and 30 IX 1680. In Szemiot's diary, we can find accounts devoted to religious matters (the appearance and condition of churches, devotions, number of clergy), as well as secular ones (material value of objects of worship, state of city defenses). As a curiosity, we can mention that the Diary... contains the earliest fragment of Polish literature that mentions the Tatra Mountains. On route of the pilgrimage there are such towns of the district, as: Radzyń, Ulan, Czemierniki and Wohyń. In Radzyń, described as "property of lord Mniszek […] the castle was [once] beautiful in shape, now in ruin, or rather desolate". Another thing worth paying attention to was "a splendid brick and stone church, where there is the miraculous painting of the Holy Virgin and St. Anthony". The present-day church in Ulan did not exist then (18th century), but the "beautiful painting of the Holy Virgin" attracted the chronicler's attention. On their way back, the pilgrims stopped in Czemierniki. They admired the temple there, "a two-storey brick presbytery" as well as a beautiful castle, in which "there were twelve cannons, seventy large harquebuses and an abundance of muskets". The last stop on the way was Wohyń, "with a marvelous painting of the Virgin Mary in a dress of pure silver".

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