December 22, 1939
Prince Januscz Radziwill and 21 other members of the Radziwill family have been released by the Soviets and allowed to return to Warsaw, reports the Associated Press. Their release came about after an intervention from King Victor Emanuele and Queen Elena of Italy.
When the war broke out earlier this year, Prince Janusz was living at his estate in Wolhynia, which "he converted to a hospital and refugee home."
The prince and his family were arrested by the Soviets after they had seized eastern Poland. There were rumors that the prince had been shot.
Most of the women and children were taken to Shepetovka. One of the women was Prince Janusz's daughter, Christina, whose husband, Count Joseph Potocki, served on the Polish embassy staff in London for three years.
Prince Janusz was taken to Moscow, and other male members of the family were sent to other towns in the Soviet Union. The women members of the family had to live "eight in a room," but they spoke with no bitterness after their return to Warsaw.
Princess Marie Louise, the "venerable" 78-year-old grand dame of the family, a great-granddaughter of Catherine the Great, observed "it is better to read about history than to experience it."
Prince Janusz and his wife, the former Princess Anna Lubomirski, have four children, Edmund, Christina, Ludwik and Stanislaw.
4 comments:
Anyone know who this 78 year old Princess Marie Louise is as I can't find her, assuming she is a Radziwill, either by birth or marriage.
Thanks
Paul
The article says she was born a Countess Branicka - and the only Ctss Branicka who married a Radziwill was Roza, who was born in 1863, which made her 76 in 1939. It is possible that report got the name wrong -- or perhaps Roza was actually known as Marie Louise (or the Polish version)
Yes - probably is her but don't see the link to Catherine The Great.
Paul
Hey, it was the war :)
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