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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Polish prince says Italian sovereigns saved him

March 25, 1940

Prince Leon Radziwill, a member of the Polish princely family, "revealed today" to the New York Times that when he was in a Moscow prince several months ago, he had been sentenced to death, but King Vittorio Emanuele and Queen Elena saved him.

"They sent an emissary by airplane with a written appeal to the Russian dictator and shortly after he arrived we were smuggled out into Rumania," he said.

The Prince and Princess Radziwill are now in Cap Ferrat, as the guests of the Kingsley Macombers at their Villa Sylvia.

The Radziwill estate at Neisweirz, is said "to be larger than Belgium."

"When the Russian Army invaded our chateau," Prince Leon said, "about thirty of us, mostly members of the family, were taken prisoner and sent to Moscow in freight trains. The men were thrown into prison and the Princess and other women were placed in a concentration camp."

Prince Leon, 52, served as an officer in the Polish army, and now would like to join the French forces.  His eighteen-year-old son attends college in Rome.

He married Baroness Olga de Simolin-Wettburg in 1911 at St. Petersburg.  They have two sons, Anton (1912) and Jerzy (1921).

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