This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Shell Kinney (talk | contribs) at 02:19, 14 August 2007 (replace citable information with inline references, rm nn tag because of Virtuti Militari). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 02:19, 14 August 2007 by Shell Kinney (talk | contribs) (replace citable information with inline references, rm nn tag because of Virtuti Militari)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Antoni Dunin (1907-1939) was a Polish noble (szlachta), a Hrabia (Count), and an army officer who received the prestigious Virtuti Militari award.
Biography
Antoni was born on June 5, 1907, the youngest child of Lucia (Łucja) Taczanowska (1862-1917) and her second husband Count Rodryg Dunin (1870-1928). He grew up at the Granówko estate near Poznań, the youngest of ten children. He had six older siblings by his mother's first marriage to Stanisław Niezychowski, and two sisters and one brother via his own father Rodryg. When Antoni was 13, his elder brother Stanisław died in combat, and was then immortalized in the patriotic 1922 painting The Death of Lieutenant Stanisław Dunin (Polish: Śmierć Porucznika Stanisława Dunina) by noted artist Wojciech Kossak. The Dunin family crest is the Łabędź (swan).
On December 28, 1933, Antoni married Zofia Helena Werner (1910-1939), daughter of Poland's vice-Finance Minister Edward Werner, and great-niece of the man who would become Saint Raphael Kalinowski. They had three children: Krystyna, Stanley (Stanisław, named after Antoni's older brother), and Magda (Magdelena).
Antoni was killed in combat at the age of 32 on September 16, 1939. His wife Zofia was also killed the next day, at the age of 29. Their three orphaned children survived by being shuffled from house to house during the war, until finally taking up residence at the estate of Jan Czarnowski. He was a Polish nobleman, Papal chamberlain to Pope Pius XI and head of the Polish Order of the Knights of the Maltese Cross). Jan Czarnowski was married to Zofia's aunt Helena (Lunia) Kalinowska. The descendants of Antoni Dunin were eventually able to escape Poland to France and finally to the United States in the 1940s.
References
- Wesolowski, Z (February 5, 1998). "Polish Order of the Virtuti Militari Recipients (1792-1992)". Federation of East European Family History Societies. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Dunin, Elonka (June 20, 2005). "Antoni Dunin (Hr.)". Retrieved 2007-10-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Dunin, Elonka (July 17, 2005). "Dunin Family Paintings". Retrieved 2007-10-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Engagement of Countess Revealed". Detroit Times. April 23, 1957.
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