In 1924 Poland was given one of the greatest gifts in its history. Count Władysław Zamoyski donated his land, which constituted one-third of the area of the Tatra Mountains to the Polish state. Today marks the 100th anniversary of Count Zamoyski’s death.

“The property that God has placed in my hands I have never regarded as my property, but as the property of Poland, in my temporary possession; a property from which I must not lose anything, which is to serve the Fatherland only, and not me”, Count Zamoyski wrote.

Władysław Zamoyski was the son of Władysław. His father, a participant in the November Rising and adjutant to General Jan Skrzynecki, then informal foreign minister at the Hotel Lambert, i.e. the Polish centre of the Great Emigration, sought every opportunity to take part in wars across Europe. He served in the Belgian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish (of which he was General) and English armies. Everywhere he tried to create Polish formations that could take part in the fight for a free and independent Polish state.

The young Władysław also wanted to pursue a military career but ended up as a traveller in the service of France. However, when he inherited an estate in Greater Poland, including Kórnik with its magnificent palace and art collections, he launched a great educational and economic campaign to confront Prussian domination and become part of the collective action of the Poles known as the longest war of modern Europe. 

He was expelled from Greater Poland by German authorities under the pretext of holding French citizenship. It was then that he settled in Zakopane which at the time belonged to the Habsburg Empire. 

At that time, the Tatra Mountains were divided between three powerful owners. Two of them were engaged in an exploiting economy of cutting down the Tatra forests. 

When one of them got into financial trouble, an opportunity arose to buy about a third of the Tatra mountains area, but the mission was not easy.

A timber entrepreneur Jakub Goldfinger also wanted to buy the Tatra to exploit their dense forests. Count Zamoyski entered the fight, together with a famous Kraków attorney, Józef Retinger. The auction took place on 9 May 1889 and was finally won by Rettinger who represented the Zamoyski family. 

Mr Rettinger was able to win thanks to his extraordinary strategy of raising the stake for one cent of the price proposed by Goldfinger.

Late in the evening of 13 September 1902, Count Zamoyski received a dispatch from Graz that an arbitration court had awarded 517 hectares of a section of the Tatra Mountains, including Morskie Oko, to Galicia.

From that time one of the most beautiful parts of the Tatra’s became an unquestioned part of Poland and is now one of the most popular tourist destination in the country. 

Photo: @Ewelina_Maria_t/X

Source: IPN

Tomasz Modrzejewski