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Memoriabilia of the Moszkowski family

The collection of the POLIN Museum includes memorabilia from the flats of Kazimierz Moszkowski and his brother Wacław Moszkowski that survived the war, as well as family correspondence from the time of the end of the war.

The Moszkowski family was wealthy and assimilated, mainly connected with Warsaw. Aleksander and Perla (Paulina) née Luxemburg Moszkowski had four children: the aforementioned Wacław, an architect (1881-1944), and Kazimierz, an engineer and collector (1883-1950); Melania, married name Lubicz-Lipska (we do not know the dates of her life; born probably in the 1880s of the 19th century), and Melania, married name Lubicz-Lipska (we do not know the dates of her life). Moszkowski, an engineer (1881-1951), a music lover and friend of artists such as Artur Rubinstein, Józef Hofman and Nikolai Medtner. His name recurs therefore, for example, in the correspondence of Karol Szymanowski, published in a multivolume work, or in various memoirs, e.g. repeatedly in Rubinstein's Moich młodych latach [My Young Years] or Zbigniew Drzewiecki's Wspomnienia muzyka [Memoirs of a Musician], Warsaw 1994; in the latter we find information that Antoni Moszkowski was the pianist Władysław Kędra's protector, as well as comments on the Moszkowski family, see p. 132). Incidentally, Aleksander Moszkowski was a cousin of the famous composer Maurycy Moszkowski (see https://culture.pl/pl/tworca/maurycy-moszkowski, accessed 8.11.2021) and the writer Alexander Moszkowski (see, for example, https://polona.pl/item/einstein-rzut-oka-na-swiat-jego-mysli-przystepne-rozwazania-o-teorji-wzglednosci-i-o,OTI4OTc5NTY/6/#info:metadata, accessed 8.11.2021). (For more on the Moszkowski family and Wacław in particular, see the note on Wacław Moszkowski's collection of gala clothes).

The surviving family objects from this collection are connected to two Warsaw flats: at 23 Śniadeckich Street, where Kazimierz and Balbina Moszkowski lived, and at 4 Mazowiecka Street, where Wacław and Apolonia Moszkowski lived. When Apolonia Moszkowska and Kazimierz and Balbina Moszkowski returned to Warsaw in January 1945, they found both flats ruined and demolished, in particular the one at Mazowiecka Street. But several items, apparently considered worthless by the looters, survived. Incidentally, Kazimierz and Balbina Moszkowski, who before the war had a collection of antique musical instruments as well as carpets of exceptional value, were looted by the Germans as early as October 1939 (on this subject see M. Klarecki, 'Wartime losses of private artistic collections and collections of Warsaw residents', The Warsaw Institute Review, 2017, https://warsawinstitute.org/pl/wojenne-straty-prywatnych-zbiorow-artystycznych-i-kolekcji-mieszkancow-warszawy/, accessed 8.11.2021).

Apolonia Moszkowska first lived at 18 Staszica Street as she was given accommodation there; she supported herself by occasional sewing. When Kazimierz and Balbina Moszkowski went abroad, Kazimierz's niece, Apolonia and Wacław Moszkowski's daughter, Aleksandra Sawicka and her husband moved into their flat on Śniadeckich Street. After several years, Apolonia Moszkowska finally settled at Śniadeckich Street. It was at this address that the few objects that survived from both family flats on Śniadeckich and Mazowiecka streets were kept - treated as souvenirs, but probably some of them were sold during the difficult material times.

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