‘She considered herself citizen of Belarus’. Princess Magdalena Radziwill may be reburied in Minsk
Масiej Radziwill
Maciej and Mikolaj, the representatives of the Radziwill aristocratic family originating from the Grand Principality of Lithuania, are going to rebury the remains of their aunt Magdalena in the Red Church in Minsk.
“She considered herself a citizen of Belarus,” Maciej Radziwill told journalists on Wednesday.
Maciej and Mikolaj Radziwill came from Warsaw to take part in the international conference “The Magnates and Nobles of the Grand Principality of Lithuania Is Backbone of the Belarusian Statehood, Educators and Patrons of the National Culture: To the 155th Anniversary of the Birth of Magdalena Radziwill” which is being held on July 7-9.
“I have her last will. It contains no information about her wish to be buried in a certain place. The document was written in 1943. It seems to me that at the time no one wanted to be buried in Minsk or in the town of Nyasvizh,” Maciej Radziwill said and added: “She considered herself a Belarusian of Lithuanian origin.”
Magdalena Radziwill
The grave of Magdalena Radziwill and her daughter is in Fribourg, Switzerland. There, in the Dominican monastery, the princess spent the last years of his life and died in 1945. She had to move from Minsk to Europe after 1918 when the city was captured by the Bolsheviks.
“I talked to her greatgrandchildren. None of them lives in Switzerland. They would like to take [the remains of] his grandmother to Siniawa, where the crypt of the Czartoryski Princes is situated. It is in Poland, near the Ukrainian border. Then I said that it would be a good idea to take [the remains of] our aunt to where she wanted to live and die, that is, to Belarus.”
The Radziwills intend to turn to Uladzislau Zavalniuk, the rector of the Red Church, and Archbishop Tadeush Kandrusevich with such request.
The grave of Magdalena Radziwill in Switzerland
According to Maciej Radziwill, their aunt was the most pro-Belarusian persong among the Radziwill family. A number of literary works which each Belarusians learns at school appeared due to her support. She gave money for publishing Vyanok (Wreath), a book of poems by Maxim Bahdanovich. As an expression of their gratitude, the publishers placed a book plate in the shape of Magdalena Radziwill’s family coat of arms. She also helped publishing houses and Belarusian writers, opened schools and temperance societies.
“She died in Switzerland. It was the safest place in Europe during the Second World War,” Prince maciej says.
Every year the Belarusian diaspora holds Dzyady (Day of the Dead) at the place where the famous benefactor is buried.
Rare photographs of the Princess’ Swiss period of life and the picture of the grave by courtesy of the chairman of the Association of Belarusians in Switzerland.
