Rodryg Dunin

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Rodryg Dunin (June 26, 1870 - October 26, 1928) was a Polish noble (szlachta), a Hrabia (Count), and a prominent industrialist and agriculturalist. According to the Polish Biographical Dictionary (Polski Slownik Biograficzny), he was one of the most remarkable pioneers of progress in farming techniques and industry in Greater Poland.

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[edit] Early years

Dunin was born in 1870 in Marszewo, Pleszewo county to Stanisław Tadeusz Dunin (a participant in the 19th Century January Uprising), and Maria-Antonina Baranowska (daughter of the famous Poznań playwright Agnieszka Baranowska).

While still a student at Maria Magdalena Gymnasium (high school) in Poznań, he took an active part in a secret educational-social youth movement. He later studied at academies in Decin, Czech Republic, and Leipzig, Germany.

[edit] Marriage

Rodryg and Lucia's home, Granówek
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Rodryg and Lucia's home, Granówek

In 1899, at the age of 29, he married the 37-year-old widow Lucia (Łucja) Taczanowska. After his wedding he settled in his wife’s manor in Granówek, Kościan county, and brought the estate into balance through a combination of skillfulness and persistent work. He established a vodka distillery and field gauge, and in 1912 he was the first in Greater Poland Voivodeship to install a method of artificial field watering.

[edit] Agricultural innovator

He was famed across all social strata in Poland as an enterprising, progressive farmer, who boldly implemented technical innovations, while still being able to keep farms in economic balance. Many young farmers were eager to learn from him, and contemporary agricultural progress centers in both Poznań and Warsaw invited him as a lecturer.

Along with his farming activities, he was also a professional journalist, and engaged in social work. He opened skill-improvement circles in many villages, where he organized and participated in meetings.

He also was lauded for using his own funds to build an orphanage in Granówek, and together with his wife and children they provided a sanctuary there to protect Polish children from germanization.

After passing Granówek to his oldest stepson, Józef Niezychowski, in 1923 he bought the Ruchocice manor near Grodzisk Wielkopolski, from Tiedemann, an HKT member.

Dunin held many positions in industrial-farming organizations in Greater Poland. He was co-founder and president of Rada Naczelnej Spółki Akcyjnej “Akwawit”, created from the purchase of German-Jewish rectifications. He was also a councilor of the Poznańskie Ziemstwo Kredytowe, and a member of the board of directors of many other institutions.

[edit] Family

When Dunin married in 1899, he became stepfather to his wife's six children by her first husband Stanisław Nieżychowski (one of whom became the noted Alfred Niezychowski), and then proceeded with her to have four more children:

In 1920, their eldest son Stanisław, an army officer, died in battle near Maciejowice. Stanisław was immortalized in the 1922 painting The Death of Lieutenant Stanisław Dunin (Polish: Śmierć Porucznika Stanisława Dunina) by the famous Polish artist Wojciech Kossak. Rodryg's younger son Antoni named his own first son Stanisław after his fallen brother, but Antoni too died in 1939 during the German offensive known as the Invasion of Poland, though he was awarded the prestigious Virtuti Militari medal.

Rodryg Dunin died in Poznań on October 26, 1928.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Polski Słownik Biograficzny (the Polish Biographical Dictionary)
  • "Dziennik Poznański", (Polish daily) issue 250, 1928;
  • "Gazeta Rolnicza" (Polish daily) issue 44—5, 1928; Spoken information from Mrs. Katarzyna Załęska written by Tadeusz Vetulani
  • Family tree maintained by great-granddaughter Elonka Dunin
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