Pilars de Pilar

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Władysław Pilars de Pilar
Władysław Pilars de Pilar
Born	March 3, 1874 Opatówek, Poland
Died	November 22, 1952 Chorzów, Poland

Władysław (also Ladislaus) Baron Pilars de Pilar (Opatówek, March 3, 1874 - Chorzów, November 22, 1952) was a poet and a literature professor at the Warsaw University. He was a son of Edward Gustaw Pilars (born in Opatówek in 1834, died in 1905), an accountant in Adolf Gottlieb Fiedler's cloth factory, and Ewa Grzankowska. He also was descendant from the Spanish Marquez del Pilar, Saragossa. Wladyslaw got married to Antonia Freiin von Oer (1872-1946), who was a courtlady of the princess of Mecklenburg - Antoinette, tsar Nicholas II's cousin. Antonia Oer's father, Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Oer, was chamberlain of prince Isenburg-Birstein. Ladislaus and Antonia had three children: Eduard, Anoinette and Gabriel.

Władysław Baron Pilars de Pilar graduated in engineering in Berlin and was also running a factory for safes in Warsaw, Kotzebue Street. He was a literature professor at the Warsaw University and the vice-president of the Poetry Association and the vice-president of the Shakespeare Association in Poland.

He was a poet, the author of Tragedia (The Tragedy) - a hexametric poem dedicated to Napoleon. The book, illustrated by Zygmunt Grabowski, was published in 1927. The poem was also translated into English, French and German. Other pieces by Władysław Pilars de Pilar are: Symfonia Bałtyku (The Baltic Symphony) - a poem written in Polish, French and English. In the author's note to Tragedia the next books prepared for publication were mentioned: Życie dla sztuki (Life for art) and the dramatic poem Augustus, which took place in the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.

The factory in Warsaw was burned by revolutionists in 1906, his family moved to Germany. However, Władysław stayed in Poland. He passed his youth and his early years in Opatowek and moved then to Struga near Warsaw. Wladyslaw died on November 22, 1952 in Chorzów.