THE ORIGINS OF THE KAMINSKI FAMILY IN ENGLAND
Przemyslaw Kazimierz Kaminski
The English branch of the Kaminski family was founded by Przemyslaw Kazimierz Kaminski and his wife Krystina Karolina (nee Haradonska).
Przemyslaw was first and foremost a ‘Gentleman of Poland’. His family belonged to a class that were the descendents of the ancient Polish ‘szlachta’ (nobility) and up until 1939 formed part of what constituted the Polish landed gentry.
Przemyslaw was born the son of pan. Franciszek and pani. Katarzyna Kaminska (nee Chodzynska) on the 17th June 1908 at the ‘Dworek’ (Manorial farmstead), near the village of Krazno (German: Cronsno), in the parish of Golub (German: Gollub), located in the county of Wabrzezno (German: Briesen), West Prussia. This area was historically Polish, and within twelve years would become part of a restored Poland.
For over a hundred years Przemyslaw’s family had considered themselves to be guardians of the Polish Nation. They felt that they held their Nation in their hearts and preserved it through the traditions of the Polish nobility, language, culture and church. Przemyslaw would continue to uphold these principles in his exile.
After the German invasion and the fall of the Polish State, in September 1939, Przemyslaw had continued the fight against Nazi aggression in Hungary and then France. However, with the collapse of French resistance he boarded the last ship sailing to England in June 1940. Almost exactly four years later he returned to France and served alongside the Allied Forces until the defeat of Germany in 1945. He remained a member of the military administration in Germany until 1947, when he had to make the hard decision whether to return to Poland or not.
As a well known anti Communist Przemyslaw faced prison, possibly even death, should he have returned to a Communist occupied Poland. He was therefore forced to accept the British Government’s invitation to take up residency in Great Britain. Przemyslaw formed a member of Polish Émigré society, helping to preserve a part of an independent and democratic Poland, in England.
It remained Przemyslaw’s tragic wish to return to a free Poland. However, 42 years would pass before Poland’s political independence was restored in 1989, sadly Przemyslaw passed away four years prior. Thus his descendents remain in England to this day.
This history serves as a tribute to the patriarch of our family, Przemyslaw Kazimierz Kaminski. Here we honour his struggle, and that of his noble ancestors, to defend Polish independence from aggression, a struggle that made their characters so strong and their spirit everlasting.
Thirteen short chapters aim to provide the reader with a partial understanding of the cultural and historical factors that have contributed to the Polish psyche, explored through the history of the Kaminski family. The importance of this record of the past lies in the many attempts that have been made to destroy all trace of the Kaminski’s personal tale. Nearly all the family archive was destroyed in the Second World War, descendents of the Polish nobility were systematically murdered by the Nazis and the survivors suppressed by the Russian Communists. Possessions were looted, land confiscated and historic homes demolished - in an attempt to erase Poland's noble past. The Pole is acutely conscious of his nation’s turbulent, often tragic and romantic history. Therefore the lack of historical documents is compensated by the family history being preserved through stories passed down over the generations. Sadly, however, it has been inevitable that precise details have been lost over the centuries. Further research is being conducted, but it is difficult and progress is slow, it is hoped to add increased detail to this historical ‘story’ of a Polish family.