Michał Żyborski, Jerzy Pol and his children: Jadwiga and Zbysio

A family photo taken in the garden of Michał Żyborski’s (1861-1944) estate in Kołomyja in 1919, after his son-in-law, Jerzy Pol (1888-1935) returned from the front in Italy, where he served in the field artillery of the Austrian army. The photo – in sepia – shows Michał Żyborski, husband of Karolina née Karasińska (1865-1945), a bookseller and a bibliophile, who after 1895 – for political reasons – moved from Kaunas to Kołomyja, where the family settled at 3 Szkarpowa Street, in the suburbs. Their house was surrounded by a beautiful garden, the owner’s pride and joy, which was taken care of by a professional gardener. In Kołomyja, M. Żyborski founded and ran his own bookshop, which also housed a lending library, a storehouse of music sheets and pianos produced in Zeitz near Leipzig which were fitted with plaques reading, ‘M. Żyborski Kołomyja’. In 2004, Michał’s grandson, Wojciech Żyborski (1934-2004) in his will donated one of the instruments to the Museum of Wincenty Pol’s Manor House in Lublin.

In the photograph, five-year-old Zbysio Pol (1914-1994), son of Jerzy and Zofia, is leaning against the legs of his grandfather Michał. Jerzy Pol, his beloved son-in-law, is sitting next to his father-in-law, holding his eight-year-old daughter Jadwiga (1911-2000) on his lap. There are many more commemorative photos from the Pols’ stays with the Żyborskis that have been preserved in the family collections as well as in the Wincenty Pol Museum.

In later years, Jadwiga and Zbyszek – living with their parents in Kraków, and from 1930 in Lublin – preferably spent there all summer months with their grandparents until the Żyborskis moved to Tarnopol in 1933. The daughters of Jadwiga, married name Chybowski, recalled tales about their sensitive and delicate mother, recalling that she had greatly appreciated the unique atmosphere prevailing there.

Grażyna Połuszejko