Roman Wladyslaw Sanguszko

Prince, breeder of Arabian horses (Slawuta Stud, Gumniska), philanthropist. One of the 30 richest landowners in Poland in the interwar period.

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Born on July 6, 1901 in Gumniska.

He was the son of Eustachy, governor of Galicia, and Konstancja née Zamoyska (from Podzamcze), nephew of Roman Damian and Paweł Roman. Long awaited by his parents, he lost his father at the age of three; he was raised by a caring mother. He was educated only at home, diligently, he did not finish any schools.

Roman Sanguszko inherited the remains of the former family fortune: after losing 62 ha of estates in the former Volhynia (Sławuta), Gumniska (17 ha) remained to him, and Podhorce (730 ha) came to him through the Rzewuski family. Among the 3 richest landowners in Poland of his time, he was ranked 340th.

Gumniska - an industrialized estate employing over 3 people. workers - he managed personally. According to the Sanguszko tradition, he took great care of the living conditions of his officials.

There were orphanages for children in all farms, and he donated one of them for the future agricultural school.

He took care of the hygiene of the village, everywhere he set up bathing facilities and sports fields. Each of the servants received a pension and land for the construction of their own house (for which loans were to be provided by the Agricultural Bank). In Tarnów, he maintained two charities: an orphanage for children and a shelter for the elderly.

He sold two manor farms for the construction of a state-owned nitrogen compounds factory in Mościce for a price set by the Polish government. He sold horses on similar terms if the purchasing party was the state.

He put a lot of money into the reconstruction of his castle in Podhorce, wanting to restore it to its former glory. A center for art historians was to be established there. He organized (in Wierzchosławice and Podhorce) summer camps for the Warsaw School of Fine Arts.

Roman Sanguszko was an avid motorist and had a collection of great cars. He was a member of the first board of the Krakow Automobile Club, founded in 1926.

Above all - again following the voice of family passions for generations - he was in love with Arabian horses from childhood. Their herd in Gumniska was famous. After the destruction caused by the First World War, it was Sanguszko who had the most (8) purebred mares in his stud.

In 1927, he entrusted the running of the stable to an excellent expert, Bogdan Ziętarski. He financed his costly trips in search of new horses for his stud in Gumniska. Before World War II, he was the only breeder in the world who imported horses to refresh the blood - straight from the desert of Saudi Arabia.

Roman Sanguszko accurately assessed and accepted Ziętarski's proposals, thanks to which both the stud and the stables developed perfectly, and breeding brought high income. Sanguszko allowed other breeders to use imported original Arabians. In the second volume of the "Polish Arabian Stud Book" (1938) 16 dams from his herd were entered.

In 1937, Roman Sanguszko married Wanda née Turzańskie, divorced from Tadeusz Krynicki, who died on December 17 of that year.

At the end of June 1939, HB Babson from Chicago, anticipating the imminent outbreak of a long-lasting war, offered Sanguszka a year-long hospitality for the Arabs of Gumnik, during which time the owner could decide something about their fate.

Correspondence continued in October 1939, already addressed to Hungary, where the German aggression against Poland found Roman Sanguszko with Prince Bela Odescalchi.

During the war, horse breeding in Gumniska was still run by Roman Ziętarski. The "Gumniska" stable also took part in the races organized by the German authorities in 1942 and 1943 in Lviv, winning many races.

However, nothing could save the herd - first from the hands of the Germans who "evacuated" them, then from the effects of military operations at the turn of 1944/5.

Roman Sanguszko spent the war period in Rome, Paris and New York – before he finally decided to settle in Brazil. Tuwim mentions him in "Polish Flowers". He enjoyed the company of Jan Lechoń, who was invited to chat.

Materially, he was quite independent, he did not have to sell priceless things, of which he saved some. His new fortune was secured by an unexpected inheritance from his second wife, Germaine Mann, v. Gontaut-Biron, whom he had already met in emigration. After the divorce, she retained a fondness for her former husband, and before his death in 1967, she bequeathed to him all her considerable fortune.

He was the honorary president of the "1955" Club, founded in 44, bringing together mainly very wealthy post-war emigrants, using the premises provided by Roman Sanguszko.

He founded the "Socieda Sanguszko de Benecienda". In São Paulo, one of the main charitable gifts of this foundation was intended for Poles, the so-called Retirement Home, opened on July 12.07.1977, 1980. This house also served as a place for various occasional meetings of the Polish community, such as the Polish-Hungarian meeting in XNUMX, because Sanguszko was in favor of the closest possible cooperation between both nations.

From his personal funds, managed by Aleksander Czartoryski and lawyer Jan Litmanowicz, Sanguszko supported Polish emigration organizations, such as the Polish Library in Paris, the Polish Institute and the General Sikorski Museum in London. With a generous gift, he allowed the "Joseph Conrad Society" operating in Great Britain to survive. He did not forget about his relatives and former friends in Poland if they were in difficult conditions. He also remembered former officials (among the recipients was even Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz - as the son of an employee of the Gumni estate management).

The need to give has clearly intensified over time. He gave Pope John Paul II fourteen Baroque vestments (1983) from the castle in Podhorce. He donated (1981) to Cardinal Franciszek Macharski for the Metropolitan Curia of Krakow a house adjacent to the bishop's palace in Krakow, at ul. Franciszkańska 1.
He sent one of Queen Marysieńka Sobieska's famous silk quilts to the Wilanów Museum.

Based on: Sanguszko Roman Władysław Stanisław Andrzej, [online] Warsaw: National Audiovisual Institute [accessed July 03.07.2019, XNUMX], https://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/roman-wladyslaw-stanislaw-andrzej-sanguszko

Below you will find links to related materials in the Polish Digital Equestrian Library.