Can you help identify the people in these paintings?
In 1939, the German forces thundered eastward across Poland in a Blitzkrieg
(Lightning War), laying waste to everything in their path. One of the
buildings which was ravaged was the home of my grandparents, Antoni and Zofia Werner
Dunin, at that time a young married couple living at Bogusławice, near Poznan. They were both killed during the
events of September 1939, though their three children (all under the age of 6)
managed to survive through the assistance of other friends and relatives.
Much of my family's heritage was lost, but a few items
have been recovered, and cherished within my family to this day. Alas, the
identification of the people in these paintings was lost with the chaos of the war.
I, and other members of our surviving family, would very much like to learn the names of the people in these paintings, so that we can pass this information about our mutual ancestors down to future generations. If you can help identify any details on these paintings, please
let me know! Even small bits of information may be helpful.
Thank you,
Elonka Dunin
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Granddaughter of Antoni and Zofia Dunin
Please click on any of the paintings, to see a
larger version
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Unknown Dunin Ancestor
Probably closely-related (husband/brother/son) to the woman in the blue
gown
Suggested Possibilities:
Stanislaw Dunin (c1800), Antoni's great-grandfather
Stanislaw Tadeusz Dunin (1831-1883), Antoni's grandfather
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Unknown Dunin Ancestor
(uncle?)
Rank: Unknown
Unit: Unknown
Notes: Crest in upper-lefthand corner is the Dunin "Labedz"
(swan) crest, with a nine-point crown
Family stories say that this man was not a direct
ancestor, but a brother of one. And that he was closely-related to
the people in the other two paintings
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Unknown Dunin Ancestor
Suggested Possibilities:
Agnieszka Lipska Baranowska (1819-1890), Antoni's great-grandmother
Maria-Antonina Baranowska Dunin (1840-1880), Antoni's grandmother |
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The Death of Stanisław
Dunin,
by Wojciech Kossak, 1922
Stylized painting about the death in combat of Antoni's older brother Stanislaw
Original location: Boguslawice, Poland. May
have previously been at Granowko, Poland (the home of Stanislaw and Antoni's parents,
Rodryg Dunin and Lucia Taczanowska Dunin)
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