“The nation is simply a household of families” – with these words Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski’s Primate Millennium perfectly correspondes to the exhibition “The Road and Heritage. The past of the Mossoro family.’
For respective weeks now, we have been able to see it in the Ossolineum building in Wrocław, and earlier it was presented in the Museum of independency in Warsaw. Its central characters are the spouses Ludmila from the home of Dąbrowska and Kazimierz Moszoro. Both from early youth very powerfully connected with the national movement and the Catholic Church both in the country and on emigration. And what is very crucial – faithful to these choices for the remainder of their lives!
Kazimierz came from an Armenian household permanently settled in Poland at least since the 18th century. He was born in 1911 in Kolomya, where his father Antoni was a post clerk. He completed his studies at the Oil Department of the method University of Lviv just before the war, in June 1939. During this period he was an active associate of the Bratnia aid and Youth of All Poland. In 1933, for his participation in the student strike in defence of university autonomy, he was fined by the court. And in 1936 he joined the organization committee of the Academic Youth Pilgrimage on Jasna Góra.
Ludmila was born in Lviv in 1917. Her father Stanislaw Leonard Dąbrowski was an authoritative in the Lviv MA. She studied at the Faculty of Humanities and at the Faculty of Law at Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. There she actively participated in the activities of the All-Polish Youth, National Women's Organization and National Party. There, too, she met an older colleague from the University of Technology, but their knowledge, as well as their studies, interrupted the war. It was only after its completion that they met again and married in London in 1947.
At that time Kazimierz was already a lieutenant of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. During his studies, he attended an artillery school. In 1938, he participated in the operation in Zaolziu and then in the September campaign. After interning in Hungary, he made his way to France, and after her surrender, he went to Scotland, where he joined the armored brigade. From there, he was seconded to the Military method Institute to the armored weapons department in London.
The Ludmilla business survived in her homeland. She joined the activities of national underground organizations subordinate to the National organization – first in Lviv and then in Krakow. In January 1941, she was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of a colporteur of the conspiracy press and went to prison at Montelupich Street and from there to Auschwitz KL camp. She stayed there from November 1942 until January 1945. Then Germans evacuated the camp against the approaching front and Ludmila was in Ravensbruck, then in Malchow (like Ravensbruck) and Leipzig-Hasag (like Buchenwald KL). After being released from the camp by American troops, she entered Italy and volunteered for the 2nd Polish Corps. She was assigned to the Women's Auxiliary Service, and after disbanding the Corps in June 1946 she arrived in London.
After the marriage, the spouses decided to go to Argentina. Kazimierz, a young, well-educated engineer with military experience, received an offer of work from state-owned arms plants in Rosario. And there they settled permanently. However, the decision to emigrate was not easy. Ludmila in “Letter to Country” prepared for the literature competition Radio Free Europe, and published in “Polish Thought” in August 1952 wrote that the decision to emigrate was for them the most painful and difficult, bordering on betrayal. These words should be a lasting message for all those who have an influence on the policy of the Polish state, especially now. It must be shaped so as not to lead to a situation where young, well-educated Poles will be forced to emigrate again. And they will work for another nations alternatively of developing their own country.
W Argentinian matrimony Moszoro joined a many Polish community that settled there after planet War II. It is estimated that between 1948 and 1949 about 20 1000 Poles arrived in the country over La Plata, who joined the ranks of earlier, already rather many emigration. Moszoro became active in the life of local Polish organizations, publishing houses and Catholic parishes. They were very active in the Union of Poles in Argentina, and for many years they were at the head of the Polish “House of Poland” Society in Rosario. They were active in the national environment.
Ludmila participated in the 1974 National organization Convention in London, where she spoke in a discussion on how to harness the emigration possible for helping the nation in the country. Earlier in 1964, together with another nationalists, she led on the 100th anniversary of the birth and 25th anniversary of the death of Roman Dmowski to translate and print in Spanish the work “Church, Nation and State”. Kazimierz has been a husband of trust of the National organization in Argentina for many years and together with another nationalists, including Michał Więckowski, a longtime co-worker of “The Polish Thought”, shaped the profile of the weekly “The Voice of Poland” – the main writing of the Union of Poles in Argentina.
In the exhibition we will besides find a reminder of another characters. Of which Stefan Moszoro, older brother of Kazimierz, who besides participated in the September campaign, and then through Hungary he got to Palestine. In the ranks of the brigade, and then the division of Carpathian shooters passed the Italian campaign, participating, among others, in the battles for Monte Cassino and Ancona. After demobilization in June 1948, he returned to his household in the country. He lived in Wrocław, where he worked as the manager of the National Bank of Poland branch.
There is besides the character of Eugeniusz Siedlecki, a friend of Kazimierz from his studies, who passed the conflict way in the armored division of Gen. Maczek and besides emigrated to Argentina. He was a beloved photographer and filmmaker. The exhibition features archival films documenting events from the life of the parish, Polish organizations and private moments of the Moszoro family. There are besides reminders of the silhouettes of fellow nationals from the student period: Jan Kaim and Michael Musil. Among the souvenirs presented at the exhibition is simply a card with wishes from friends. We will find there wishes from John Kaim and Tadeusz Bielecki, president of the National Party.
But the second generation, surviving and working today, besides marked their crucial place in the household of Moshora. On the exhibition we will find the silhouettes of 4 children of Kazimierz and Ludmila: Julia, Anthony, Bartholomew and Stefan. The traditions of social engagement proceed with Bartholomew. He served in Scouting, in the Union of Poles in Argentina and Polish Society “House of Poland” in Rosario. Even at the school age in 1966, he participated in the Millennium of Polish Baptism in the Vatican and in the planet gathering of the United Kingdom ZHP. He organized assistance to the country as part of an action led by the Episcopate in the state of war. He presently serves as an honorary consul of the Republic of Poland in Rosario and organizes actions promoting Polish culture and history.
His younger brother Stefan chose the priesthood and became a priest in Opus Dei. He accepted priestly ordination at the hands of John Paul II in the Vatican in 1982. At the invitation of Archbishop Kazimierz Majdański in 1989, he was 1 of the pioneers who initiated Opus Dei's work in Poland. Since May 1, 2023, priest Stefan Moszoro-Dąbrowski holds the office of Regional Vicar Opus Dei in the Central and Northern Europe Region, comprising 9 countries: Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Croatia and Slovenia based in Warsaw. The presence in this group of states – Finland, a country with a tiny number of Catholics, according to the 2020 data somewhat over 15,000, concentrated in 8 parishes. The full country is within the borders of only 1 diocese based in Helsinki. From the point of view of the Catholic Church, it is undoubtedly a missionary country. Usually, pastoral work was done there through Scandinavian countries. To this day, the Papal nunciature liable for Finland besides includes another Scandinavian countries and is located in Copenhagen.
However, the Finns' and Swedes' relations match the Poles' relations with Germany. Thus, conducting evangelization through Warsaw may prove a better sense of sensitivity of Finns. In September 2023 a fresh bishop of the Diocese of Helsinki was the Spanish priest from Opus Dei, Raimo Goyarrol. Fr Stefan Moszoro-Dąbrowski is no uncertainty facing the hard task of his pastoral mission.
The exhibition was prepared by the Institute of National Memory. The inspiration for its improvement was the transmission by Bartholomew Moszoro on behalf of the household to the IPN Archive collection of household memorabilia and documents. This is an crucial clue for historians active in researching areas where Moszoro's spouses, including national movement historians, conducted their activities. The exhibition is accompanied by a carefully prepared, colorful catalogue, released on advanced quality paper, available in 3 language versions: Polish, English and Spanish. In addition to materials from the exhibition, it contains synthetic but rather extended descriptions, resembling the past of national organizations: the All-Polish Youth, the National Women's Organization and the National Military Organization.
Synchronising folder Karol Nawrocki, then president of the IPN and the Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina to Poland with a Polish sounding surname – Alicia Irene Falkowski. Unfortunately, in a alternatively extended introduction signed by the current president of Poland, there is simply a deficiency of even 1 word mention to the activities of the national heroes of the exhibition. Instead, the affiliation of Stefan, brother of Kazimierz, to the Polish Military Organization was emphasized, although his commitment lasted only a year and in the context of all the material content devoted to the exhibition was of an occasional nature. specified a failure is not worthy of the workshop of a reliable historian and can attest to the ideological prejudices of the author of the text beginning the catalogue.
Apart from the introduction, the full content of the exhibition and the catalogue is reliable, contains quite a few cognition and deserves a word of appreciation for its authors. The last image in the catalogue is simply a pronunciation summary of the communicative of the exhibition. Bartłomiej Moszoro while visiting the office of the IPN Archive in Warsaw stands in front of a large poster hanging on the wall with the image of Roman Dmowski and the inscription “The Architect of large Poland”.
I warmly encourage you to see the exhibition available in Wrocław until 5 November this year. But I hope it will besides be shown in another places in Poland and in the world. Anyway, he definitely deserves it. Admission to the exhibition and catalogue is free of charge.
Bogusław Kowalski
Think Poland, No. 41-42 (12-19.10.2025)
