The run and return to Lentvaris Manor

The Tyshkevich Family's Journey through World War I and Beyond

The First World War, which broke out in 1914, had a significant impact on the Tyshkevich family and their estate in Lentvaris. The family went through various challenges during the war, including taking in refugees, fleeing from Germans, and living under German occupation. However, despite all the difficulties, the family managed to overcome them and reunite after being separated.

The engagement and marriage of Sofija Tiškevičiūtė to Klemens Potocki brought a new chapter to the family's life, and they enjoyed a vibrant social life in Warsaw. However, the Tyshkevich estate was affected by the Riga Treaty of 1921, which resulted in the loss of some of their land to the USSR and Lithuania^[1].

In 1914, the First World War broke out, and Tyshkevich family was not spared. Sofija remembers how people fled from the border to the interior of the country, and how Vladislovas Tiškevičius took them in for the night. His parents even dedicated several buildings to the Red Cross hospital. Sofija Tiškeviciute and her mother's brother Konstantin Lyubomirsky also helped them.

Sofija made ointments in the pharmacy, under the supervision of her sister, and sometimes helped during operations. Dr. Brem noticed that Sofija was not repelled by the smell of ether, so he transferred her to the severely wounded.

Unfortunate separation of the family

In 1915, unexpected news of approaching Germans frightened everyone, especially when planes arrived in the vicinity of Lentvaris. Everybody was very afraid of the bombing, so when a plane appeared, everybody ran out of the house as fast as they could. This was for the health of Sophie's younger sister. Rose Tiškeviciute even stopped walking and was in bed for several weeks. So their mother decided to send her daughter to an apartment in Vilnius, in case she had to leave Lentvaris.

The family was due to leave Lentvaris in 1917, when the Tsar's general arrived and telegraphed Sofia's father, Vladislav, to retreat. There was panic as Vladislav had to retreat with the hospital and his family to Vilnius. So the family separated.

Eventually, the Germans took Vilnius. As the occupiers marched through the streets, Sofija and her relatives stayed at home, and other people were also afraid to leave the house. Everyone was waiting to see how the occupiers would treat the locals. The Germans set up a civil bureau, so that gradually all the inhabitants exchanged their Russian passports for German passports with photographs and fingerprints. Sofija's mother managed to win the favour of the Germans by her communication and diplomacy, so she was able to get permanent permission to visit the estates of Lentvaris, Trakai and Užutrakis. Her children were also happy to accompany her on her travels^[2].

However, the situation was not easy, and in 1917, due to the difficulties, Marija Kristina Tyshkevich decided to take her children to live in Warsaw. Due to some matters in Lithuania, she returned and later went back to her children.

In 1918, the woman and her children were living on her mother's family estate in Kruszyn, where Vladislav Tyshkevich finally returned. This is how the family met after the separation. It was an extremely happy moment in their lives.

Sofia's engagement to Klemens Potocki

In 1922, Sofija Tiškevičiūtė's life changed - she and Klemens Potocki received permission to marry. He was very sensitive, even sentimental, and wanted to have his own home and family. The wedding was scheduled for 26 August. It was to be quiet, in a small wooden church in Lentvaris, as a stone church was under construction. The new family lived in a small administrative building, the Lentvaris Palace had been destroyed after 1920 and the farm was limping.

In Warsaw, the couple led an active life: dancing evenings, dinners with friends or relatives, and parties at embassies. In March, they would return to Lentwaris, where Sophia's mother had set aside a few tenths of land for them to grow vegetables.

The fruits of their labor were taken to the Vilnius market. This business brought the family a lot of money. They also raised horses, cows and pigs. After a while, the Commissioner told them to stop this activity because he did not like it. Klemens had no profession and ended up in Brest. The couple thus divorced for the first time after their wedding.

After the Riga Treaty of 1921, part of the Tiškevičius' land went to the USSR and part to Lithuania. The border was a few kilometers from the palace. Because of the proximity of the border, Sofia's mother, Marija Kristina, did not want to rebuild the palace, saying that the war was imminent and that the family's presence in Lentvaris was temporary.

Sofija Tiškevičiūtė's Life after Leaving Lentvaris

In 1932, Sofija Tiškevičiūtė-Potocka's father became ill with multiple sclerosis. The disease progressed rapidly. He often did not recognize his relatives. Sofia's mother nursed him with the help of an old servant, Boleslav Lelevsky. For four years Vladislav was paralyzed.

At the end of the summer of 1936, his condition worsened considerably, but nobody expected him to die so soon. On 23 August of that year he died, and his daughter Sophie was unable to come and see him alive.

She remembers her father's funeral, telling how she accompanied him down the beautiful lane by the lake, which he loved to walk along. Lentvaris was his beloved creation, so it was not surprising that everyone in the area attended his funeral, even the rabbi and a Jewish delegation. Vladislav was buried in the chapel by the church.

Three years later, the Second World War broke up the entire Tyshkevich family and forced the family to leave their beloved Lentvaris for good. Sofija left as soon as the war broke out, and the other relatives gradually left Lithuania as well^[3].

After the war, Sofija had an antique shop in Warsaw. Her husband was sent to the camp and her son died in the concentration camp. Once the war ended, Sofija had a kiosk selling coffee and pastries, then a small antique shop. She died in Warsaw in 1989.

Aunt Zofia was a very warm person who loved us all and was extremely cheerful. She was able to tell us interesting stories about her childhood in Lentvar, about her travels, about old fashion and carnival habits. He read widely and felt comfortable in public meetings. When the Pope came to Poland from the Vatican for the first time after the war, he translated a sermon from Italian for the bishops in Warsaw.

Potocka spent the last years of her life in a modest, small apartment in the Grochów district at 4a Suchodolska Street. Her paternal and maternal relatives tried to help her morally and financially. However, instead of making her life easier, she chose to support the Church.

Sofija Tiškeviciute-Potocka wanted and succeeded in passing on to her descendants what she had been accumulating and preparing for many years. As well as what was the meaning of her life, after the Second World War, which mercilessly scattered the Tyshkevich family all over the world and tore their family nest apart.