Antoni Chołoniewski

Antoni Chołoniewski–Myszka (1872–1924), was a Polish journalist, publicist and a national activist.

Biography Antoni Chołoniewski–Myszka, or Antoni Chołoniewski was born on 23 October 1872 in Kavske, then called Kawsko, near Stryi, now in western Ukraine. His family was from landed nobility, linked to the Korczak clan. His mother was Katarzyna née Hrynkiewicz. His father Ferdinand fought as a lieutenant under General Józef Bem during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The property of the Chołoniewski family was confiscated by the Austrian authorities following Ferdinand's participation to this uprising.

He attended a gymnasium in Stryi and lost his parents early in his youth. As a consequence, Antoni had to earn early his living by writing; as such, the first texts he penned were articles about the Podkarpacie region to be edited by Lwów newspapers.

In 1891, he moved to Lwów and started working in the editorial office of the Przegląd Lwowski, a biweekly scientific, literary and political journal. In 1894, he opted for the editorial office of the Dziennik Polski.

There, he took over the department of culture and national affairs while working at the same time as a correspondent for other papers: Saint Petersburg's Kraj; Kraków's Życie. During this period, he wrote his first book, Nieśmiertelni. Fotografie literatów lwowskich . Issued in 1898, Antoni described in it the journalistic and literary milieu of the city. In 1902, he released Życiorys Kościuszko , which was a popular success.

In 1903, he relocated to Kraków, where after several stints, he took the position of chief editor of the local print of Warsaw biweekly Świat, just founded in 1906 by Stefan Krzywoszewski (1866–1950).

During this period, he additionally contributed to the creation in Wąbrzeźno of the Polish National Institute , together with Stanisławe Jasiński and Włodzimierz Tetmajer from Kraków. This organization, one of the first of its kind in the area, aimed at educating, publishing Polish press and literature and spreading Polish culture.

In his last year, Antoni edited a bimonthly Biblioteka Pomorska, dealing with art, science, literature and popular culture in Polish Pomerania.

He died on 13 May 1924 in Bydgoszcz after a long illness. He was buried in the Nowofarny Cemetery of Bydgoszcz: in 1987 his grave was liquidated.

The authorities of Sopot seized Chołoniewskis' property before the outbreak of World War II and in March 1940, the buildings were demolished and the area covered with grass. Out of the Chołoniewski's estate, only a small residential edifice is still preserved today at 11 Grunwaldzka street. is a treaty on the First Polish Republic, idealising its history so much that it raised criticism of his contemporary historians.

Family

Kamilla Chołoniewska, his wife Kamilla Florentyna Maria Chołoniewska, née Głuchowska (1877–1936), was a social activist, writer, journalist, teacher and entrepreneur. During the First World War, she organized help for Polish legionnaires and political prisoners. Later she was active in various women's associations, especially as the president of the "Association of Scientific Assistance for Women", allowing students to study higher education by granting scholarships. While in Bydgoszcz with Antoni, she founded and ran a workshop and a school. As a supporter of women's higher education, she co-founded the first female gymnasium in Lviv. In 1934, she took over the leadership of the "National School of Homework" in Warsaw. Her maternal grandfather was Ludwik Mierosławski (1814–1878): a Polish general, writer, poet, historian and political activist. He took part in the November Uprising, then emigrated to France, before coming back during the 1846 Greater Poland Uprising 1846, where he was taken prisoner. Following an amnesty, he fought in the Palatine uprising in 1849, on the side of the insurgents. After his return to France, he had contacts with Italian activists like Giuseppe Garibaldi. Eventually, he participated in the January Uprising in 1863–1864. Her father was Franciszek Mieczysław Głuchowski (1852–1903), a Polish doctor and pediatrician. In 1888, he self-published the first wide study devoted to the spa values in the city of Rabka–Zdrój where he was working. Antoni and Kamilla had two sons, Mieczysław and Bolesław. The latter died in 1942 at the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII without progeny. Mieczysław and his wife Leandra had two children, a daughter Kamilla and a son, Jacek Chołoniewski. Born in 1957, Jacek is a Polish entrepreneur, independent journalist and economic expert, doctor of physical sciences.

Commemorations A commemorative plaque was placed on the facade of the villa he inhabited with his family, while in Bydgoszcz, at 119 Gdańska Street. A street in the Szwederowo district of Bydgoszcz has been also named after him.