Stanisław Szczęsnowicz

 

A contribution to the history of prisons system  in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

©Andrzej Philips

 

Various views are often presented on the Internet. For most people, their most important value is the views or genre scenes they contain. Personally, what I value most are postcards from circulation, written by someone to someone else... Then they are much richer, because they contain not only a picture, a view, but also have souls - the souls of the old senders and recipients of these postcards.

An example would be a card showing men playing cards (I wonder what game it is?) and enjoying a beer. Seemingly, there's nothing interesting here. However, the other side is much more interesting. From the postmark we learn that the card was sent from Műrau (Mirov) in 1906 to the director of the penitentiary in Wiśnicz[1], Mr. Stanisław Szczęsnowicz. The sender writes: Dear Szczęsnowicz ! Congratulations ! Best regards, Lachmayer.

Who is this Mr. Szczęsnowicz, who is Mr. Lachmayer ? Congratulations on what occasion? You can find all this out.

 

In Shematisms[2] from 1908 there is information:

C. k. Penitentiary for men in Lviv. In this plant in 1785, after the convent of the Sisters of St. Brigid's prison, which currently houses approximately 550 imprisoned males, serving sentences of more than one year. This institution is supervised by the Imperial and Royal State Prosecutor's Office in Lviv, while the Lviv Imperial and Royal State Prosecutor functions as a house commissioner.

Com. House. Barth Mieczysław, Procurator. Countries,
Director Szczęsnowicz Stanisław.
Management Grosse Stanisław.
Controller Fränzel Juliusz.
Adj . Kreutz Francis
— Mertha Adolf.
In-house doctor Berezowski Kazim ., Ph.D. med.
In-house doctor assistant Haisig Karol, dr. med.
priest of the Roman Catholic conf. priest Brukwicki Piotr, from the congregation. XX. Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul.
priest of the Greek Catholic conf., post vacant.
The clergy of the Mosaic faith is performed by Guttmann Wolf Samuel, Ph.D. phil., rabbi.
Chief Garczyński Władysław.
— Szyporz Józef
Prison guard inspector Myhal Jędrzej.
The home guard consists of 10 senior wardens and 87 prison wardens.

Schematism 1908 - Penitentiary in Lviv

The above list shows that in 1908 Stanisław Szczęsnowicz was the director of the penitentiary in Lviv, but the card was sent to him as the director of the penitentiary in Wiśnicz.

However, Szematizm for 1908 shows that at that time Emil Smitka was the director of the penitentiary in Wiśnicz.

 

      Shematism 1908 - Penitentiary in Wiśnicz

Penitentiary in Wiśnicz – 1907

Yes, but the card was sent in 1906, sent from Műrau ( Mirov ).

Reading about Mirov we learn:

Mírov ( German Mürau ) is a commune in Šumperk County , Olomouc Region , Czech Republic . According to data from January 1, 2012, it had 401 inhabitants. […]. In the 1860s, the castle was converted into a prison. The castle in Mírov to this day serves as a prison for the most dangerous criminals , supposedly the best-guarded in the Czech Republic[3]. An extensive history of the Mirov prison can be found in the Czech version of Wikipedia[4].

Therefore, it is no coincidence that someone from Mirov sent a card of congratulations to the director of the prison in Wiśnicz. The penitentiary in Wiśnicz was established in 1783, when Emperor Joseph II, by decree, closed down the Discalced Carmelite monastery, turning the monastery complex into a criminal court and a heavy prison where mainly ordinary criminals and Tatra bandits served their sentences. In later years, political prisoners - participants of national liberation organizations - were also sent to prison. The unit served the Criminal Court of the Central Committee, then the Penitentiary, and it has remained so to this day[5].

Lachmayer sent a congratulatory card. By browsing the list of offices "Hof - und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie: für das Jahr 1908” find that the administrator of the prison in Mirov was Adolf Lachmayer ...

 

Műrau Penitentiary management list[6]

 

And so the mystery was solved: Mr. Lachmayer, the director of the prison in Mirov, congratulates Stanisław Szczęsnowicz on his promotion to the director of the prison in Lviv...

         

The image on the card is also understandable - men celebrating their colleague's promotion 😊.

Stanisław Szczęsnowicz, in 1934, conducted a column titled "Judicial Errors" in the magazine "Tajny Detektyw".

Fragment of the article "Judicial errors", "Tajny Detektyw" no. 5/1934

He passed away in Krakow in 1942.

Obituary informing about the death of Stanisław Szczęsnowicz

One inconspicuous card, but so much information. Thanks to it, we learned about the history of prisons in the times of Austria -Hungary.

 

 

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[1] Nowy Wiśnicz is a small town in Bochnia County, Lesser Poland (Cracow) Voivodeship, Poland

[2] The Galician shematisms (from German Schematismus, Polish: ) contained lists of the names of officials employed in individual institutions of the Imperial Palace. administration, both autonomous and state. Shematisms also provide lists of teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers and other lawyers working in Galicia. More importantly, they also contain a number of other information, e.g. lists of landowners, data on clerical authorities of all denominations, composition of authorities and lists of members of social, economic, charitable and cultural organizations, as well as lists of foundations. [Szematyzm Królestwa Galicji i Lodomerii z Wielkim Księstwem Krakowskim  - Shematism of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Grand Duchy of Krakow, pl.wikipedia ]

[3] Mirov [wikipedia.pl]

[4] Věznice Mírov [ cs.wikipedia ]

[5] Prison in Nowy Wiśnicz [ pl.wikipedia ]

[6] Hof - und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie: für das Jahr 1908