The Last Mazurka: A Family's Tale of War, Passion, and Loss | 
|  | | | Title: | The Last Mazurka: A Family's Tale of War, Passion, and Loss | | Author: | Andrew Tarnowski | | Publisher: | St. Martin's Press | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 07 August, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0312367406 / 9780312367404 | | List Price: | $24.95 | | You Save: | $8.48 | | Amazon Price: | $16.47 | |
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Product Description
The shot Count Hieronim Tarnowski fired on his wedding night in 1914, on the eve of the First World War, was like a tocsin that sounded the doom of his ancient Polish family. When, in August 1939, on the eve of another war, his daughter Sophie saw blood pouring down the side of her train, she felt a terrible foreboding and knew her idyllic world would be swept away. Thirty years later, when Count Hieronim’s British grandson Andrew learned of the death of his mother---the beautiful, fragile, and abused Chouquette---his sense of a lost identity deepened and he set out to rediscover the world from which he came. These moments punctuate an extraordinary tale of the downfall of a once-powerful family, which in turn mirrors the twentieth-century fate of a nation ravaged by invasions and crushed by tyranny.
Before 1945, Poland, now a fledgling EU country, was an almost Tolstoyan world of wolf hunts and extravagant wealth, set alongside great poverty and a semifeudal peasantry, in a landscape of frozen fields and dark forests. Broken by war, it was reduced by Communism to drab uniformity, and a way of life was lost forever.Â
This world out of time is the setting for Andrew Tarnowski’s memoir, The Last Mazurka, a tale of loss and exile, love and violence, wandering and longing, told with poignancy and unexpected humor, and a lingering regret.
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Customer Reviews:
• The Last Mazurka 14 September, 2007
I found this book to be one of the most fascinating books I've read in years. It is the story of the demise of an aristocractic Polish family during World War II written by a family member born during during the war. Their odyssey took them back and forth across Europe, into (then)Palistine, Egypt, etc. During their travels, they rubbed elbows with King Farouk and Ali Kahn. On more than one occassion they were saved by family connections originated in more prosperous times. When all else was gone they sold their last possession of any value, Romanov jelewry from Catherine the Great.
What really caused their demise was when, after the Germans left, the Communist regime, similar to Russia in it's revolution, took away the ownership of their estate. This was the Communist's effort to end the concept of aristocracy. In the end, some of the main characters went from enormous wealth to poverty.
This book is an easy read and gives an aspect of WWII that was new to me. An interesting side light that was not in the book, but I read in another review, was that the author was ostricized from his family for writing this book. Much of the book came from family interviews and I guess they didn't want this to be aired to the public. This included the breakup of marriages and family bickering.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2IAG2BKGXN97I
• History Through Adventure 14 September, 2007
Excellent and interesting historical review through one family's experiences offering good insight into the times.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A35O65MI01L2CX
• Echoes Of Halcyon Days 05 January, 2008
In this outstanding book, Andrew Tarnowski describes the fairy tale like lives of his Polish aristocratic relatives from the early 1900s up until world war II, after which their highly privileged lives came to a crashing halt. He continues to describe what happened in the lives of key relatives into the 1970s, '80s and '90s. For instance, his parents, Chouquette (Sophie Jaxa-Chamiec)later married Malcom Wolfe Murray and his father Stas Tarnowski later married Ada Lubomirska (with whom he had six children). They all lead fascinating lives but their past haunted them even then. The author did a marvelous job of chronicling and piecing together his family history from interviews, memoirs, historical documents and oral family history. As the old adage goes "truth is stranger than fiction" and it holds true for this book which reads like a fictional account of immensely exaggerated proportions, only the stories in this book are facts, they are true and really happened, just as they are recorded.
We learn that the beautiful tall thin, auburn-haired Countess Wanda Zamoyska of Dzikow, who was strong willed and self-assured and loved glamour and high society had - through parental guidance and arrangements married Count Hieronim Tarnowski of Rudnik, in 1914. He was congenial looking, had dark wavy hair, a high forehead and a rather too prominent a nose but most importantly was the heir to a substantial fortune, which was the main consideration for Wanda's widowed mother whose family fortunes had fallen on hard times. Hieronim was highly educated and besides his native Polish, he spoke seven other languages fluently, English German, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Latin. His ancestors played prominent roles in Polish history from the 14th to 16th centuries. His father Professor Stanislaw Tarnowski was a renowned academic who was showered with great honors and held a prestigious postion with the Jagiellonina University in Krakow. His ancestors helped found the university over 500 years before. Unfortunately, this couple was ill matched from the beginning and their lives and those of their children, Sophie and Stas, showed the after effects of their less than happy union throughout their lives. Furthermore, it was whispered that Wanda was likely the illigitimate daughter of Hieronim's first cousin so -it was a marriage which should not have happened. The aristocracy hid these types of indescretions very well ...
Wanda and Hieronim had two children, Sophie who was born in 1917 and Stas (Stanislaw) born in 1918. Stas was the father of the author of this book. He was a handsome man, with a somewhat arrogant attitude, who resembled the actor David Niven. Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, his sister, Sophie had married Andrew. Their marriage had taken a papal dispensation because both were too closely related. They were second cousins, grandchildren of two brothers from Dzikow. They had twelve great-grandparents in common. Although the marriage was discouraged because they were so obviously in love, a family friend intervened and got Pope Pius XI to provide the proper approval.
This book is filled with many fascinating details about Polish aristocratic life at the turn-of-the-century, including arranged hunts for wild game in the nearby forests and lavish balls. The book shows how this aristocratic family managed to survive World War I, and rebuild their lives after the damages done to their property and many residences. It shows how due to circumstances of birth, they lived highly privileged lives compared to the majority of the population. The threats of World War II loomed, so the Tarnowski's planned an escape route via an auto caravan into Romania. Forty four relatives narrowly escaped to live in poverty compared to their previous lifestyle. They became refugess like the majority of those who escaped their homeland. Unlike many, they had contacts such as relatives or close friends who worked in embassies abroad. These people helped ease their adjustment to their new status. Through chance, two unrelated young ladies, Chouquette and her sister Boule, were visiting the Tarnowski's home when Hitler bombed Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. They escaped along with the family. Fearing Romania was getting too close to the Germans, they remained only one month in Romania, and moved to Belgrade because the Serbs were determined to fight Hitler and the Nazis. In Belgrade, the author's mother, at the age of 19, Chouquette married her fiance Stas Tarnowski who was 21 years of age that year.
From Belgrade, this young married couple moved to Palestine, along with Stas' sister Sophie and her husband Andrew. The young men joined the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, who trained in Egypt, to fight the Nazis along with the British in Northern Africa. The ladies settled in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv but soon moved to Cairo, Egypt to be the guest of a family friend, PrinceYouseff Kamal ed-Dine, third in line to the Egyptian throne. From turmoil and confusion, their lives transformed into indescribable luxury. They were provided a villa complete with a servant and cook. By then, Chouquette had given birth to Andrew, the author of this book. He was nick-named Boubi Pasha but more often was called, gnomek, Polish for "little gnome." The ladies moved in a select circle of friends. They were often the guests of the royal family and of British diplomats and British officers, at polo clubs, sports clubs, race tracks, tea parties and special functions held in the best hotels. Their husbands fought with the British at some of the most famous battles of the war in North Africa ...
This book is a fascinating true story which the author shares with the reader. He also provides the history of the lives of his grandparents, Wanda and Hieronim, who remained in Poland and managed to survive the war. He gives very interesting details about the love lives of his Uncle Andrew and even of his own father, who was a womanizer and often cheated on his mother. In fact, his father had an affair with someone in Belgrade, the night before he married his mother, Chouquette. The story of the strained relationship of his parents is a very worthwhile read ax is the story of their divorce. The story of the lives of the author's Aunt Sophie and his Uncle Andrew are also complex, and sound more fictional than real. Andrew's father is a colorful enigmatic character who could be the leading character in a best selling novel, a figure larger than life, more a figment of someone's imagination than a real person. Both of his parents eventually built new lives but remained close due to their shared history and past which created a bond that could never be broken. Despite having lost their Polish homeland and the privileges of a lifestyle that totally dissolved after World War II - the past remained a constant shadow which followed them wherever they lived, no matter how different their current lives were. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2SRZQU1SZG4RR
• Fascinating! 16 February, 2008
I can only echo the praise of other reviewers. I am not a big non-fiction reader, but this book really captured me. These people led lives more fascinating than fiction could ever have been.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AM1CHGR00DIQN
• The Disintegration Of A Family, A Legacy And A Way Of Life 03 October, 2007
This is a great book about a country and a culture and a time that too many of us know too little about.
The narrative begins just before World War I and carries through World War II, the Communist period and the present day. It provides insight into the life of one family that made up part of Poland's priveleged class. The shortcomings and weaknesses that plagued Poland through much of its history seem to be manifested in this one, markedly dysfunctional family--the author's own.
Mr. Tarnowski's writing is clear, descriptive and enjoyable. He is forthright in telling the story of his family's disintegration--a process that began long before the Nazis ravaged Poland and the Soviets subsequently crushed and neutered it.
His writing quickly makes the reader familiar with the main characters; all of them are colorful, but only a few are likeable. In the end, although he doesn't say so, it is obvious that had the Germans and Soviets never crossed into Poland and stolen the riches of the ruling classes, the author's volatile, arrogant, greedy and alcoholic father would likely have singlehandedly destroyed the family's wealth and standing anyway.
It reads nearly like a novel--but is all the more enjoyable because the story is real. Although a sometimes painful read, it is a thoroughly gratifying one. I'm glad the author had the talent and courage to write it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2GZKT4J7UXL14
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