Kęszyccy Family Archive

collection Kęszyccy Family Archive
authors Marcin Kęszycki
starring Maria Kęszycka; Wojciech Kęszycki; Wojciech Kęszyc
length 20'53
country Poland
year 1965-1966
format 8 mm
color black and white; color
signature PAFD 0036 001
description

The author of the film is Marcin Kęszycki, who as a teenager documented family and social life with a Newa 2 camera. 

The film was made in 1965 or 1966 during family holidays in Wisła, Kraków, Czorsztyn, Krynica-Zdrój, Rabka-Zdrój and Jeleśnia. Marcin’s parents, Wojciech and Maria, are relaxing in the open air together with their son Wojtek. A mosaic of genre scenes from their travels along mountain roads and villages. During a visit to Jeleśnia, Maria found the family of her father Marcin Wyród-Przyborowski, who died in Siberia during the Second World War. The meeting was very moving, as the family members had not been in contact with each other since times before the war. The Wyród family poses for a photo, which was later developed and pasted into an album. Contact with the family from Jeleśnia was maintained through Christmas greetings sent to each other, but there was never a reunion. In Wisła, the Kęszycki family take the chairlift to Czantoria Wielka and walk along mountain trails all the way to the border of the then People’s Republic of Poland with Czechoslovakia.  During their stay in Cracow, the family visits, among other things, Wawel Cathedral and the Main Square. Maria with Wojciech and her sons also visit the ruins of the castle in Czorsztyn, and in Krynica-Zdrój they see the Adam Mickiewicz monument in the Spa Park and take a cable-car ride to Góra Parkowa. Between the mountain towns, the family travels by humpback. They take another shot at the rapidly rising water level in the Vistula River. An important point on the holiday route was Rabka-Zdrój (then Rabka), where Maria lived for several years after the Warsaw Uprising. The woman attended secondary school there and still had many friends from her school years in the town. The Kęszycki family visit the Andrysz family, who were Maria’s and her mother’s closest friends during their years in Rabka. Members of both families pose to the camera on the veranda of the historic Andrysz villa on the promenade.

(AT)

 

keywords Poland  Cracow  Krynica-Zdrój  Rabka-Zdrój  Czorsztyn  Pieniny  Wisła  Jeleśnia  Wawel Royal Castle  Wawel Cathedral  Góra Parkowa  Spa Park  travel  car  humpback  mountains  trail  off-road cable car  chairlift  campsite  river  town  border  villa  family  family life  social life 
source of funding Ministry of Culture and National Heritage