Krynica is fashionable and snobbish
In the interwar period, the number of visitors to the pearl of Polish health resorts systematically increased: from less than 10,000. people in 1919 to over 30 thousand in the second half of the 1930s. Krynica then became not only a fashionable but also a snobbish resort.
This feature was captured by Adolf Nowaczyński, who in one of his columns described the Krynica society in a colorful way, with the addition of undisguised sarcasm:
“The day starts [in Krynica] at 9 a.m. That's when the sun officially rises here, as you can see from the orchestra conducted by Feliks Kochański, which starts [the concert]. Many people carry sheets, others tennis jackets, others glass tubes, others umbrellas for the weather, there are also many cubists marching with cups. Around ten o'clock the crowd starts getting really drunk. There are specialists who secretly drink two buckets of "Kryniczanka", adding a bottle of "Zuber", then quickly go to the mountains, forests, towards "Michasiowa", carefully avoiding friends and looking for secluded places. Under the toadstool umbrellas sit what is most important and what is talked about, i.e. several hundred of the most beautiful Polish women aged fourteen to forty. Some are anemic, but all the more beautiful.” (A. Nowaczyński, Krynicaca, "Echo Krynickie" No. 14, August 22, 1927).
This feature was captured by Adolf Nowaczyński, who in one of his columns described the Krynica society in a colorful way, with the addition of undisguised sarcasm:
“The day starts [in Krynica] at 9 a.m. That's when the sun officially rises here, as you can see from the orchestra conducted by Feliks Kochański, which starts [the concert]. Many people carry sheets, others tennis jackets, others glass tubes, others umbrellas for the weather, there are also many cubists marching with cups. Around ten o'clock the crowd starts getting really drunk. There are specialists who secretly drink two buckets of "Kryniczanka", adding a bottle of "Zuber", then quickly go to the mountains, forests, towards "Michasiowa", carefully avoiding friends and looking for secluded places. Under the toadstool umbrellas sit what is most important and what is talked about, i.e. several hundred of the most beautiful Polish women aged fourteen to forty. Some are anemic, but all the more beautiful.” (A. Nowaczyński, Krynicaca, "Echo Krynickie" No. 14, August 22, 1927).
The most famous people from the world of politics visiting Krynica include: Kazimierz Bartel, Józef Beck, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, Ignacy Mościcki, Bronisław Pieracki, Władysław Raczkiewicz, Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Wincenty Witos and Józef Piłsudski, who visited the spa with his wife and daughters at the turn of January and February 1928 (the 1st Podhale Rifle Regiment visited Nowy Sącz), at the beginning of 1930 (he lived with his family in the Spa House) and in mid-January 1934 (he came for a few days to his wife and daughters, who also stayed at the spa in the winter of 1931/1932 and 1932/1933). A few weeks before the outbreak of World War II, Count Jan Szembek, deputy minister of foreign affairs, stayed in Krynica, whose interlocutor was, among others, with Count Alfons Aleksander Koziełł-Poklewski, married to Zoja de Stoeckl, granddaughter of the Russian diplomat Baron Eduard de Stoeckl, who participated in the signing of the agreement on the sale of Alaska to the United States.
Among the foreign guests, the most popular was the stay of the Dutch Princess Juliana and her husband, Prince Bernard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (on this occasion, the Dutch radio broadcast a special radio program), and also the leader of the Slovaks, Fr. Andrej Hlinka and the German pianist Egon Petri. The higher clergy were represented by, among others: the Primates of Poland, Cardinal. Edmund Dalbor and Cardinal August Hlond, Archbishop of Lviv of the Armenian Rite, Józef Teofil Teodorowicz, and the Apostolic Nuncios - Cardinal Francesco Marmaggi and Bishop Filippo Cortesi. The world of sports had its representative, among others: in the person of Halina Konopacka. Among the creators of Polish culture, the presence of: Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Marian Hemar, Stefan Jaracz, Wojciech Kossak, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Kornel Makuszyński, Władysław Reymont, Ada Sari, Ludwik Sempoliński, Antoni Słonimski, Jadwiga Smosarska and Julian Tuwim, whose pamphlet entitled From the patient's diary, published in "Ech Krynicki" (October 1, 1927), he struck at the seriousness of the medical profession, which was highly respected in Krynica.
Author: Leszek Migrała
Author: Leszek Migrała
