Statue of Klaudyna V LO in Poznań
Klaudyna statuette of V LO in Poznan. It is awarded to the Laureates of the Best Graduate Award of the Klaudyna Potocka V High School in Poznan. The author of the statuette is Alina Nowak, a sculptor from Poznan. The statuette is made of bronze. Height 17cm, width 7cm, depth 8cm.
Some quotes taken from the website of the 5th High School in Poznan.
“Klaudyna of Działyńska Potocka”.
Teofila Klaudyna née Dzialynska Potocka was born on August 27, 1801 in Kórnik. She came from the Działyński family of merit to the country. Her father – Ksawery Działyński together with his brother Ignacy – was one of the active participants in the work of the Four-Year Sejm and creators of the May 3 Constitution. During the Kosciuszko Uprising he was a member of the Provisional Council, and as a result was imprisoned in Prussia. Later he additionally held the dignity of senatorial governor of the Duchy of Warsaw. Klaudyna’s mother was Justyna née Dzieduszycka, an educated woman with rather original interests.
Klaudyna, together with her sister-in-law Celestyna Dzialynska and Emilia Sczaniecka, often visited the camp where loved ones were located, taking care of the sick on occasion.
Klaudyna Potocka persevered to the end of the uprising with great dedication, nursing the wounded and sick. Therefore, only after the fall of Warsaw did she decide to leave.
After being indicted by the Prussian authorities, she left for Dresden. There she organized the Polish Ladies Benevolent Committee, which was in charge of raising funds to provide assistance to needy emigrants. She also established a Polish Hostel in Dresden, where compatriots could stay for a few days and rest.
Constant efforts, work, emotion devastated her inherently frail body, and symptoms of lung disease appeared. Under pressure from the Russian authorities, many of Potocka’s associates had to leave Dresden and go to France. She cooperated with Adam Mickiewicz in efforts to publish Garczyński’s poetry, and was involved in the distribution of that poet’s works, as well as those of Mickiewicz, Slowacki and others.
Within a few years, however, the disease had progressed, and despite the efforts of her husband, friends and doctors, there was little to help her anymore. She died on June 8, 1836, in Geneva. She was buried in the local cemetery, where her remains remained until 1879; later, as a result of the cemetery’s liquidation, they were moved to the Montmorency cemetery in Paris. Klaudyna Potocka’s deeds will always remain in the memory of Poles.
...Currently, our school – the Fifth High School in Poznań – bears her name.”
