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Abstract

This article discusses the history and architecture of a typical urban smallholding located at ul. Poznańska 13 in Kórnik belonging to the Michałowski family and the daily life which occurred there. The property used to include a house, pig-sties, a stable, and a garden, all of which were located between the main town road and the edge of the lake, as well as a barn and a field situated outside the town. The owner of such an urban smallholding used to be referred to as a civis agricola, or Ackerburger in German. In the 18th century, the holding belonged to the Biniaks, a family o f craftsmen. Towards the end of the century, along with the hand of Katarzyna Biniak (ca. 1764-1844), it became the property of Andrzej Michałowski (1763-1830), a carpenter from the neighbouring town of Bnin. The current house and the surviving outbuildings were built in 1878 by Andrzej’s grandson, Michał Michałowski (1832-1902). It was one of the so-called Grunderzeit investment projects implemented at the beginning of the reign of Wilhelm I, Emperor of Prussia. From Michał, the property was taken over by Franciszek Michałowski (1858-1924) and his wife Anna nee Szelążkiewicz (1878-1962). The author extensively discusses the daily life in the smallholding in the first decades of the 20th century on the basis of written and oral sources collected also from their son Stanisław (1903-1984) and granddaughter Bogusława Michałowska-Kowalska (*1931), the author’s mother. Some furniture, windows, doors, paintings, daily objects, and numerous documents from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century have managed to survive in the house until today. The later history of the property reflects the subsequent changes taking place in the life of the region and the country. After Franciszek’s death, Anna rebuilt the house, which ceased to be one household, becoming several tenant flats. During the Nazi occupation, Anna Michałowska was displaced, and deprived of her right to the property for the benefit of a German woman (Ursula Lehmann?). After 1945, the communist authorities assigned several families to live in the household, leaving only one room for Anna’s son, Stanisław. At that time, his political career (as an MP and as Deputy Mayor of Grudziądz in the 1930s; he was a member of the underground national authorities during the occupation) had been broken. During Stalinist times, he was imprisoned and was unable to practice his profession. It was then that he came back to Kórnik and the house became again the centre of a smallholding. Currently, it is the living place of the author - Stanisław’s grandson - and his closest family.

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Authors and Affiliations

Jacek Kowalski

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