Laura de Turczynowicz
Born(1878-08-28)August 28, 1878
DiedOctober 25, 1953(1953-10-25) (aged 75)
Occupations
  • Opera singer
  • Theater producer
  • Theater director
Children3

Laura de Turczynowicz née Laura Christine Blackwell (28 August 1878 – 25 October 1953) was an operatic singer, theatre producer and director, notable for her charitable works during and after World War I, and an autobiography of her wartime experience in Poland.

Biography

Laura Christine Blackwell was born on 28 August 1878 in St. Catharines, Ontario.[1] She travelled to New York, Germany and Poland to pursue her career in the theater. It was in Krakow where she married Stanislaw de Turczynowicz, Count Gozdawa, becoming Laura de Turczynowicz, Countess Gozdawa; the couple had a daughter (Wanda Jolanda) and twin sons (Stanislaw Piotr and Wladislaw Pawel).[2]

It was not long after her children were born that World War I broke out. Madame de Turczynowicz was a prisoner in her home to the Germans for eight months, during which time, one of her sons suffered from typhus.[3] During this time, General Paul Von Hindenburg of the German army commandeered her home, which left them prisoners in their own home. Laura de Turczynowicz and her three children were later granted an American passport when she was recognized by a member of the embassy in Berlin. She travelled to Holland and on to America.[4] She never discovered what happened to her husband and never returned to Poland.[5]

Once back in the United States, Madame Turczynowicz created the Polish Grey Samaritans, a group of women focused on training to aid those in war torn Poland and Lithuania. The women were Polish American and worked with the YWCA to train before being sent to communities in need of assistance in Poland.[6] She traveled in the United States and Canada to address the public about the need for assistance with the Polish War Relief and the Russian Red Cross.[7] Countess Laura de Gozdawa Turczynowicz also wrote a book describing her time in Poland during World War I. The work was titled When the Prussians Came to Poland, published in 1916, and it became a best-seller in America.[8]

Later in her career, Madame Turczynowicz returned to Toronto, Ontario, to direct for the Toronto Conservatory of Music, where she worked for two years before leaving in 1929.[9] She moved on to Victoria, British Columbia, where she founded the Victoria Operatic Society in 1930, producing five operas.[10] Finally, Laura de Turczynowicz lived and worked in Santa Monica, California, until her death in 1953.

Works

  • When the Prussians came to Poland; the experiences of an American woman during the German invasion (1916)[11]

References

  1. ↑ Lampard, Elizabeth. "Music in St. Catharines". TheCanadianEncyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  2. ↑ de Turczynowicz, Laura, When the Prussians Came to Poland, p. vii, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1916.
  3. ↑ Meade, Norah "Persecuted Poland === Through the Eyes of an American Woman", The Journal Magazine, 1917, Page 9
  4. ↑ "Relates Tale of Awful Cruelty", Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume XLI, Number 93, 5 March 1918
  5. ↑ Englund, Peter, The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War, Vintage Books, 2012.
  6. ↑ Szymczak, Robert "An Act of Devotion: The Polish Grey Samaritans and the American Relief Effort in Poland, 1919-1921", Polish American Studies, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 13–36
  7. ↑ Ascher, Elizabeth. "Prussian Atrocities Told to Local Audience by Former Resident of St. Catharines", St. Catharines Standard, 16 April 1917
  8. ↑ Sweeney Brown, Joteen "El Paso Visitor Recalls March of Prussians Through Poland in 1916, Flight From Europe", The El Paso Times, 5 November 1942
  9. ↑ Schabas, Ezra "There's Music In These Walls: A History of the Royal Conservatory of Music", 2005
  10. ↑ "History - Langham Court Theatre Langham Court Theatre". www.LanghamTheatre.ca. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Turczynowicz, Laura Blackwell de Gozdawa (26 June 2017). "When the Prussians came to Poland; the experiences of an American woman during the German invasion". New York, London. G.P. Putnam's sons. Retrieved 26 June 2017 – via Internet Archive.
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