George de Mohrenschildt's best friend

[Guest]

Tomasz Stanislaw JANTA-POLCZYNSKI  was George de Mohrenschildt’s best friend.

He is the one that helped George when George decided to put an end to his dealings with W.Oltmans (cfr. the trip to Liège/Belgium,  were George “disappeared”).  George stayed a couple of days with Tomasz in Brussels before returning to the USA. 

George and Tomasz came from Poland to Belgium in pretty much the same week.  Tomasz did leave Antwerp rather unexpectedly in 1932, don’t know where he went from there (it is possible he moved to another city/institut in Belgium).  He shows up in the archives after WWII when he gets married and studies in Gembloux, Belgium.   So there is a long period un-accounted for, but that doesn’t mean a  thing, simply because not all cities in Belgium have made their immigration files available for research.

Tomasz Stanisław JANTA-POLCZYNSKI:

-          was born in 1910 in Poznan, Poland.   Poznan is in the west of Poland, some 140 miles from Berlin, Germany  (George was born in 1911 in Mozyr, Russia).

-          was also a descendant from a long line of aristocracy, his father (born 1875) was a Major in the Army and a Doctor in medicine/neurology, he died in 1936

-          Tomasz had 1 sister and 2 brothers, one of his brothers was Alexander (born 1908 Poznan) , he was a journalist and a poet, he married Walentina Stocker (born 1913) that became Walentina Janta-Polczyncki , in the USA she was called the first lady of the Polish Americans :

-           https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/world/europe/walentyna-janta-polczynska-dead.html

-          he also had an uncle that was the well-known Secretary of Polish Agriculture between 1930-1935, very active in politics, even at European level  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Leon_Janta_Po%C5%82czy%C5%84ski

-          Tomasz got his Visa on 10/8/1930 at the Belgian consulate in Warschau  (George got his on  10/4/1930,also in Warschau)

-          got his Poish passport on 9/26/1930 in Poznan  (George on 9/10/1930 in Wilno ( Poland  –  Wilno is now Vilnius in Latvia)

-          he arrived in Antwerp, Belgium on 10/13/1930 (George on 10/8/1930, also in Antwerp)

-          his immigration file was number  217.105, George’s file was number 217.104 (in the Central File system at the main office), they registered in different parts of Antwerp ( c.q. in different police stations), files were kept in the central-/head-office “down-town”

-          both rented different rooms in Antwerp ( George until he moved in with Marie LAMY on July 26, 1932 and Tomasz when he left Antwerp in Oct. 8, 1932)

-          he also entered his first year at the Institut de Commerce in Antwerp in 1930, it is not sure what he studied there or for how long because for an unknown reason he left the city of Antwerp on 10/8/1932 (his file says “unexpectedly”), this was also 2 days before his visa had to be extended.    It is possible he continued his studies there, but decided to live in another city, or decided to study and live elsewhere in Belgium.  I can’t find anything on him until after WWII.   

-          in 1950 he got his title of Engineer  in Chemical Sciences and Industrial Agriculture from the Belgian Institut National d’Agriculture in Gembloux, Belgium (as such he must have entered these studies circa 1946-1947)

-          he married in 1946, his wife was born in 1929, she was also of Polish noble-descent, she passed away in 2005, he had passed away in 2000 in Brussels, Belgium (he was 90 y.o.), as far as I know they had at least 2 sons, and at least  5 grandchildren

-          most of the time the couple lived near Brussels, Belgium (at the same address for many years, well into the 1990’s, the same that was in George’s address book)

Sources:

City of Antwerp/Antwerpen Stad, Stadsarchief; Felix Archief, Public Files, Immigratie-dossiers, nummers 217104 (George) en 217105 (Tomasz)

Belgicapress, Belgian Newspapers Public Archives, Institut National d’Agriculture in Gembloux, Gazette / Bruxelles, 1950 

Belgicapress, Belgian Newspapers Public Archives, Gazette / La Wallonie, Marriages 1946

Geneanet, Janta-Ploczynski Family Tree (small part)

The Polish website http://www.sejm-wielki.pl/b/sw.21320 that has most of the family documented. 

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[Jean Ceulemans]

Just found some more information on Tomasz (I had no idea where he was during WWII).  

Apparently he was the vice-minister for Poland (Polish government in excile, London, UK)

After the war he came back to Belgium (he marries here in 1946, continous his studies,.. see above). 

He gained the Belgian nationality in 1957.

I feel he was pretty much the opposite (in character, family life,...) of GDM... opposites attract I guess