Monday, January 29th, 2018
Today I have decided to start gathering all of my family research onto a Blog that I started quite a few years ago for exactly this purpose.
Being that Blogspot links to Facebook, I felt this would be the best way of sharing my research with my family and my friends.
There is so much to research and discover and my hope is that as I delve further into my family history on both my maternal and paternal side, that my family and friends will enjoy reading about my discoveries as much as I enjoy finding out about them and researching all the fascinating lines.
Today's post will be about my latest family discovery.
From my father's Repinski/Dulek family line I would like to introduce our 15th cousin from a tiny European principality called Liechenstein, a small nation that is entirely situated in the Austrian Alps.
A sad story of a cousin who's life ended way too soon.
He was more or less the same age as myself and my siblings, being born in 1962 halfway across the world from the same family tree that I and my father and his mother and my father's siblings and my brothers and cousins descend from.
Wenzel, Prinz von und zu Liechtenstein is John Repinski's 15th cousin
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Our cousin from across the ocean was a prince. So I shall start the story from that viewpoint....
Wenzel, Prinz von und zu Liechtenstein, our 15th cousin.
1962-1991
Once upon a time there lived a handsome Prince in a tiny principality in the Alpine mountains of Europe.
This Prince descended from an ancient family line of noble people with roots that go back to Poland and Austria and Germany and beyond.
A line that my Repinski/Dulek family connects to through a man named Dobrogost Gostomski, who is my 13th great grandfather and lived in the early 1500s.
First a short history of this little enclave in the Austrian Alps is in order:
The Principality of Liechtenstein
A doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in Central Europe. The principality is a constitutional monarchy headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein.
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps and is bordered to the east by Austria, and to the south and west by Switzerland. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the Rhine. Measured south to north the country is about 24 km (15 mi) long. Its highest point, the Grauspitz, is 2,599 m (8,527 ft). Despite its Alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys using more accurate measurements of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160 km2 (61.776 sq mi), with borders of 77.9 km (48.4 mi).[36] Thus, it was discovered in 2006 that Liechtenstein's borders are 1.9 km (1.2 mi) longer than previously thought.
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world— being a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan). Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallestindependent nation in the world by land area.
The family, from which the principality takes its name, originally came from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria which they had possessed from at least 1140 until the 13th century (and again from 1807 onwards).
Origins of a Family Dynasty
The Liechtensteins acquired land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria. As these territories were all held in feudal tenure from more senior feudal lords, particularly various branches of the Habsburgs, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet (parliament), the Reichstag. Even though several Liechtenstein princes served several Habsburg rulers as close advisers, without any territory held directly from the Imperial throne, they held little power in the Holy Roman Empire.
For this reason, the family sought to acquire lands that would be classed as unmittelbar (immediate) or held without any intermediate feudal tenure, directly from the Holy Roman Emperor. During the early 17th century Karl I of Liechtenstein was made a Fürst (prince) by the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias after siding with him in a political battle. Hans-Adam I was allowed to purchase the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and county of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz had exactly the political status required: no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
On 23 January 1718, after the lands had been purchased, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that Vaduz and Schellenberg were united and elevated the newly formed territory to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honour of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It was on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchase that the Princes of Liechtenstein never visited their new principality for almost 100 years.
By the early 19th century, as a result of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the Holy Roman Empire came under the effective control of France, following the crushing defeat at Austerlitz by Napoleon in 1805. Emperor Francis II abdicated, ending more than 960 years of feudal government. Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine. This political restructuring had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: the historical imperial, legal, and political institutions had been dissolved. The state ceased to owe an obligation to any feudal lord beyond its borders.
Modern publications generally attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. Its prince ceased to owe an obligation to any suzerain. From 25 July 1806, when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the Prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact, a vassal, of its hegemon, styled protector, the French Emperor Napoleon I, until the dissolution of the confederation on 19 October 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (20 June 1815 – 24 August 1866), which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria.
In 1818, Prince Johann I granted the territory a limited constitution. In that same year Prince Aloys became the first member of the House of Liechtenstein to set foot in the principality that bore their name. The next visit would not occur until 1842.
Developments during the 19th century included:
- 1836, the first factory, for making ceramics, was opened.
- 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded along with the first cotton-weaving mill.
- 1868, the Liechtenstein Army was disbanded for financial reasons.
- 1872, a railway line between Switzerland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was constructed through Liechtenstein.
- 1886, two bridges over the Rhine to Switzerland were built.
20th century
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein was closely tied first to the Austrian Empire and later to Austria-Hungary; the ruling princes continued to derive much of their wealth from estates in the Habsburg territories, and they spent much of their time at their two palaces in Vienna. The economic devastation caused by this war forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbour, Switzerland.
At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, was no longer bound to the emerging independent state of Austria, since the latter did not consider itself as the legal successor to the empire. This is partly contradicted by the Liechtenstein perception that the dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor still maintained an abstract heritage of the Holy Roman Empire.
Today
In 1929, 75-year-old Prince Franz I succeeded to the throne. Franz had just married Elisabeth von Gutmann, a wealthy woman from Vienna whose father was a Jewish businessman from Moravia. Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement arose within its National Union party. Local Liechtenstein Nazis identified Elisabeth as their Jewish "problem".
In March 1938, just after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, Prince Franz named as regent his 31-year-old first cousin twice removed and heir-presumptive, Prince Franz Joseph. Franz died in July that year, and Franz Joseph succeeded to the throne. Franz Joseph II first moved to Liechtenstein in 1938, a few days after Austria's annexation.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained officially neutral, looking to neighbouring Switzerland for assistance and guidance, while family treasures from dynastic lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia were taken to Liechtenstein for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's properties in those three regions. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the International Court of Justice) included over 1,600 km2 (618 sq mi) of agricultural and forest land (most notably the UNESCO listed Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape), and several family castles and palaces.
Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, Prince Wenzel von und zu Liechtenstein, youngest brother of the reigning Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein, died at the age of twenty-eight on February 28, 1991. At the time of his passing, the announcement of his death, as well as the causes behind it was a rather subdued affair, almost to the point of mystery.
In fact, any amount of “googling” on the internet to this day will find almost no mention about this young man, especially in relation to his death. Even the family website is conspicuously reticent about this prince of mystery. Wenzel’s name only appears in the general family tree and a footnote like reference is made in the biography of his father.
The circumstances of his death are most mysterious, and to this day there are many rumours still circulating as to the causes. Found in his bedroom upon his death were two chronometers, or stop watches, and an anaesthesia mask.
He may have been conducting a "medical experiment", or may have been experiencing a deliberate "temporary cessation of breathing", or he may have had a heart attack, or suicide as a respite against family pressure. Whatever the reason, his sudden death caused profound shock among his family and friends.
By the winter of 1991 and for the third time in eighteen months, the flags were flying at half-mast, the tolling of funeral bells could be heard across the capital, the country was plunged into mourning, and yet another coffin covered with the national flag was placed in the Pfarrkirche of Vaduz.
Starting in October 1989, with the death of Fürstin Gina von und zu Liechtenstein followed a few weeks later with the death of the reigning prince, Fürst Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein, the princely family was rocked with the deaths of three prominent members, mother, father and youngest son.
The sudden death of Prince Wenzel caused great grief at the princely court of Liechtenstein.
On March 6th, the princely family, along with royal mourners from abroad, accompanied His Serene Highness Prince Franz Josef Wenceslaus Georg Maria von und zu Liechtenstein to his last resting place in the tomb of the House von und zu Liechtenstein
The favourite child of his parents, Prince Wenzel was born on November 19, 1962 in Zurich
A scholar by nature, the prince led a very solitary life, and although from a family with unlimited riches, lived a very modest lifestyle.
Shunning the hedonistic life of a royal playboy, Wenzel was more comfortable with a book, rather than the delights gained from a café society nightlife.
Since Liechtenstein does not possess a standing army, In 1982 Prince Wenzel entered the Military Academy at Sandhurst, and a year later was a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards in London
He then studied medicine at Freiburg, and at the time of his death was an intern at a hospital in Rorschach in Switzerland , while still living in Vaduz
Unmarried, he was dedicated to and very committed to his work, which he used as a base from which to build an independent life on his own.
The sudden death of Prince Wenzel occurred in the guesthouse of Schloß Vaduz, where he lived. When his butler tried to wake him as usual, the man noticed that the phone remained unanswered. Knowing the punctuality of the prince, the butler became concerned and upon investigation found Wenzel dead in his bed.
Because no exact cause of death could be determined, the prince’s body was taken to the medical institute at the Court of Justice in Saint Gallen. What was hard to explain was what was found on the prince’s bedside table; two stop watches and a mask that was typically used for administering narcotics. The rumour was that there was a presumption that the prince had tried out a medical experiment on himself and mistakenly gave the wrong dose. Suicide was ruled out based on the reasoning that the night before, Wenzel had dined with his older brother, Fürst Hans Adam and left in a very good mood.
The visible shock on Hans Adam’s face conveyed the deep impact Wenzel’s death had on everyone, with the prince commenting; “ I still can’t believe it, The night before we had talked so extensively about his plans!”
As a caveat to all the other rumors, some had ventured to say that Prince Wenzel was a homosexual, and in the eyes of his brother, this was considered to be a deadly sin. Supposedly the pressure he put on his brother caused Prince Wenzel such deep depression that eventually the prince preferred suicide to the continued family pressure! Even Prince Wenzel’s friends in St. Gallen were convinced that Wenzel’s brother was the one responsible for his death!
A medical experiment gone wrong, natural causes, succumbing to family pressure over sexual orientation, the real reasons may never be known.
My Family Historian
John
1 comment:
Outstanding discovery!
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