Born on December 10, 1936, in Puchały. Son of Remigiusz (1888–1965) and Barbara Świato-pełk–Czetwertyński (1900–1970). Married (1969) to Magdalena Findeisen (1943). Father of Barbara (1972), Adam (1974), Anna (1976), Jan (1978), and Gabriel (1984). Died on June 25, 2014, in Miami, Florida, buried on October 31, 2014, in Laski.
Farewell to Włodzimierz Grocholski
On May 29, 1965 (almost 50 years ago), at the Military Cemetery in Laski, we bid farewell to Colonel Remigiusz Grocholski, a hero of the independence struggle, father of sons and daughters, to whom he passed on a model of life in line with the motto: GOD, HONOR, and COUNTRY, indicating both the way of thinking and the principles of conduct.
The entrance of the Colonel to the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw was eloquent. Behind the father, in order of seniority, followed: Mikołaj, Barbara, Remigian, Michał, Anna, Ignacy, Franciszek, Włodzimierz, Piotr, and Elżbieta. This caused understandable commotion: some stood up, words of recognition could be heard…
And when they scatter like birds across the wide world, that recognizable imprint of the Father—a unique Esprit de corps—will remain on them. One could call out here: Stand to the Roll Call!
Włodzimierz did not have an easy task. The new Poland was not a nurturing mother for everyone, nor was it friendly to the values that had recently permeated Polish Homes, among them Pietniczany and Strzyżawka. Not seeing the necessity to adapt to the barely understandable circumstances, Włodzimierz resided in his own, somewhat fanciful reality, going through life with his captivating smile, trusting and friendly to people, hurrying to help whenever needed. For this, he was uncompromising in his views, standing up for the ideals he believed in with an open visor—semper fidelis. Such were once the companions of Mohort, and Włodzimierz now seemed to be a similar knight. And it is hard not to notice in this stance, gesture, and fantasy, the adored Father.
Towards the end of his stay in Warsaw, Włodzimierz experienced a fascination with Film, entering this world with his characteristic engagement and joy of life.
However, Włodzimierz found his fulfillment only in the family he established far from here, giving his own children the values he once received with the question: “Who are you? A little Pole…”. Passing on the tradition sanctified by the work of generations is both our privilege and duty. Włodzimierz fulfilled it, as he did everything—with his whole being. To the end. But he was not alone in this. Magdalena stood by him, equally devoted to their loved ones, protecting and supporting them with maternal care. All who visited this open, hospitable home appreciated it, finding in it undisturbed friendship and warmth, an atmosphere of all-encompassing love. Whenever I encounter such a dominant feeling, I always return in thought to the “Hymn of Love” by St. Paul from the 1st Letter to the Corinthians: “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love…”
Pietniczany and Strzyżawka have passed, becoming a Borderland Memento, a Polish trace on the ruins of Lithuania and Ruthenia. In their place, new Grocholski nests arise, admittedly not with the former splendor, but equally resistant to turbulence and adversity, and above all maintaining the awareness of spiritual and mental connection. It is to these qualities that the magnetic strength of “Krakowskie” owes its existence, that Genius Loci, where despite the passage of years, everyone has their place, and the temple where we are now has become almost their home chapel. That is why it was there, among family memories and mementos, that we saw each other for the last time.
If the comparison of some people to flowers is accurate, then Włodzimierz was one of them. Always radiant and young, with an inseparable sense of humor, exuding an aura of positive thinking, cheerfulness, and the conviction that Truth and Goodness, as attributes of God, must prevail. We associate with this our HOPE, sister of FAITH AND LOVE.
With them, Włodzimierz, you will remain in our thoughts and in the messages to our descendants: with Faith, Hope, and Love. Despite this, how little we can offer you today. Perhaps… a distant echo of the National Poem? At the same time, invoking the memory of another poet, still present among us, Fr. Jan Twardowski. For poetry gains extraordinary power when it connects the past with today, and the present with the eternity awaiting us.
Like migratory cranes over a wild island,
flying over an enchanted palace in spring
and hearing the loud complaint of an enchanted boy,
each bird dropped one feather to the boy,
He made wings from them and returned to his own.
Speech by Stanisław Ledóchowski at the Church of the Visitation Sisters of St. Joseph the Betrothed in Warsaw, October 31, 2014, on the occasion of Włodzimierz Grocholski’s funeral in Laski.
Fototeka – Włodzimierz Grocholski
Conversation of Małgorzata Subotić and Paweł Tomczyk with Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński
About two such..
RZECZPOSPOLITA October 15, 1998
They were born on June 18, 1949. Both hold doctorates in law. Lech Kaczyński devised the formula for the Centre Agreement, and Jarosław was until recently the president of this party. They have held important roles in public life after 1989, among others, Jarosław Kaczyński was the head of the Office of President Lech Wałęsa, and Lech was the president of the Supreme Audit Office in the previous term. Today, one is an independent MP, and the other is a research worker at the University of Gdańsk.
Let’s clarify at the outset: who was Jacek, and who was Placek?
Jarosław Kaczyński: – I was Placek.
Lech Kaczyński: – Sometimes we switched roles, and I played Placek, and Jarek played Jacek.
Was it your idea?
Jarosław: – I don’t remember.
Lech: – It was when I had to climb that roof.
Jarosław: – Yes, it was me who climbed because Leszek had a fear of heights.
Did the directors know about this switch?
Lech and Jarosław: – They knew.
Apparently, they couldn’t tell you apart.
Jarosław: – They could distinguish us because they were people with a keen eye, sensitive to the image, operators, directors.
Lech: – But ordinary people couldn’t recognize us.
How did you end up in the film at all?
Jarosław: – There was a contest. Our uncle Stanisław Miedza-Tomaszewski just tore a piece of paper from a notebook, wrote our names, and sent it. Did he tell you about it, or was it a surprise?
Jarosław: – I don’t remember. We were very interested in films at the time, we read reviews, we were happy when Polish films won awards at festivals.
Lech: – Not just films. During radio broadcasts of athletics matches of the Polish “wunderteam,” we both got fevers from excitement. Jarosław: – And of course, we dreamed of playing in some film, but that dream was very abstract, like winning a million in the lottery.
Lech: – I don’t remember dreaming about it, but I also had no reservations about going to the first auditions. It was on Puławska, in a cinema hall. Over seventy pairs of twins from Warsaw and the surrounding area showed up. There were even two triplets.
Jarosław: – Such twins with a reserve player…
Lech: – With spare parts, as we joked at the time. At the very beginning, we sat politely somewhere in the back, and then a handsome man approached us, who turned out to be a real count, Włodzimierz Grocholski, one of the set managers. And he moved us from the back rows to the front.
What made them choose you?
Jarosław: – It seems to me that we were the most reliable candidates, due to our relatively mature age and decent savvy.
Lech: – We seemed promising.
Jarosław: – We probably provided the greatest guarantee that it wouldn’t end in failure. As a curiosity, I can also say that our competitors, whom we beat, were the Walendziak brothers.
Lech: – But they weren’t the last competitors. The last ones were called Huber.
So the guarantee provided by maturity was decisive?
Jarosław: – Apparently, there were different factions in the film crew, including a very strong one supporting the Huber brothers. However, our 12 years probably decided it.
When did you find out you were playing in the film?
Lech: – By the sea, near Cetniewo. July 26, 1961. I remember this date because I am superstitious. Since then, I consider this day a good one, although nothing special has happened on this day for thirty years.
Jarosław: – We received a telegram, meaning our parents did, inviting them to “finalize the matter.” I remember that phrase.
Lech: – I think it was “finalizing the boys’ participation in our film,” but maybe you’re right.
Jarosław: – It was definitely the word “finalization.”
Who was the most pleased?
Jarosław: – We both triumphed. The family was also pleased, no one was opposed.
The division of roles took place without any discussion?
Jarosław: – I don’t remember how it happened. It may have started while we were still training with grandma during the auditions. We acted out scenes, and grandma sat and judged. She had been interested in acting for a long time and was a demanding critic.
Apparently, you played various pranks on the set?
Lech: – But not on the set… For example, Jarek locked the production manager, and someone else, in his room. This room was in a less frequented part of the studio, and no one heard them shouting.
And what happened then?
Lech: – He eventually let them out. He listened to “just criticism” and locked them up again.
Where were the scenes shot?
Jarosław: – Mainly in Łódź, but it started in Łeba. Before we got to the set, they took care of our appearance. First, our heads. Nothing came of the wigs, so in the end, they lightened our hair. And it hurt terribly.
Why?
Jarosław: – Because of the hydrogen peroxide. Our hair was very difficult to lighten, and they had to “sharpen” the peroxide.
Lech: – But I preferred that to having a wig on my head for several hours a day. Even though the hair grew back quickly and the whole torture had to be repeated.
Jarosław: – They also gave us freckles. We were taken care of by the makeup artist Mr. Szossler. An additional attraction in Łeba was that we were shooting on dunes, which were then a training ground. There were still plenty of shrapnel left from Rommel’s army exercises. And there was a donkey. But there were problems with it because, contrary to the script, it didn’t want to throw us off.
Did it like you that much?
Jarosław: – It was a good donkey. Its trainer, however, had rather strange manners…
Lech: – “Tresologist,” that’s how he wanted to be addressed.
Jarosław: – He could tell Helena Grossówna, a star of pre-war Polish cinema, who played our mother, that she didn’t look like she used to. Then he explained that he said it “with a garden.” The donkey didn’t want to throw us off, so they told us to stick some wedge into its groin, and it just wouldn’t budge. Like a donkey. In the end, we jumped over it.
Lech: – I remember the rooster didn’t want to crow either.
Jarosław: – The worst were the pelicans. They were made from skins stripped from geese, so they didn’t smell very nice, they had an electrical installation inside, which often malfunctioned. And they poured water because it was a storm scene. First cold, but since you can’t pour cold water on children, they started pouring hot water. They couldn’t get the temperature right. The wind for this storm was made with an airplane propeller. It was a bit suffocating. This was the last phase of shooting, hurried, the least pleasant. Of course, the worst thing was that school was approaching again. There was another story with the pelicans. Initially, they were supposed to slide down a line from the fourth floor with us on their backs. Mom, of course, protested, and they put dummies on the pelicans.
Were there no stuntmen?
Jarosław: – It was quite a height, and the stuntmen wouldn’t have managed. Besides, the first time, the pelicans with the dummies really fell. Then, for the scene of falling into the water, they used a different method. There were stuntmen, young swimmers from the local club.
Jacek and Placek are at least at the beginning of the film two classic rascals who even treated their own mother unsympathetically. Did you have any difficulties playing such roles?
Jarosław: – “About Two Who Stole the Moon” was read to us aloud by Władzia, our 14-year-old housekeeper, when we were five. We laughed, we really liked the book. But seven years later, when we were acting in the film, we already had absolute distance. If they had told us to shoot, we would have shot without batting an eye and without feeling that it concerned us. Just a film. Although, on the other hand, we probably wouldn’t have wanted to play Soviet pioneers.
Lech: – There was no identification with the role in the slightest. If we had any objections to the script, it was, for example, that in the book Jacek and Placek return to Zapiecek on horseback, and in the film, we walked. We would have preferred horseback.
What were your interactions with the adult world like?
Jarosław: – Director Jan Batory and his wife, who was the editor, were very nice. He really knew how to deal with children. There were many colorful people in the crew, but there were no – speaking today’s ugly language – menial characters, which also often occur in this world.
Lech: – Most were very kind to us, but some crossed the line of good taste. The assistant production manager, for example, woke us up in the hotel in the morning with shouts: “Get up, get up! Grandma by the coat and to Łąkowa!”. Because at that time, our grandmother was taking care of us, and the studio was on Łąkowa.
Jarosław: – The shooting lasted half a year. We had domestic care the whole time. First, our mom was with us, then she was replaced by our grandmother.
And during this time, were there no conflicts?
Lech: – We weren’t allowed to see the working viewing of the scenes. Batory thought we shouldn’t watch ourselves at all. I think we only managed to sneak into the operator’s cabin once.
Jarosław: – We really liked playing football. Leszek was a very good goalkeeper, and when the film management saw his dives, they were terrified that we would get hurt. They wanted us not to play football, and we didn’t want to hear about it because it was a completely incomprehensible attack on our freedom. Every lost day on the set increased costs, and the film’s budget was only seven million zlotys. For comparison, “Knights of the Teutonic Order” cost forty million.
Lech: – When we were filming near Łódź, the local bums sent a peer to us with a proposal that they would “painlessly” break our legs, and we would take compensation and “give them a few pennies.”
What were the acting fees?
Jarosław: – Forty thousand for both of us. Besides, our mom was paid the equivalent of a salary plus sixty-three zlotys per diem plus an apartment in the Grand Hotel in Łódź. We also had two teachers. We really liked when there were overtime hours on set because then we didn’t have to study after work.
Lech: – We liked wandering around the studio, where there were many interesting things. They were finishing “Passenger” by Munk at that time. I remember we asked Aleksandra Śląska to show us what she had in the holster. Unfortunately, it was empty. Several times Bogumił Kobiela, who was a very nice, friendly, and cheerful person, joined our table in the buffet. Marek Kondrat was also there, who was playing in “The Story of the Yellow Shoe” at the same time as us. He was a year younger than us and also lived in the “Grand,” but in a regular room. Which filled us, the residents of the apartment, with understandable pride.
Jarosław: – We went together to a kind of fairground shooting range near the hotel. As wealthy people, “working stars,” we could afford a lot of shots. We shot fairly well, even decently. This caused surprise among the shooting range patrons because we were commonly mistaken for girls. We had long, light hair. Boys didn’t wear such hair then.
And what about the damages in the apartment that your mom had to pay for?
Jarosław: Grocholski, a twenty-four-year-old guy – although he claimed he was twenty-six – was very youthful. A twelve-year-old could befriend him. He collected old weapons, not medieval ones, but from World War II.
Lech: – He had explosives, smoke candles, trotyl in blocks, fuses. He brought trotyl to our room and set it on fire. We liked it very much.
Jarosław: – It’s known that lit trotyl doesn’t explode, it just burns. Once we got a smoke candle from him and somehow out of curiosity, I started rubbing it. And in a few seconds, the whole room was in thick, sticky smoke. Fortunately, Grocholski was sick that day, lying in his room, one floor up. He ran down in just his underwear and neutralized the candle, scattering its contents. It smelled inhumanly. Mom had to pay for solid extra cleaning, polishing, and renewing the slightly burned furniture.
Why did you do it?
Jarosław: – Honestly speaking, I don’t know. Of course, I wasn’t some kind of lunatic, I knew you couldn’t light a candle in a hotel, I intended to light it in a more suitable place. But curiosity won: “and if I rub, what will happen?”.
Lech: – Thirty years later, I’m sitting in the office as the deputy chairman of “Solidarity.” Grocholski bursts in. I recognized him, “good day,” “hi,” he greeted. We chatted for a moment. He said: – I’ll be back in a second. He left and I haven’t seen him since.
What happened next? After returning to school?
Jarosław: – Nothing. We repainted ourselves back to dark. And nothing.
No fears before the premiere?
Jarosław: – The film didn’t have a premiere, there was no ceremony. We were only at the children’s and youth club “Zygzaczek” at an unofficial premiere, a screening for the club members.
Lech: – The children asked probing questions.
Jarosław: – They were very learned. It amused us greatly.
Really, nothing changed in the approach to the famous actors in the school benches?
Lech: – In the first term of the seventh grade, we had quite average results, a lot of threes. And then the teacher told our father that it was because we were in the film.
Didn’t you boast about dinners in SPATiF, the apartment in the “Grand”?
Jarosław: – We didn’t appreciate these achievements.
There was no reading of reviews with flushed faces?
Jarosław: – I would be lying if I said I remember even one review. But I probably read them. We weren’t compared to Shirley Temple.
But your acting was positively evaluated. Why didn’t you become actors?
Jarosław: – I never intended to be an actor for a second. If we were delicately steered in any direction in the family, it was to become scientists.
Lech: – And it was obvious to us that after studies, one should do a doctorate.
Jarosław: – At that time, I was fascinated by Atlantis. I wanted to be the Schliemann of Atlantis. He discovered Troy, and I was supposed to discover Atlantis.
Lech: – Even in the sixth grade, we received a proposal to play in the next film. We even went to the audition, but only to skip school. It was “Big, Bigger, and the Biggest.”
Jarosław: – I received another offer to appear in a film by phone when I was in my fourth year of studies. They needed an eighteen-year-old. They weren’t at all deterred by the fact that I was already twenty-one. I convinced them only when I said: – Sir, but I am 166 centimeters tall and weigh 73 kilos.
Do you often watch this film?
Lech: – We don’t specifically hunt for it, but it’s often on television, then we watch at least a piece.
Do you sing the song ending the film yourselves?
Jarosław: “I’m a brave one and you’re a brave one, together we are two braves.” We sang together, with false voices, but later, of course, two actresses dubbed their voices.
Your singing wasn’t very suitable?
Lech. – It wasn’t suitable at all.
PHOTO. MICHAŁ SADOWSKI and Jacek and Placek on the film set. FAMILY ARCHIVE PHOTO