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Princess of Altenburg laid to rest in southern Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 12.10.2012 05:59
  • Maria Krystyna Habsburg laid to rest. Report by Nick Hodge
Maria Krystyna Habsburg, whose father was born Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria, was laid to rest in the town of Zywiec, southern Poland on Thursday.

Funeral
Funeral cortege of Maria Krystyna Habsburg, Zywiec: photo - PAP/Grzegorz Momot

“With the death of this generation of Habsburgs, an era is passing,” historian Professor Timothy Snyder tells our reporter Nick Hodge.

Relatives from across Europe descended on Zywiec for yesterday's funeral, which was held at the town's Co-cathedral of the Blessed Virgin.

Born in Zywiec in 1923, Maria Krystyna Habsburg belonged to a branch of the dynasty that had come to identify with Poland in the late 19th century, in spite of the Habsburgs' role in carving up the country between Austria, Prussia and Russia the previous century.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in 1918 following the First World War, Maria Krystyna Habsburg's family took up Polish citizenship, and her father served in the Polish Army.

For more, listen to this audio report, which features Professor Timothy Snyder, the author of The Red Prince: The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Europe andBloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Dorota Firlej from the Municipal Museum of Zywiec.

Photo:
Photo: International Cultural Centre/P. Mazur

Poland's place in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is currently being explored at Krakow's International Cultural Centre. The exhibition "Viribus Unitis? Polish Parliamentarians in the Habsburg Monarchy - 1848-1918" runs until 18 November 2012. Co-curator Zanna Komar introduces the subject in the supplementary report below:

Polish Parliamentarians in the Habsburg Monarchy
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