072. polish immigrants
24 Dec 2007While not a large percentage of the immigrant population, a fair number of people arrived to Argentina from Poland. The Unión de los Polacos has a large, modern mausoleum along the back wall of the cemetery:
The most illustrious I’ve found are the Count & Countess Zoltowski. He served as the Polish ambassador until his death in 1973:
But not all Polish immigrants were so lucky. Many Polish women in the early 1900s were brought to Argentina under the pretext of marriage to a wealthy, local businessman. Unfortunately when they disembarked, they were forced to work in prostitution. It was as dangerous then as it is now & over 1,000 of those women were buried in Avellaneda in a place called the Cemetery of Lost Souls (Cementerio de las Almas Perdidas).
27 Dec 2007 at 21:52
Keep looking, Robert, and you’ll find a Prince.
Seriously. Prince Radziwill, former ambassador of the Order of Malta. A polish prince with a lot of money, that died a few years ago. I bet he has a been buried there!
ps: I dare you to prononunce “Zbicniew Zoltowski”…
27 Dec 2007 at 22:56
He might be hiding out somewhere, but I don’t recall ever seeing a prince. I know a lot of the nouveau riche are using other cemeteries outside of Buenos Aires so Recoleta Cemetery is still for the old money families.
My Polish is pretty rusty :)
12 Jan 2010 at 16:25
Some traditional families have been losing their old money and therefore selling their share of the Cemetery to nouveaux-riches. Sometimes they even rent the place for the ceremony, for corpses that end up in other, less prestigious cemeteries…
12 Jan 2010 at 19:24
Palomain – I was pretty shocked the first time I heard about having an initial service in Recoleta Cemetery, then transferring the casket to another cemetery. But I guess people have to keep up appearances! Saludos!