Suicide in Kościeliska Valley. Press about the death of Jadwiga Janczewska

Abstract

The article presents and discusses press cut-outs concerning the suicide of Witkacy’s fiancée, Jadwiga Janczewska. The query involved the journals stored in digital libraries and the journals from the archives of Warsaw University Library.

            The first news on the suicide in the Tatra mountains appeared on Sunday 22 February 1914 in “Kurier Warszawski” (on the basis of a telegram by Eastern Telegraphic Agency from 21 February) and in Cracow’s “Nowa Reforma”, in which false information was given (first of all, the name of the deceased was wrong), as a result of which all national dailies published notes on the suicide of “Zofia Janczewska, age 22, from Lithuania”.     

The Warsaw “Goniec Poranny”, “Goniec Wieczorny”, Cracow “Czas”, “Kurier Lwowski”, “Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny”, “Dziennik Poznański”, “Gazeta Lwowska” or “Gazeta Podhalańska” often gave false information concerning the details of that tragic event (mistakes in reference to not only the name, but also surname of the deceased, her age and the place of burial).