Tape 5 Side 2
The tape opens with a description of the Sanguszko family’s castle near Perzampte, a Renaissance-Baroque structure overlooking plains toward Russia, housing Turkish artefacts — tents and weapons seized by Sobieski following the 1683 Battle of Vienna.
The First World War and Schooldays
The narrative moves to 1914. Paul was at Downside School in England when the First World War erupted, and returned to Poland for the summer holidays. His brother Alfred joined an Austrian artillery unit immediately.
The family relocated to Lwów, where tensions arose due to their mother’s Austrian citizenship despite Polish sympathies. By September, Paul attended a Polish gymnasium in Kraków while his father worked with the Polish Red Cross.
Facing the Russian advance, his parents enrolled him at Kalksburg, a Jesuit college near Vienna, by November 1914. The school divided students into rich and poor colleges, identified by the colour of their uniform braids (gold versus silver).
Kalksburg
He describes his unhappiness at Kalksburg, citing strict discipline, inadequate food during wartime, and intrusive supervision. He struggled with the early morning requirements and accumulated behaviour marks. His classmates included European nobility: a Liechtenstein, a Bourbon-Parma, and various barons and counts.
After approximately two years, following his brother Alfred’s death in June 1916, he was expelled for calling the Jesuits “liars and swine” after they violated a promise regarding his conduct report. His mother retrieved him; his father remained silent about the expulsion.
He mentions attending Emperor Francis Joseph’s funeral in November 1916 with an aunt, and seeing Emperor Wilhelm II and other European royalty. A classmate’s sister-in-law was Empress Zita, who Sapieha characterises as severely principled: she refused to allow dessert for boys at lunch, citing soldiers’ lack of bread at the front.