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Weronika KrebsowaPolish memoirist.
Country:
 Poland |
Content:
Biography of Veronika Krebs
Veronika Krebs was a Polish memoirist who became known for her accounts of the Uman massacre in 1768. She was the daughter of Rafal Mladanovich, the Polish governor of Uman. At the age of eighteen, Veronika witnessed the brutal Uman massacre, during which her parents and older siblings were killed by the Haidamaks. She and her younger brother, Pavel, were taken by a local Uman resident named Ivan Gonta.
Forced Conversion and Life in Kristinopol
According to the notes of Antoni Khzonshtchevsky, following the suppression of the Haidamak uprising, Veronika Mladanovich was transported to Kristinopol, where she served in the entourage of Aloysius Friedrich von Brühl's wife, who was born Potocka. Veronika later married Lieutenant Jan Krebs, who served under Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski.
Writing and Publications
Veronika Krebs went on to write a detailed account of the Uman massacre in Polish, titled "Opis autentyczny rzezi Humanskiej przez córkę gubernatora Humania, z Mładanowiczów zamężną Krebsoją" (Authentic Description of the Uman Massacre by the Daughter of the Governor of Uman, Married to Krebs). Her memoirs were posthumously published in 1840 in Poznan by Count Titus Dzyalynski as part of his series of Polish historical sources. They were later republished in an abridged form by Henryk Moscicki.
In 1879, the memoirs were translated into Russian and published in Kyiv as a separate edition with an introduction by journalist I. M. Reva. In addition to her accounts of the Uman massacre, Veronika Krebs also possessed notes on a dramatic episode in the life of Stanislaus Potocki, involving the abduction and murder of his first wife, Gertrude, on the orders of his father. Unfortunately, these notes have been lost, but their retelling by Khzonshtchevsky has been preserved.
