Villa of Doctor Tadeusz Kunicki

Historical Monuments

Description

The villa of Doctor Tadeusz Kunicki is a former home of the first and for a long time also the only doctor in post-war Gubin, who settled with his family in the city in 1946. Kunicki, due to his boundless commitment to help the sick as well as his positive, empathetic approach to the people, is considered one of the most important personalities of the Gubin.

His last place of residence was a magnificent single-family Jugenstil house surrounded by a large garden with many decorative elements of landscape architecture from the end of the 19th century. The interior of this brick, three-story villa consists of seven rooms, two bathrooms, one kitchen; external part: from the terrace and three balconies. The garden features a stone fountain with a sculpture and a decorative wall.

In 2003, renovation and thermal insulation of the entire roof area were carried out. At the moment (as of May 2021), the villa has been put up for sale.

The building, together with the above-mentioned elements of landscape architecture, is on the list of municipal monuments.

Historical background

Doctor Tadeusz Kunicki was born on 28.10.1896 in Wasylkowce, Kopczyńce County, Tarnopol Province, in what is now Ukraine. In 1907, he enrolled at the Imperial-Royal Sixth Gymnasium in Lviv, then studied at the University of Jan Kazimierz in Lviv at the Faculty of Medicine, where in 1926 he obtained the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences. Despite the prerogatives and attractive earning opportunities, Kunicki focused his career on helping people in most need. He not only provided his patients with medical care, but also, in the absence of other possibilities, he helped them financially, buying medicines or serving breakfast and a place to sleep to people who came from far away. As a military doctor with the rank of second lieutenant, he participated in the defense of Lviv in 1918 and Piłsudski's campaign in Kiev in 1920. In September 1939, he fought in the Kielce region, and in captivity, in the oflag, he was a camp doctor. In 1942, after escaping from captivity, he returned to Wasylkowce. Due to the growing nationalist sentiment among Ukrainians, he left for the Kielce Province, where he fought in the ranks of the Home Army under the pseudonym "Doctor". During the war, he was again wounded in the head, which contributed to the progressive disease in the following years. After the end of the war, he stayed briefly in Domaradz, and in 1946 he came with his family to Gubin. In the ruined city he performed many functions at the same time: he was the director of the poviat hospital, head of the health department, family, poviat and school doctor in two educational institutions, and a military doctor of the garrison.

Initially, the Kunicki family lived at today's Lenino Str. in a house near Neisse. The proximity to the Polish-German border meant that in this exact place the Germans would often cross the river illegally to collect at least some of the things left in their former homes. Cross-border smuggling also took place in the immediate vicinity of the Kunicki house. Most of the people caught at the illegal border crossing were explained by a sudden visit to the doctor - for this reason, the Security Office decided to assign the family an object located far from the border. This building turned out to be a villa on ul. Wiejska, today known as Dr Kunicki Str. Here, with the help of his wife, he received patients until the end of his life.