Tadeusz Kossak (1 January 1857 in Paris â 3 July 1935 in Górki Wielkie), was born into a noted Polish family of artists and writers. He was an officer in the Polish Army, a freedom fighter, and owner of a country estate in Górki Wielkie that became a hub for intellectuals of the era. He was the father of writer, activist, and World War II resistance fighter Zofia Kossak-Szczucka.
He was the son of the celebrated painter Juliusz Kossak, and twin brother to another noted painter, Wojciech Kossak. After the family's return to Congress Poland from his birthplace of France, Kossak attended school first in Warsaw and later in Kraków. He came to prominence in 1906 when he was arrested for political activism against Imperial Russian authorities and the foreign occupation of Poland. During World War I, in 1917, he joined the Polish Corps of Józef Dowbor-Muà Ânicki fighting for Polish independence.
In 1922 with his wife Anna (née Kisielnicka), he moved from Kresy Wschodnie in Eastern Poland to Górki Wielkie near Cieszyn in Silesia. There they leased from the state a country estate where they hosted many intellectuals of the period, including Jan Parandowski, Maria Dàbrowska, Jan Sztaudynger, Melchior Waà Âkowicz, Wojciech Kossak, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Magdalena Samozwaniec, Jadwiga Witkiewicz, and her husband, Stanisà Âaw Ignacy Witkiewicz.
In 1925 Kossak published his war memoires, Wspomnienia wojenne (1918-1920) about the war against The Bolsheviks. He was also the author of a book titled "Jak to byà Âo w armii austriackiej" - 'How it was in the Austrian Army' - published in 1927. He died in July 1935 and is buried in Górki Wielkie.