In the April 1993 issue of "GŁOS BOLESŁAWCA", I described the bas-relief located on the eastern wall of the town hall. The article did not go unanswered, thanks to which I came across new information unknown to the chroniclers of Bolesławiec. Let me recall that the monument depicts the disarming of the French General Bruno by Rozalia Joanna von Bonin. I managed to establish more details about the life of the heroine, her first husband and their children. Rozalia Joanna von Bonin, née Hoffmann, was born on 2 November 1781. Her husband was the nobleman Karol Henryk von Bonin, born in 1779 in Henkwitz and descended from an ancient Pomeranian family (family line – Wogenthin, Karzin branch). He took part in the Napoleonic Wars; in 1806 he was taken prisoner, then escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp and returned to Silesia. In 1807 he bought the Wiesau estate (Łąka near Bolesławiec) and settled there with his wife. In 1812 he was transferred to Jawor as a gendarmerie officer and awarded the Order of St. John. On 21 November 1813 he was promoted to the rank of captain. However, less than a year later, on 4 January 1814, he died of smallpox. In 1812, in Berlin, he published, at his own expense through S. G. Scone, memoirs devoted to his wartime experiences – "Das unmoegliche Jahr meines Leben. Memorien eines Preussischen Oficiers".
After her husband’s death, Rozalia Joanna sold Wiesau and settled in Świdnica, where she married again, this time Lieutenant Chample, from whom she soon separated. In time, she received royal permission to restore the Bonin surname and returned to Bolesławiec in 1836. On 27 December 1841, after a long illness, she died here of liver disease. Like her first husband, Rozalia published her memoirs, issued under the title "Merkwuerde Begebenheiten aus dem Leben einer Preussischen Offizierdame", meaning "Remarkable Adventures from the Life of a Prussian Officer-Woman". Her first marriage to Karol Henryk produced four sons and four daughters. The best known were: Otto Bogusław, born on 11 November 1807 in Wiesau. After studying in Potsdam and Berlin, he returned to his mother in 1823. In 1830 he took part in the Belgian Revolution as a soldier in the 1st Cuirassier Regiment; after returning to Berlin, he worked at the Ministry of Justice. He died of cholera in Berlin on 20 August 1837; Robert Juliusz Moritz (1805–1852), a captain in the Prussian army; Fryderyka Wilhelmina, born in 1809 in Bolesławiec; and Marianna Eleonora, born in Berlin. That, in brief, is what is known about Rozalia’s immediate family.
In January this year, Mrs Thora von Bonin, who lives in Munich, contacted the authorities of our city. She was interested in the bas-relief and wished to write a book about it. Several months earlier, she had visited Bolesławiec with her daughter and examined the monument carefully. Mrs von Bonin, née von Loesch, was born on 15 March 1936 at the Waszkowo estate near Rawicz and married Bolek von Bonin of the Naseband line, who, interestingly, has held a responsible position since 1986 in the Order of St. John, which now conducts only charitable activities.
The person who told Mrs Thora that such a bas-relief was located in Bolesławiec was Mr Hubert Bonin. He also comes from that Pomeranian family, from the Wulfflatzke line (Wilcze Laski near Szczecinek). His ancestors were teachers in Chojnice, Pomerania, while his father, Otto Bonin, moved to Bydgoszcz. In the 1930s, Hubert Bonin was, among other things, the leader of Bydgoszcz’s well-known 7th J.K. Chodkiewicz Scout Troop. He took part in the September Campaign, then participated in the underground resistance as a member of the Grey Ranks; he was arrested and imprisoned in the Stutthof concentration camp near Gdańsk. After the war, he settled in Bolesławiec and, as early as April 1947, founded the 1st Scout Troop, which still exists today.
Probably in the coming months, Mrs Thora von Bonin will visit Bolesławiec again, and I will try to interview her.