The school was named in memory of Kasper Karliński, who was the commander of the Olsztyn Castle in the 16th century and became well-known after the successful defence of the fortress. In 1587 the castle was besieged by the army of the Archduke Maximilian Habsburg, a pretender for the Polish throne. When the commander, Kasper Karliński refused to surrender the important fortress, his 6-year-old son was kidnapped together with a nurse. The next day the invaders launched a new attack, putting the boy and the nanny in the first line of fire. The castle’s troops noticed his son and stopped shooting. Then, Kasper Karliński shouted: ”I had been a Pole before I was a father”. He himself opened fire killing Austrian invaders as well as his own child and the nurse. When the enemy saw what had happened, they withdrew. For Kasper, the tragic death of his son was a painful experience from which he didn’t fully recovered. He left the castle and went to the Jasna Gora Monastery in Częstochowa where he spent the rest of his life.
K. Alchimowicz The Defense of Olsztyn in 1587
the picture by Jan Gumowski, 1935 – his proposal of a reconstruction of the Olsztyn Castle (The Polish Army Museum in Warsaw)
the knealing-chair which belonged to Kasper
Karliński (The Museum of Jasna Góra Monastery
in Częstochowa
Urodziny:
