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The story of Marian WIELEZYNSKI was written by his son Leszek and it tells of the creation and evolution of the company GAZOLINA S.A.
CENTENNIAL OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
WHY THIS BOOK?
“Quotes from the book”
In 1983, Leszek wrote the book "The Work and the Life of a Wise Man" that tells the story of his father Marian Wielezynski, creator of Gazolina S.A.
At the end of the 1970s, during the annual commemoration of the terrible battle of Falaise in Normandy, heroically led by the 1st Polish Armored Division, our father cried as the huge crowd began to sing Polish hymns. He had found much in France but lost something of Poland. It was probably then that he must have felt the irrepressible need to bear witness to the story of a Pole of great wisdom: his own father, entrepreneur, humanist and visionary. Most of the witnesses of that time were still alive, retirement was near. In short, conditions were favorable to write a book. Our father wanted to make known that Marian Wielezynski had shown the way for workers' stock ownership with Gazolina S.A. Pope Pius XI was interested in it as was General de Gaulle during the Second World War in London. In 1967, France adopted a law on employee participation in the capital of companies.
Our father also wanted to explain how the technical aspects, the treatment, the conservation and the use of natural gas across the planet had always been a major ecological concern in the thinking and action of Marian Wielezynski.
The Centennial of the creation of Gazolina is an opportunity to make this book known and to shed light on the nature of the choices available to us.
“Leszek Wielezynski's book is particularly valuable because of the specificity of the phenomenon described there. Because the work of engineer Marian Wielezynski was a social and state phenomenon, there is no doubt about it. ”
(Edmund Osmanczyk in the preface to the book)
FOR THE CENTENNIAL OF GAZOLINA SA AND THE 2ND POLISH REPUBLIC, A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE INTEGRAL BOOK IN POLISH LANGUAGE IS OFFERED BY OUR ASSOCIATION AT THE END OF THIS PAGE.
CENTENNIAL OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
THE PATRIOT ENTREPRENEUR
“Quotes from the book”
“For me, the aspiration of each person must be their own work. If an agricultural worker can dream of obtaining his own land and his own farm, a factory worker cannot dream of owning the wonders of modern technology, but he can and must think of becoming co-owner of the company in which he works"
Marian WIELEZYNSKI, 1879-1945 (Lvov 1945)
"There is no political independence without economic independence. The economic independence of the state can only be built on thousands of independent workshops which are not subject to orders"
"The management principles of the" Gazolina "joint stock company are that justice and a sense of duty must prevail over our company, and the will to help each other must prevail."
Lvov pipeline
“Our business must represent justice and a sense of duty, and we must be ready to help each other. I want our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, earning a piece of bread for themselves, to work on the same principles”
"It is a practice contrary to the interests of Polish society, which does not want Poland to be anyone's colony"
The GAZOLINA S.A. building (Lvov 2012)
“There was undoubtedly a need for know-how, doing and winning”
“On Polish soil, wherever roads and bridges are to be built and where the chemical industry is created and fought for the freedom of this land, we will be there when the time comes.”
CENTENNIAL OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
THE FOUNDING FATHER
“Quotes from the book”
Marian, Zbyszek, Leszek, Jadwiga & Ignacy (around 1918)
Marian, Ignacy, prof. Ignacy Moscicki, Leszek, Zbyszek
Marian and his wife, Jadwiga (Lvov 1945)
“When, I start to work after graduation, I pledge to do what I can to change the relationship between work and capital, which are the main factors of production - to fight today - for a good future cooperation.”
"He returned to Moravia to study the books of the Talmud, the works of the Greek philosophers, as well as Kant or Spinoza in the library of the old rabbi. There he also read for the first time the" Kapital "of Marx and the encyclical "Rerum Novarum" of Pope Leo XIII and the work of the Swiss Sismondi on the cooperation of capital with work as an antidote to the class struggle, promising a more positive and more human structural basis for the development of industry"
"He passed on to his sons the values of the coat of arms of Trzaska and its idea of a "second sword" with these words: "I would like you to keep forever your old courage, your love of work and your clarity, because they bring you the second sword you need"
“Our history obliges us not to forget all this indisputable value, created by the effort of the thoughts and the hands of the builders of our second independence. In this Second Republic, many amazing initiatives and achievements have emerged that future generations should remember and learn from. ”
"Whatever we do next, dreams should never be limited on a technical, economic or political level, as long as they result from a deep love of work"
The second world war destroyed the material assets of the company Gazolina but not its Spirit. Marian's children will take the torch.
Ignacy, Polish Army Officer, 1939
Edwiga, (Lvov 1930's)
Leszek, United Nations Officer, 1945
Zbyszek, Survivor of the Soviet Goulag, 1944
CENTENNIAL OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK, Leszek WIELEZYNSKI
On the Baltic Sea (1936)
Wedding with Jacqueline (Paris 1945)
In the jungle of Gabon, (1979)
With Pope Jean Paul II, (Libreville 1982)
Born in Lvov in 1911, Leszek is the third of four children. He studied law. In October 1939 he fled Poland with his brother Ignacy and joined the Polish cadet school at Coëtquidan in France. In the summer of 1940, he joined General Maczek's army in Scotland. From 1941 to 1943, while awaiting combat, he followed a post graduate course at the University of Edinburgh in business administration, financial policy and industrial organization, acquiring solid training in addition to an excellent command of English. He also had fond memories of a few waltzes with a "certain Elisabeth", future queen of England.
In 1945, he was recruited by the first United Nations agency, UNRRA - United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency - in charge of thousands of refugees left behind by the war. From 1945 to 1947, he headed the Murnaü camp in Bavaria. There he met Jacqueline Saint, a French Red Cross nurse, whom he married in September 1945. They moved to Morocco where he created the company "FREGATA" SA with his two brothers to produce potatoes for export to Europe and also to distribute sodas on the Moroccan market. It was a fiasco. Then, passionate about geology, he joined teams of French geological engineers from the BRGM – Office of Geological & Mining Research - to exploit lead and copper ore deposits near the Sahara border. The family returned to France in 1959 and settled in Annecy where our parents had bought a small hotel to house and feed their family. We stayed there long enough for our father to apply for French nationality and thus claim a better job. At the beginning of 1962, he received his French naturalization and joined the first team of Technical Advisers for the newly created French Cooperation. He was sent to help in the economic development of Gabon. The whole family moved there in June 1962. He participated in the promotion of Gabonese entrepreneurship by creating PROMOGABON, an organization to assist young Gabonese entrepreneurs in starting their own businesses.
In October 1966, a French geology company, offered Leszek an eighteen-month contract in Afghanistan to explore the country's mining potential. Then, in October 1968, UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) assigned him to Cameroon to work on industrial projects there. He was also working on another idea from his father that was tested by his brother, Zbyszek, in Casablanca. The idea was aimed at regenerating used motor oil with liquid propane. He filed patents under the name of RAJEUNOL in European countries and later LUBRECLAIMER in the United States. In 1972, President Bongo of Gabon asked him to become his adviser for petroleum affairs. He stayed there until his retirement in 1983 at the age of 72. Among other things, he created PETROGAB, the national petroleum marketing agency. Like his father in Poland, he resumed the fight against burning off natural gas in Gabon, and he finally obtained approval from the Gabonese Parliament to ban the flaring of natural gas. In February 1982, as Dean of the Polish community in Gabon, he had the immense honor of organizing the visit of Pope John Paul II to Libreville.
Leszek suffered from being separated from Poland and from his family, and he used his retirement in Normandy and his trips to Poland to write a book about his father, retracing "the work and life of a sage." Gabon recognized and honored his work by presenting him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
CENTENARY OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
OUR STORY
We are the heirs of Leszek Wielezynski. Our family is similar to that of our father: three boys and one girl. The eldest was automatically entitled to the first name of our grandfather, Marian. He was born in 1946 in Murnaü in Bavaria. Shortly after, our parents moved to Morocco. Stanislas was born in 1947, followed by Christine in 1949 and then by the youngest, Thomas, in 1952.
Our parents spoke to each other in English, their common language between their Polish and French origins. In the end, for the education of their children, it was French that won, which forced our father to quickly improve his use of that language. We were somewhat isolated from our father’s Polish culture in spite of the fact that we were surrounded by our uncles and their families who also moved to the French Protectorate of Morocco. When they were together, or with other friends of the Polish diaspora, they spoke only their language. However, we still remember the crackling of the Polish "tak, tak, tak", (the "Polish yes"), which punctuated lively discussions between the Wielezynskis, Admiral Unrug and Count Belina.
During the 1970s, our respective studies, then our professional activities scattered us around the world. We met for special occasions such as weddings, baptisms and, unfortunately, also funerals like that of our father in October 1986. Our father wanted above all that we follow our own destinies. However, having lived so far from his native Poland for so long, it was natural for him to turn toward his country and to write this book about the father he adored. We were far away and too busy to be involved in this endeavor. Furthermore, the book was in Polish and only a few pages were translated into French.
Today, in 2020, we are proud and pleasantly surprised by the desire of some in Poland to commemorate the centennial of Gazolina at the same time as the advent of the Second Republic. We have finally read our father's book and much more than biographical and technical details, what we found there is the spirit of Marian Wielezynski and his fight, not only for the preservation and better use of natural gas, but most importantly, for the promotion of employee stock ownership. Our father would be very proud of this commemoration both for his family and for Poland which he never stopped calling "my country."
Thomas, Marian, Christine and Stanislas, Paris (1965)
It is therefore in the loving memory of our father that we created the Association "In Memory of Marian Wieleżyński and Gazolina SA" with the social purpose:
"The promotion, safeguarding and making more widely available documents relating to Marian Wieleżyński and his Polish company GAZOLINA SA in all aspects: historical, social, economic, cultural, political, technology, heritage, family, etc."
Our first promotional action was to accede to the request of Polska Spółka Gazownictwa - PSG to reissue our father's book in Polish on the occasion of the Centenary of Gazolina SA. Due to the pandemic, this project is delayed.
Our second action was to authorize the television producer, Mr. Bogdan Miszczak, to draw inspiration from this book, as the basis of a film about our grandfather ("The Alchemist of Lwów ") as part of a series of documentaries about the great men of Poland (He recently completed the 5th film in the series, about Ignacy Łukasiewicz, 1822-1882, inventor of modern petrochemicals). Filming took place in August-September 2020. The film is expected to premiere before the end of 2020.
In the third action, in keeping with one of our father's most cherished dreams, we wish to promote his book to polish youth, students, teachers, historians and the scientific community. Also, it is with deep emotion that we offer everyone free access to its full version in Polish, to be downloaded free from this site (see below " FREE BOOK ACCESS ").
It now seems imperative to ensure the translation of this book, as well as to support TV Obiektyw's efforts to develop subtitling in other languages (English, French, German?). It is indeed necessary to increase their audience at a time when Europe needs to better know and understand its roots through actions carried out by its great men in their country. Given the costs, it is with great hope that we open our Association to all generous donors who will be willing to help us in our action (See below "FREE BOOK ACCESS").
CENTENARY OF GAZOLINA 1920-2020
ACCES TO A FREE BOOK
Our association, “A la Mémoire de Marian Wielezynski et Gazolina SA " has restored the availability of “The Work and the Life of a Wise Man,” by Leszek Wielezynski. To celebrate the centennial of an Independent Poland and the creation of Gazolina SA, we have decided that the electronic version in Polish will be available free of charge until February, 28th 2021 to anyone interested in reading it. Hard copies of the printed Polish version and translations into other languages will be available for sale at a later date.
Individuals may download 1 free copy of Leszek Wielezynski’s book, “The Work and the Life of a Wise Man”, for personal use only by following the steps below:
1-Click on the link below "TO DOWNLOAD, CLICK HERE".
2-You will be redirected to the Library of our publications (paid and free).
3-Add the selected (free) item to your Shopping Cart.
4-Enter your shopping cart using the "View Cart" button.
5-Click "Go to Checkout" and fill out the form with your details, which will be used to personalize your copy of the book.
6-After completing the data, click "Buy and pay", although no payment will be required for copies with a price of PLN 0.00.
7-You will be redirected to the sub-page of the order summary - click on the black button "1985 L Wieleżyński Joint Work Joint Crop Edition III". The download will begin.
8-In addition, you will receive an email confirming your order with a link to download the book.
9-Downloads are also available in the "My Account" menu in the "Downloads" tab.
By clicking this button and downloading “The Work and the Life of a Wise Man”, you agree to the conditions set forth below.
Limit 1 copy per individual for personal use only. Downloaded copy may not be transferred to other people’s electronic devices. No permission is granted to reproduce the book, prepare a derivative work based on the book, distribute copies of the book for financial gain or for other reasons, display the book publicly, prepare an audiovisual version of the book. No transfer of the ownership of the book is granted. The book is for the sole personal use and enjoyment of the individual downloading a copy of the book. All other rights are retained and reserved.
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The content of the book represents exclusively the words, ideas, opinions and interpretations of the author. His heirs and the association “A la Mémoire de Marian Wielezynski et Gazolina SA” are free from all responsibility regarding the content.