Ltn. von Gluszewski - pronunciation?

[RAGIII]

Originally Posted by Gregvan

Thorsten, the family crest of the Kwilecki family is a treasure!! I had seen something similar in Puglisi's notes in the Ferko archives, but your image confirms that the Wappen on Gluszewski's Fokkers was red and white. I am extremely grateful.

Greg,
This is one of the many reasons I respect you as an Author and Researcher!
No arguing and defending your conclusions that the Crest was apparently Black in your Windsock Special on JG1. Just a heart felt thanks for the "Truth" and facts coming out! It is always a pleasure when you are involved in a thread!!
RAG III

[VtwinVince]

As a point of interest, I corresponded with a gentleman many years ago, whom I took to be a pilot in WW1, but actually he was the mechanic of Udet and Graf von Gluszewski.

[Gregvan]

Hi VtwinVince,

How intriguing!! Would you care to share anything he had to say?

Udet's usual chief mechanic during the war was Walter Behrend, and another was named Gunkelmann. Was your correspondent either of them??

Greg

[VtwinVince]

Greg, his name was Wilhelm Christoffers, and he was already well into his 80's when I tracked him down in Germany. It was embarrassing for me, because I assumed he was aircrew. He did mention, when I asked him if he had any photos from his service, that he had dedicated photos of both Udet and Gluszewski, and that he was going to donate them to the local museum.

[Gregvan]

Hi,

Why be embarrassed? Gee, I would have loved to be able to interview him. The mechanics knew more about the airplanes than the pilots usually did.

Greg

[ivstefano]

I think it is not German or Polish - but rather Hungarian!
'SZ' in Hungarian is pronounced as 's' or 'ss' - not as 'sh' for it would be single 's' without 'z'...
Never the less one has to be aware of different spelling used in different countries (even in some German lands at the time you could spell with 24 letter alphabet without letters like 'ö' by changing it to to 'oe' or in K und K letters like 'š' could be changed to 'sh' or 's' depending on the language used)

Even the names would be changed from Johanness Weissmüller - to Janos Weissmüller... (the same guy was famous Johnny Weissmüller in the States)

My Schwabian Kurle was spelled Curle, Kurlle, Kurlin, Kurrle, Curlin and it happened that in the same generation depending on the place of birth or marriage people would be forced to spell their surname in different way...

Cheers!

[DmitryP]

Hello, Gentleman!
Being native Russian speaker and a little bit Polish I'd say:
1. Speaking Polish GWUSHEFSKI version will be exact - it is usual in Polish language to pronounct "L" as a noticeable "rounded" "W".
2. In Russian correct pronouncation will be more like "GLUSCHEFSKIY" with more softened "SH" combination. That "sh" or "sch" combination is quite usual for most Slavic languages and normally it is represented by one letter in alphabet...
3. Please note that in both version sound "V" in "...EVSKI" is replaced with "F" - "...EFSKI". That's normal practice in both Polish and Russian languages.
4. For my oppinion German speaking people should pronounce that family name using "L", not "W", as it is written.

Best greatings!
Dmitry Pobedinsky.

[Frommherz]

I find it intriguing that there are so many different spellings of this name. Just a few examples:

Peter Kilduff, Red Baron Combat Wing: Gluszewski-Kliwicki
Franks/Bailey/Duiven, Jasta Pilots: Gluckewski-Kwilicki and Gluczewski-Kwilcki
Bodenschatz, Jagd in Flanderns Himmel: Gluszewski and Gluczewski
Udet, Mein Fliegerleben: Gluczewski

"www.frontflieger.de" and "www.deutsche-kriegsmarine.de" (where his father Wilhelm is listed) give it as Gluszewski-Kwilecki, which I think is correct.

Being German I would pronounce it like this:

Ltn. Heinz Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki
Loyt-nunt Hynts Grahf fonn Gloo-shevski Kvee-letski
(with English pronounciation rules applied)

[Wulfryk]

Hi Greg,


I am a little bit surprised that I am the first Pole to answer your question. I have noticed there are some Poles here with a much better knowledge of the WW1 aviation. But, since I am the first one, I will try to add something to the discussion…

Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki was a Silesian (as you say in your „Richthofen’s Circus”). Silesia has itself its own interesting history – it was a part of Poland, a part of Germany (and I suppose in the Middle Ages, it may have considered itself a separate state). Therefore German nobleman may have name that sounds Polish. Also there may be a problem with name pronunciation.

I am not a history or linguistics expert but for me Gluszewski-Kwilecki is definitely a Polish name, i.e. derived from the Polish language. Therefore from Polish perspective maybe it should even be written “Głuszewski – Kwilecki” with a “L” with a bar, as Josquin has noticed. The Ł is pronounced like “W” (e.g. in “window”). So it should be pronounced (let’s say: “something like”) GWUSHEVSKY-KVEELETSKY (or even GWOOSHEVSKY-KVEELETSKY).

But… as I have said, the history of Silesia is very interesting so no wonder that someone with a Polish name was a German nobleman . Since there is no “Ł” in German, I believe Germans would spell it with “L” like GLUSHEVSKY-KVEELETSKY”.

By the way – one of MvR’s relatives was Bolko von Richthofen. I am not an expert on von Richthofen family, neither on German names, but for me Bolko is a form of Polish name “Bolesław” (AFAIK typical for Poland) – another example of interesting history of Silesia, Polish and Germany – German nobleman with Polish name

Best regards,
Wulfryk

(OMG I’m talking to GregVan himmself! Now I can show my shelf with Osprey books and say “you know, I know the guy, I helped him with his researches”)

[jenglu]

i was doing a search on my family name-Gluszewski and came across this site. my grandfather is polish born and we pronounce our name 2 ways. the first is glue-shes-ski. and the second is glue-shef-ski. i don't know much about the family history beyond my grandfather. i am in michigan and family grew up in detroit.