Tadeusz Kossak h. Kos

He was an officer in the Polish Army, a freedom fighter, and owner of a country estate in Górki Wielkie, that became a mecca for intellectuals of the era. He was the father of writer, and World War II activist and resistance fighter, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka.

After the family's return to Poland from France, where he was born, Kossak attended school first in Warsaw and later in Kraków. He came to prominence in 1906 when he was arrested for political activism against the Imperial Russian authorities and the foreign occupation of Poland. During World War I, in 1917, he joined the Polish Corps of Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki 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 Dąbrowska, Jan Sztaudynger, Melchior Wańkowicz, Wojciech Kossak, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Magdalena Samozwaniec, Jadwiga Witkiewicz and her husband, Stanisław 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 entitled "Jak to było w armii austriackiej" - 'How it was in the Austrian Army' - published in 1927. He died in July 1935 and is buried in Górki Wielkie.

Tadeusz i Anna z Kisielnickich, przybyli do Górek Wielkich w 1922 roku z Kresów Wschodnich, objętych pożogą rewolucji bolszewickiej. Zamieszkali w trzystuletnim dworze stojącym wśród beskidzkich wzgórz u wejścia do malowniczej doliny Brennicy.

Dwór w Górkach staje się magnesem przyciągającym niepospolitych ludzi z odległych stron. U Kossaków goszczą pisarze: m.in. Jan Parandowski, Maria Dąbrowska, Jan Sztaudynger, Melchior Wańkowicz; malarze i rodzina.