1877 - 1944

Stefan Ossowiecki was born in Moscow into a prosperous family of chemical industry proprietors. When still a student he became acquainted with Homel, the Russian psychic who introduced him to the secrets of the art he practised and made Ossowiecki aware of the supernatural forces he possessed. Ossowiecki became a renowned clairvoyant. He believed everything was endowed with its own inherent vibration: people possessed them in their auras, localities in their climate; even objects vibrated. Ossowiecki left Russia in 1918 and settled in Warsaw. Between the world wars he lived as a graduate engineer with his wife Zofia at 32 Polna St, (nothing has survived of that fine apartment packed with souvenirs of Ossowiecki's clairvoyant activities).

In Warsaw Ossowiecki moved in the best circles. Among his many visitors was Marshal Jozef Pilsudski for whom Poland's future was a principal source of concern. There were also outstanding personalities in literature: Stanislaw Przybyszewski, Wladyslaw Reymont (1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature), Stefan Zeromski, the Zamoyskis, eminent professors, actors, singers, numerous members of the aristocracy as well as the ordinary people who also had their worries. The event which brought him the greatest fame was his identification of the saboteur who threw metal filings into the chocolate produced by the Wedel factory.

The multimillionaire Rothschild also applied to Ossowiecki for help. Following the death of the senior member of the Rothschild family, his heir could not find his last will and testament proving his right of inheritance. Ossowiecki succeeded in finding the hiding place of the document. Rothschild offered Ossowiecki a huge sum of money for his help but was rejected by the psychic who said: "I earn my bread by my job as an engineer and shall not sell what has been given me as a gift".

His gift also proved useful to members of the royalty. Ossowiecki was something of a bon vivant; he liked good food and light-hearted talk, and the ladies adored him. One of his gifts was that of bi-location, that is the ability to be in two places at one and the same time.

Field Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly visited him in 1939 to ask how Poland would fare in the future war with the Germans. When he heard that Poland would be defeated he ordered Ossowiecki not to make his prediction known, to avoid panic. This led to the belief that Ossowiecki had not forecast the outcome of World War II. In reality, Ossowiecki had forecast almost everything, even his own tragic death.

Ossowiecki lived at 17 Marszalkowska St. from September 1939 till the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. Many people passed through this apartment, searching for family and relatives who had been forcibly resettled by the Germans or had disappeared during hostilities. Ossowiecki spent long hours searching for those lost using photographs and various personal objects, work which he looked upon as his personal mission.

The building where he lived was only a short distance away from the Gestapo headquarters in Szucha Ave and the Nazi officers there `invited` Ossowiecki along to discuss Germany's future. What he told them we will never know.

Just before the Warsaw Uprising broke out Ossowiecki is reported as saying: "I have seen horrible things happening along the Vistula River. They also concern me. I know I am going to suffer a tragic death but I have had such a wonderful life". He added: "I shall die but my body will never be found".

The building where Ossowiecki lived was burnt down during the Uprising. All the souvenirs, works of art and the furniture in Ossowiecki's apartment were destroyed.

The Germans executed Ossowiecki and others in Szucha prison on August 5, 1944. The small case he had with him held some of his writings in which he forecast the future of the Polish people and the typescript of a book entitled "The Immortals". Nothing is known of what happened to these documents, or about the clairvoyant's final moments of life as his body was never found.

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