Partner Jerzy Waldorff
Queer Places:
Mokotowska & Wilcza, 00-532 Warszawa, Poland
Powazki Cemetery,
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Mieczysław Jankowski (born October 15, 1917 in Vilnius, died April 10, 2005 in Warsaw)[1]
was a Polish dancer of the Opera and Grand Theatre in Warsaw and teacher at the Warsaw State Ballet School.
He was the long-time life partner of Jerzy Waldorff.
He was the son of Jan Jankowski, a Vilnius judge of the municipal court, and Maria Jankowska. At the age of twelve or so, he took his first classical dance lessons at Mrs. Muraszowa's school. During the occupation, from December 1939 he lived in Warsaw, where he attended the underground secondary ballet school located at the corner of Mokotowska and Wilcza streets. He practiced in it under the supervision of dancer Leon Wójcikowski. In the autumn of 1943 he passed the public school exam. Shortly after the war, he was accepted into a dance group in the newly created Artistic Ensemble of the Central Soldier's House, in which he performed for several years. In the 1950s he performed at the Warsaw Opera and Philharmonic, in Ludomir Różycki's Pan Twardowski (1951) and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake (1956)[1]. Later he became a dancer and assistant ballet master of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. He was also a ballet inspector and lecturer of classical dance at the State Ballet School in Warsaw. One of his pupil is choreographer Andrzej Glegolski.[2]
Mieczysław met Jerzy Waldorff in 1938 during his stay in Warsaw. Soon they left together for Krynica and after this departure they decided to inform their family about their relationship, which officially took place on May 1, 1939[3]. Waldorff's mother accepted his partner, but some relatives reacted with ostracism. In the late summer of 1939 Mieczysław returned to Vilnius, where he was found by the outbreak of war. In October, Jerzy crossed the occupation border and in December brought Mieczysław to Warsaw. From then until the end of their lives, they lived together. They admitted to the relationship and mutual affection only to their closest family and friends. Officially, Mieczysław was presented as a cousin and brother of Jerzy adopted by his mother. According to the accounts of friends, it was Jankowski who ran their common home. He also took care of Jerzy when he required constant care at the end of his life. Already in 1959, Waldorff made a will, trying to secure Mieczysław's future in the absence of sufficient guarantees for civil partnerships in the Polish legal system. To make sure that his will would be respected, he supplemented the will with a handwritten, voluminous codicil, in which he explained that the record in the notarial deed should not be treated as an inheritance to Mieczysław Jankowski, but as repayment of a debt due for work in his house for 60 years[3]. Mieczysław Jankowski died on 10 April 2005. His ashes were laid in a common grave with Jerzy Waldorff at the Powązki cemetery in Warsaw (catacomb avenue, grave 80)[4].
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