Gabriel Narutowicz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Narutowicz in 1915 | |
| 1stPresident of Poland | |
| In office 11 December 1922 – 16 December 1922 | |
| Prime Minister | Julian Nowak |
| Preceded by | Józef Piłsudski (as Chief of State) |
| Succeeded by | Stanisław Wojciechowski Maciej Rataj (acting) |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 28 June 1922 – 14 December 1922 | |
| Prime Minister | Artur Śliwiński Julian Nowak |
| Preceded by | Konstanty Skirmunt |
| Succeeded by | Aleksander Skrzyński |
| Minister of Public Works | |
| In office 28 June 1920 – 6 June 1922 | |
| Prime Minister | Władysław Grabski Wincenty Witos Antoni Ponikowski |
| Preceded by | Andrzej Kędzior |
| Succeeded by | Władysław Ziemiński |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (1865-03-29)29 March 1865 |
| Died | 16 December 1922(1922-12-16) (aged 57) |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Party | Independent (supported by thePolish People's Party "Wyzwolenie") |
| Spouse | Ewa Krzyżanowska |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | ETH Zurich |
| Profession |
|
Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (Polish:[ˈɡabrjɛlnaruˈtɔvit͡ʂ]; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish engineer and politician who served as the firstpresident of Poland from 11 December 1922 untilhis assassination five days after assuming office. He previously served as theminister of public works from 1920 to 1922 and briefly as theminister of foreign affairs in 1922. Anon-partisan and an engineer by profession, Narutowicz was the first electedhead of state following Poland's regained sovereignty frompartitioning powers.
Born into a noble family with a strong patriotic sentiment, Narutowicz studied at theSaint Petersburg Imperial University before relocating toZurich Polytechnic and completing his studies inSwitzerland.[1] An engineer by profession, he was a pioneer ofelectrification and his works were presented at exhibitions across Western Europe. Narutowicz also directed the construction of the first European hydroelectric power plants inMonthey,Mühleberg andAndelsbuch. In 1907, he was nominated a professor of hydroelectric and water engineering in Zurich, and was subsequently assigned to maintain theRhine. In September 1919, Narutowicz was invited by the Polish authorities to work on reconstruction projects in the aftermath ofWorld War I. In June 1920, Narutowicz became the minister of public works inWładysław Grabski’s government. Following his successful conduct of the Polish delegation at theGenoa Conference, he became the minister of foreign affairs inArtur Śliwiński's cabinet.
During the1922 presidential election, Narutowicz was supported by a centre-left coalition of thePolish People's Party "Wyzwolenie",Socialist Party, andBloc of National Minorities, but was opposed by the conservativeNational Democrats. After five rounds of voting, Narutowicz defeated the National Democratic candidate,Maurycy Zamoyski, becoming the firstpresident of Poland. After only five days in office, he was assassinated by a mentally disturbed artist,Eligiusz Niewiadomski, while viewing paintings at theZachęta Art Gallery. His funeral was attended by almost 500,000 people.
Gabriel Józef Narutowicz was born into aPolish-Lithuaniannoble family inTelšiai, then part of theRussian Empire after thepartitioning of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[2] His father, Jan Narutowicz, was a local district judge and landholder in theSamogitian village ofBrėvikiai [lt]. As a result of his participation in theJanuary 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia, he was sentenced to a year in prison; he died when Gabriel was only one.[3]
Gabriel's mother, Wiktoria Szczepkowska, was Jan's third wife. Following her husband's death, she raised the sons herself. An educated woman, intrigued by the philosophy of theAge of Enlightenment, she had a great influence on the development of Gabriel and his siblings' world view. In 1873 she moved toLiepāja,Latvia, so that her children would not be forced to attend a Russian school (Russification in Latvia after the Uprising of 1863 was less enforced than in Lithuania and Poland, the center of the uprising).[4]
After Lithuania regained independence in 1918, Gabriel Narutowicz's brother,Stanisław Narutowicz, became a Lithuanian citizen and not a Polish citizen. Earlier, towards the end ofWorld War I, Stanisław had become a member of theCouncil of Lithuania, the provisionalLithuanian parliament. He was asignatory of theAct of Independence of Lithuania of 16 February 1918.[5]
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Narutowicz finished his secondary education at theLiepāja Gymnasium,Latvia. He then enrolled at theSaint Petersburg Imperial University, in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Illness, however, caused him to suspend those studies and to later transfer to theZurich Polytechnic in Switzerland, where he studied from 1887 to 1891.[6]
Narutowicz helped exiled Poles on the run from the Russian authorities during his time in Switzerland. He was also connected with a Polish émigré socialist party, "Proletariat". As a result of his associations, he was banned from returning to Russia and had a warrant issued for his arrest. In 1895 Narutowicz became a Swiss citizen and, after completing his studies, he was employed as an engineer during the construction of theSt. Gallen railway.[7]
Narutowicz proved to be an outstanding engineering expert and, in 1895, became chief of works on the River Rhine. Later he was hired by the Kurstein technical office. His works were exhibited at the International Exhibition in Paris (1896), and he would become a famous pioneer of electrification in Switzerland. Narutowicz directed the construction of many other European hydroelectric power plants, such as inMonthey,Mühleberg, andAndelsbuch.
In 1907, he became a professor atETH Zurich, in the water construction institute in Zurich. He was dean of that institute from 1913 to 1919. He was also a member of the Swiss Committee for Water Economy. In 1915, he was chosen chairman of the International Committee for the regulation of the RiverRhine.
During World War I, he cooperated with the General Swiss Committee tasked with helping victims of the war in Poland and was also a member ofLa Pologne et la Guerre, located inLausanne. A follower of the ideas ofJózef Piłsudski, Narutowicz was invited in September 1919 by the Polish government to return to Poland to take part in the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure.[8]
After coming back to Poland, on 23 June 1920 Narutowicz became the Minister of Public Works inWładysław Grabski's government. He held that post until 26 June 1922 (in four different subsequent cabinets: of Władysław Grabski,Wincenty Witos and the first and the second governments ofAntoni Ponikowski). After becoming Minister of Public Works, Narutowicz immediately began working on rebuilding his country, utilizing the experience he had acquired in Switzerland as a pioneer of electrification. He would soon go about reorganizing the reconstruction bureaucracy and reduce the number of employees fourfold over the course of two years, in that way greatly increasing its efficiency.
Narutowicz traveled around the country often to personally supervise and direct public works. By 1921 almost 270,000 buildings and 300 bridges had been rebuilt, most of the roads mended, and about 200 km of highways added. He also designed dams and supervised the building of a hydroelectric power plant in Porąbka on the riverSoła[9] in theBeskid Mountains, and worked on irrigation control of theVistula River.[10]
Politically, he had a reputation as a moderate, reasonable and broad-minded man. He was a member of the government in every subsequent cabinet (a period of constant government crises and turnover). In April 1922, Narutowicz was delegated (together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the time,Konstanty Skirmunt) to participate in theGenoa Conference, and was given credit for the success of the Polish delegation—many Western diplomats had greater trust in the highly respected Narutowicz than in the other government ministers of the newly re-established country.[11]
On 28 June 1922, he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs inArtur Śliwiński’s government. He also held that post in the later government ofJulian Ignacy Nowak. In October 1922, he represented Poland at a conference inTallinn. In the election of1922, he supported the center-right National Public Union (Unia Narodowo-Państwowa), connected with Józef Piłsudski. He himself was a candidate of the Public Union on Eastern Borderlands (Państwowe Zjednoczenie na Kresach) but did not gain a seat in Parliament.[12]
After having lost the elections, Narutowicz continued as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Julian Nowak. To his own great surprise that December he was nominated as a candidate for the ensuing presidential election. Although Piłsudski tried to discourage him from becoming a presidential candidate (he himself had originally wanted to decline the nomination, which thePolish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" had proposed), he eventually relented and accepted.[13]
According to theMarch Constitution of Poland, the president had to be chosen by theNational Assembly, that is, the two houses of parliament (Pol:Zgromadzenie Narodowe i.e. the Sejm and the Senate). There was no clear winner after the first round of voting. In the second round, the official socialist candidate,Ignacy Daszyński, was eliminated; but again, there was no clear victor. The next to drop out were the two candidates most favored by representatives of the national minorities: namely,Jan Baudouin de Courtenay andStanisław Wojciechowski (the latter supported by some of the Left). In the last and decisive round, only two candidates remained: CountMaurycy Klemens Zamoyski (backed by the right-wingNational Democracy movement) and Narutowicz (supported by some center and left-wing parties as well as by spokesmen for various national minorities).[14]
Narutowicz prevailed thanks to the votes of the left, of the representatives for national minorities vote (these representatives were determined to defeat the National Democracy movement), and of the centristPolish People's Party "Piast" (PSL "Piast"). This last group, initially inclined toward Zamoyski, unexpectedly switched its backing to Narutowicz instead. Eventually, Narutowicz won 289 votes, whereas Zamoyski won only 227 votes, and so Narutowicz was elected the first president of the Second Polish Republic.[15]
Narutowicz's victory came as an extremely unpleasant surprise to various leading right-wingers. Following the election, certain Catholic and nationalist groups began an aggressive campaign against Narutowicz personally. Among other accusations, they called him anatheist and aFreemason, and some of the press referred to him as “the Jewish president”. The anti-Pilsudski faction, supported by GeneralJózef Haller, also criticized the new president's overall support of Piłsudski's policies.[16]
Narutowicz served as president of Poland for a mere five days.[17] During his oath of office ceremony on 11 December 1922, members of theNational Democracy and others manifested their opposition against the president-elect with anti-government demonstrations inWarsaw. Earlier on that day, opponents of his election attempted to prevent the president-elect from entering theSejm by blocking the streets and throwing mud at his motorcade. Narutowicz was never comfortable with the widespread belief that he was a representative of theleft-wing in Polish politics. He had only become the candidate of the Polish Peasant Party "Wyzwolenie" by happenstance; he had also not expected to win the election (in its first-round Narutowicz gained just 62 votes whereas Count Zamoyski had 222).[12]
During his first days after taking the oath of office, Narutowicz met with the representatives of the Christian Democratic Party and CardinalAleksander Kakowski. Narutowicz realized that it would be impossible to form a majority government in the Parliament, so he made an attempt to create a government beyond the purview of parliament. As a gesture to theright-wing, he offered the post ofMinister of Foreign Affairs to his rival Zamoyski.[18]
Only five days after taking office, on 16 December 1922, Narutowicz was shot dead while attending an art exhibit in theZachęta National Gallery of Art.[19][20] The assassin was a painter,Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who had some connections with the right-wing party but became supportive of Piłsudski since 1905.
Niewiadomski was sentenced to death in a one-day trial and executed outside theWarsaw Citadel on 31 January.[21]
Nearly 500,000 people attended Narutowicz's funeral. His funeral was simultaneously seen as a manifestation of peace, which diminished the power of the far-right movement in the upcoming years. He was buried with honors on 22 December 1922 in the vault ofSt. John's Cathedral inWarsaw.
The murder of Narutowicz was the main theme of the 1977 Polish feature filmDeath of a President (Pol:Śmierć prezydenta), directed byJerzy Kawalerowicz.[22] Narutowicz was played byZdzisław Mrożewski.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1922 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Republic of Poland 1922 | Succeeded by |
| Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Republic of Poland (1918–1939) | ||
| Polish government-in-exile (1939–1990) | ||
| Polish People's Republic (1944–1989) | ||
| Republic of Poland (1990–present) | ||
Acting presidents are denoted by italics. •List of Polish monarchs •First Lady of Poland | ||
