Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland after regaining independence, was assassinated on 16 December 1922, five days after taking office, aged 57.[1] He was fatally shot by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an artist and art critic, while visiting an exhibition at Warsaw's Zachęta gallery.
 | |
| Date | 16 December 1922 |
|---|---|
| Location | Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Second Polish Republic |
| Coordinates | 52°14′20″N 21°00′40″E / 52.239°N 21.011°E |
| Motive | Polish nationalism Anti-communism Anti-semitism |
| Target | Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland |
| Perpetrator | Eligiusz Niewiadomski |
Background
editPoland regained independence in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. Soon afterwards, Gabriel Narutowicz, professor of engineering, became one of the left-wing leaders in the Sejm (Polish parliament).[2]
Following the 1921 March Constitution of Poland and the November 1922 Polish legislative election, Narutowicz was elected the first president of Poland in the Polish presidential election, 9 December 1922.[3] His election was not accepted by the right-wing nationalist endecja faction, which staged a number of protests.[3] Narutowicz's forthcoming murder would be the culmination of an aggressive, right wing and anti-semitic propaganda campaign vilifying him; in the background of street protests he was described, by a hostile press, an atheist, a Freemason and a Jew.[4][3][5]
Assassination
editFive days after taking office, while attending an art exhibition in the Warsaw's National Gallery of Art "Zachęta", Narutowicz was shot and killed during a conversation with a British envoy.[6][2] The assassin was a painter, Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who fired three shots at the president.[7]
Aftermath
editNiewiadomski had connections with the right wing National Democratic Party.[6] During his trial, Niewiadomski stated that he wanted to kill Józef Piłsudski originally, but assassinating his ally, Narutowicz, was "a step in the fight for Polishness and for the nation."[6] Niewiadomski was sentenced to death. His state execution took place outside the Warsaw Citadel on 31 January.[8] Part of the right-wing camp perceived Niewiadomski as a hero. Nationalistic press and some historians kept portraying Niewiadomski in positive light, writing about his "heroic stand", "sacred convictions, "patriotic duty" and such.[6][9] Within months, his grave became a right-wing shrine, and "more than three hundred babies baptized in Warsaw were given the uncommon name Eligiusz".[8]
The murder of the first president of the Second Polish Republic and the angry canvassing against him revealed the fragility of democratic mechanisms in Poland at that time.[3][7]
The murder of Narutowicz served as the inspiration and a main theme for a number of works.[10] They include the 1977 Polish feature film Death of a President (Polish: Śmierć prezydenta), directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Wilhelm Sasnal's 2003 painting Narutowicz.[10]
See also
editReferences
editCitations
editBibliography
edit- Anna Bojarska (1 November 2010). "On Niewiadomski". In Michael Bernhard; Henryk Szlajfer (eds.). From the Polish Underground: Selections from Krytyka, 1978-1993. Penn State Press. pp. 333–352. ISBN 978-0-271-04427-9.
- Piotr Wróbel; Daniel Z. Stone; Stanislaus A. Blejwas; Robert Blobaum; Włodzimierz Suleja; Andrzej Friszke; Rafał Habielski (15 April 2010). M. B. B. Biskupski; James S. Pula; Piotr J. Wróbel (eds.). The Origins of Modern Polish Democracy. Polish and Polish American Studies (1 ed.). Ohio University Press. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-8214-4309-5.
- Agnieszka Le Nart (2011). Weronika Kostyrko (ed.). "Assassination at the Art Museum - Autumn 1922". Culture.pl. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
- Joanna B. Michlic (1 December 2006). Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present. U of Nebraska Press. p. 399. ISBN 0-8032-5637-X.
- Adam Michnik (23 May 2011). Irena Grudzinska Gross (ed.). In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe. University of California Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-520-94947-8.
- Michael Newton (17 April 2014). Famous Assassinations in World History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 355–357. ISBN 978-1-61069-286-1.
- Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (corporate author) (2012). "Gabriel Narutowicz". Warsaw: Kancelaria Prezydenta RP. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - Richard M. Watt (1998). Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918 to 1939. Hippocrene Books. p. 511. ISBN 978-0781806732.
Further reading
edit- Brykczynski, Paul (2016). Primed for Violence: Murder, Antisemitism, and Democratic Politics in Interwar Poland. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-30700-4.