Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish people, Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first president of Poland from 11 December 1922 until Assassination of Gabriel Na ...

, the first

president of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

after regaining independence, was assassinated by a far-right Polish nationalist on 16 December 1922, five days after taking office, aged 57. He was fatally shot by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an artist and art critic, while visiting an exhibition at Warsaw's Zachęta gallery.

Background

Poland regained

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1918 in the

aftermath of World War I The aftermath of World War I saw far-reaching and wide-ranging cultural, economic, and social change across Europe, Asia, Africa, and in areas outside those that were directly involved. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were a ...

. Soon afterwards,

, professor of engineering, became one of the left-wing leaders in the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

(Polish parliament). 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 Two indirect presidential elections were held in Poland in December 1922. In the first election on 9 December Gabriel Narutowicz was elected president, but he Assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz, was assassinated five days later. A second electio ...

. His election was not accepted by the right-wing nationalist '' endecja'' faction, which staged a number of protests. Narutowicz's murder five days after he took office would be the culmination of an aggressive, right wing and

anti-semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

propaganda campaign vilifying him; in the background of street protests he was described, by a hostile press, as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and a Jew. Gabriel Narutowicz

Assassination

Five days after taking office, while attending an art exhibition in the

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

's National Gallery of Art "Zachęta", Narutowicz was shot and killed during a conversation with a British envoy. The assassin was a painter, Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who fired three shots at the president.

Aftermath

Niewiadomski had connections with the right wing National Democratic Party. During his trial, Niewiadomski stated that he wanted to kill

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

originally, but assassinating his ally, Narutowicz, was "a step in the fight for Polishness and for the nation." Niewiadomski was sentenced to death. His state execution took place outside the

Warsaw Citadel Warsaw Citadel (Polish language, Polish: Cytadela Warszawska) is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nikolay I of Russia, Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster im ...

on 31 January. 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. Within months, his grave became a right-wing shrine, and "more than three hundred babies baptized in Warsaw were given the uncommon name Eligiusz". 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. The murder of Narutowicz served as the inspiration and a main theme for a number of works. They include the 1977 Polish feature film '' Death of a President'' (Polish: ''Śmierć prezydenta''), directed by

Jerzy Kawalerowicz Jerzy Franciszek Kawalerowicz (19 January 1922 – 27 December 2007) was a Polish film director, screenwriter and politician, having been a member of Polish United Workers' Party from 1954 until its dissolution in 1990 and a deputy in Polish pa ...

Background

Assassination

Aftermath

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading