Bruno Kurowski (12 January 1879 – 1944) was a German lawyer and politician of the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

Biography

Kurowski was born in Marienburg,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

, and studied law at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

. He and his wife Aenne Kurowski-Schmitz practised a lawyer's and notary's office in Danzig (today Gdańsk). In January 1919 Kurowski was elected as a member of the Centre Party to the

Weimar National Assembly The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of it ...

for the Danzig constituency but had to withdraw after the foundation of the Free City of Danzig. He became the Chairman of the Danzig branch of the Catholic Centre Party, which he represented as a fraction leader in the

Volkstag The Volkstag (English: ''People's Diet'') was the parliament of the Free City of Danzig between 1919 and 1939. After World War I Danzig (Gdańsk) became a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations. The first elections to a const ...

parliament, and became a Senator in 1926. Kurowski was a

consul general A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

and an

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

of the

Federal State of Austria The Federal State of Austria (; colloquially known as the "") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and politi ...

, a post for which he was charged with High treason in 1937 by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government of the Free City. The trial was stopped and Kurowski released from prison after the Centre Party refused to protest against its "voluntary" dissolution to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. While his wife remained in Danzig, Kurowski moved to Austria and, after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

, to Italy.Ludwig Biewer und Udo Arnold: ''Zwischen den Weltkriegen'', 1986, p. 87 He returned to Germany and lived at St. Tönis, the birthplace of his wife but was again arrested. After a further release he was hidden at the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth in Danzig-Oliva and died in a hospital in Danzig.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurowski, Bruno 1879 births 1944 deaths People from Malbork People from West Prussia German Roman Catholics Centre Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Weimar National Assembly Free City of Danzig politicians University of Königsberg alumni