Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (27 May 1876 – 3 January 1945) was a Polish writer, explorer, university professor, and anticommunist political activist. He is known for his books about Lenin and the Russian Civil War in which he participated.

Early years

He was born on 27 May 1876, on his family's manor near Ludza in the Vitebsk Governorate (now

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

). His family was of Lipka Tatar descent. He studied at the famous gymnasium in Kamieniec Podolski, but he moved with his father, a renowned doctor, to Saint Petersburg, where he graduated from a Russian language school. Then he joined the mathematical-physical faculty of the local university, where he studied chemistry. As an assistant to professor Aleksander Zalewski, he traveled to many distant areas, including Siberia, the Caucasus and the Altay Mountains. During the summer, he was frequently enrolled as a ship's writer on the

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

- Vladivostok line, a job that allowed him to visit many parts of Asia, including Japan,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, China,

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

and Indonesia. For his description of his trip to Crimea and Constantinople, he received his first royalty. His record of a trip to India (''Chmura nad Gangesem'': ''A Cloud Over the Ganges'') gained the prestigious ''Petersburg Society of Literature'' prize. In 1899, after a students' riot in Saint Petersburg, Ossendowski was forced to leave

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

and move to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Sorbonne, his professors being Maria Curie-Skłodowska and

Marcelin Berthelot Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic subst ...

. It is possible that he received a doctorate back in Russia, but no documents have survived. In 1901 he was allowed to return to Russia, where professor Zalewski invited him to the newly founded Institute of Technology of the Tomsk State University. There, he gave lectures on chemistry and physics. At the same time he also gave lectures at the Agricultural Academy and published numerous scientific works on hydrology, geology, physical chemistry, geography and physics. After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) Ossendowski moved to

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

in Manchuria, where he founded a ''Central Technical Research Laboratory'', a Russian-financed institution for development of the ore deposits in the area. At the same time, he headed the local branch of the Russian Geographic Society in Vladivostok. As such he made numerous trips to Korea, Sakhalin, Ussuri and the shores of the Bering Strait. In Manchuria, he also became one of the leaders of the considerable Polish diaspora and published his first novel in Polish, ''Noc'' (''Night''). He also got involved in the ''Main Revolutionary Committee'', a leftist organisation that tried to take power in Manchuria during the

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

. After the failure of the revolution, Ossendowski organised a strike against the brutal repressions in

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

for which he was arrested. A military tribunal sentenced him to death for conspiracy against the tsar, but his sentence was later commuted to several years' hard labour.

St. Petersburg to China

In 1907, he was released from prison with a so-called wolf ticket, which prevented him from finding a job or leaving Russia. At that time he devoted himself to writing. His novel ''V ludskoi pyli'' (''In Human Dust''), in which he described his several years' stay in Russian prisons, gained him much popularity in Russia and was even described by Leo Tolstoy as ''one of his favorites''. His popularity allowed him to return to St Petersburg in 1908. There he continued to write books and at the same time headed the ''Society of the Gold and Platinum Industry'' and several newspapers and journals, both in Russian and in Polish. After the outbreak of World War I, Ossendowski published several more books, including a science fiction novel, a propaganda novel on German spies in Russia and a brochure describing German and Austro-Hungarian war crimes. After the outbreak of the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

of 1917, Ossendowski moved yet again, to Siberia, this time to

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

, where he started giving lectures at the local university. After the October Revolution and the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, he also got involved in the counterrevolutionary Russian government led by Supreme Governor Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak. He served at various posts, among others as an intelligence officer, an envoy to the intervention corps from the United States and an assistant to the Polish 5th Rifle Division of Maj.

Walerian Czuma Walerian Czuma (24 December 1890 – 7 April 1962) was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege ...

. In 1918 he was responsible for the transfer of many tsarist and White Russian documents to the Entente, including proofs (many apparently forged) of German support (confirmed later from German archives) for Lenin and his Bolsheviks (so-called Sisson Documents). After Kolchak's defeat in 1920, Ossendowski joined a group of Poles and White Russians trying to escape from communist-controlled Siberia to India through Mongolia, China and Tibet. After a journey of several thousand miles, the group reached Chinese-controlled Mongolia, only to be stopped there by the takeover of the country led by mysterious Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg. The Baron was a mystic who was fascinated by the beliefs and religions of the Far East such as Buddhism and

Lamaism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

and "who believed himself to be a reincarnation of Kangchendzönga, the Mongolian god of war." Ungern-Sternberg's philosophy was an exceptionally muddled mixture of Russian nationalism with Chinese and Mongol beliefs. However, he also proved to be an exceptional military commander, and his forces grew rapidly. Ossendowski joined the baron's army as a commanding officer of one of the self-defense troops. He also briefly became Ungern's political advisor and chief of intelligence. Little is known of his service at the latter post, which adds to Ossendowski's legend as a mysterious person. In late 1920, he was sent with a diplomatic mission to Japan and then the US, never to return to Mongolia. Some writers believe that Ossendowski was one of the people who hid the semimythical treasures of Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. After his arrival in New York City, Ossendowski started to work for the Polish diplomatic service and possibly as a spy. At the same time, in late 1921 he published his first book in English: ''Beasts, Men and Gods''. The description of his travels during the Russian Civil War and the campaigns led by the ''Bloody Baron'' became a striking success and a bestseller. In 1923, it was translated into Polish and then into several other languages.

Back to Poland

In 1922, Ossendowski returned to Poland and settled in Warsaw. Immediately upon his return, he started giving lectures at the '' Wolna Wszechnica Polska'',

Higher War School The National Defence University of Warsaw ( – AON) was the civil-military highest defence academic institution in Poland, located in Warszawa–Rembertów. In 2016 it was succeeded by the War Studies University. The National Defence Universit ...

and School of Political Sciences at the Warsaw University. At the same time, he remained an advisor to the Polish government and an expert

sovietologist Kremlinology is the study and analysis of the politics and policies of the Soviet Union while Sovietology is the study of politics and policies of both the Soviet Union and former communist states more generally. These two terms were synonymous unt ...

. He continued to travel to different parts of the world, and after each journey he published a book or two. In the interwar period, he was considered the creator of a distinct genre called the ''traveling novel''. With over 70 books published in Poland and translated almost 150 times into 20 other languages, Ossendowski was also the second most popular Polish author abroad, after

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...

. He repeated the success of his ''Beasts, Men and Gods'' with a book on ''Lenin'' in which he openly criticized Soviet communist methods and policies as well as the double face of the communist leaders. In Poland, three of his books were being filmed at the moment World War II started.

World War II

After the

1939 Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

and the outbreak of World War II, Ossendowski remained in Warsaw, where he lived at 27 Grójecka Street. In 1942 he converted to Catholicism (previously being a Lutheran), and the following year, he joined the ranks of the underground National Party. He worked in the structures of the Polish Secret State and cooperated with the Government Delegate's Office in preparation of the underground education in Poland during World War II and postwar learning programmes. After the Warsaw Uprising, Ossendowski, now seriously ill, moved to the village of Żółwin, near the Warsaw suburb of Milanówek. On 2 January 1945, he was taken to the hospital in Grodzisk Mazowiecki where he died on 3 January 1945. He was buried the following day in the local cemetery in Milanówek.

Aftermath

Two weeks after Ossendowski's death, on 18 January, the area was seized by the Red Army. It turned out that Ossendowski was being sought by the NKVD, and was being considered an enemy of the people for his book on Lenin and the Soviet system, which was considered an act of

anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) (russian: антисове́тская агита́ция и пропага́нда (АСА)) was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. To begin with the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolu ...

. The Soviet agents exhumed his body to confirm his identity and that he was really dead. After the war, the new communist Soviet-led authorities of Poland issued a ban on all books by Ossendowski. Many of his books were confiscated from the libraries and burnt. It was not until 1989 that his books were again published openly in Poland.

Bibliography

The relative obscurity of much of Ossendowski's output means that many books have been published twice under different names or with no date of publication. The following list is an approximate and incomplete bibliography only. * "Chmura nad Gangesem: A Cloud Over the Ganges" * "Noc" (''Night'') * "V ludskoi pyli" (''In Human Dust'') * – 1922 * ''Black Magic of Mongolia'' – 1922 * "With Baron Ungern in Urga" – 1922 * – 1923 * ''From President to Prison'' – 1925 * – 1925 * – 1926 * ''The Breath of The Desert: Oasis and Simoon: The Account of a Journey Through Algeria and Tunisia'' – 1927 * ''Slaves of the Sun: Travels in West Africa'' – 1928 * ''Life Story of a Little Monkey: The Diary of the Chimpanzee Ket'' – 1930 * – 1931 * Noc – Władywostok 1905 * W ludzkim pyle * Cień ponurego Wschodu: za kulisami życia rosyjskiego – Warszawa 1923, Warszawa 1990 * W ludzkiej i leśnej kniei – Warszawa 1923 * Zwierzęta, ludzie, bogowie lub Przez kraj ludzi, zwierząt i bogów. Konno przez Azję Centralną – Warszawa 1923, Poznań 1927, repr. Białystok 1991, . * Cud bogini Kwan-Non: z życia Japonji – Poznań 1924 * Najwyższy lot – "Książki ciekawe", Warszawa 1923; Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1929 (wydanie II), 1935 (wydanie III); reprint: Wydawnictwo LTW, Łomianki 2011, * Nieznanym szlakiem: nowele – Poznań 1924,. * Za Chińskim Murem – Warszawa 1924 * Od szczytu do otchłani: wspomnienia i szkice – Warszawa 1925 * Orlica – Bibl. Dzieł Wyborowych, Warszawa 1925; kolejne wydania: Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, Norymberga 1948; reprint: Iskry, Warszawa 1957 * Po szerokim świecie – Warszawa 1925 * Toreador w masce i inne opowieści – Poznań 1925 * Zbuntowane i zwyciężone – Warszawa 1925 * Czarny czarownik: relacja z wyprawy do Afryki – Warszawa 1926 * Płomienna Północ – Wydawnictwo Polskie, Lwów 1926, 1927 * Pod smaganiem samumu. Podróż po Afryce Północnej. Algierja i Tunisja – Wydawnictwo Polskie, Poznań 1926, Lwów 1927 * Huragan – Warszawa 1927 * Niewolnicy słońca: podróż przez zachodnią połać Afryki podzwrotnikowej w l. 1925/26 r. – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1927, 1928 * Wśród Czarnych – Lwów 1927 * Na skrzyżowaniu dróg: nowele i szkice – Tczew 1928 * Pięć minut po północy – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1928 * Pod polską banderą – Lwów 1928 * Sokół pustyni – Poznań 1928 – na jej podstawie nakręcono film kinowy Głos pustyni (1932) * Szkarłatny kwiat kamelii – Poznań 1928 * Wańko z Lisowa – Lwów 1928 * Życie i przygody małpki – Lwów 1928 * Krwawy generał – Wydawnictwo Polskie (R. Wegner), Poznań 1929; reprint: Agencja Wydawnicza "BS", Warszawa 1990 * Lisowczycy: powieść historyczna – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1929; reprint: Libra, Warszawa 1990 * Męczeńska włóczęga – Wydawnictwo Polskie (R. Wegner), Poznań 1929; reprinty: "Słowo", Warszawa 1986, Agencja Wydawnicza "BS", Warszawa 1990 * Przez kraj szatana – Wydawnictwo Polskie (R. Wegner), Poznań 1929; reprint: Agencja Wydawnicza "BS", Warszawa 1990 * Lenin – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1930 (3 wydania), liczne tłumaczenia, reprinty: Wydawnictwo Alfa, 1990, , Wydawnictwo Maj, 1990, Wydawnictwo LTW 2011, * Mali zwycięzcy: przygody dzieci w pustyni Szamo – Lwów 1930, Warszawa 1991, repr. Gdańsk

991 Year 991 (Roman numerals, CMXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events * March 1: In Rouen, Pope John XV ratifies the first Peace and Truce of God, Truce of God, between ...

* Miljoner „Y”: powieść o dzielnym Murzynku-sierocie – Warszawa

k. 1930 K is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet. K may also refer to: General uses * K (programming language), an array processing language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems * K (cider), a British draft cider manufact ...

* Nieznanym szlakiem – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1930 * Czao-Ra – Warszawa 1931 * Gasnące ognie: podróż po Palestynie, Syrji, Mezopotamji – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1931 * Trębacz cesarski – Miejsce piastowe

930 Year 930 ( CMXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * 17 June (traditional date) – The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is established at ...

* Zagończyk – Lwów 1931 * Zwierzyniec – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1931 * Okręty zbłąkane – Kraków 1932 * Syn Beliry – Warszawa 1932, następne wydania pt. Tajemnica płonącego samolotu * Daleka podróż boćka – Warszawa 1932 * Narodziny Lalki – Warszawa 1932 * Przygody Jurka w Afryce – Warszawa 1932 * Słoń Birara – Kraków 1932, Warszawa 1958 i 1990, a także ok. 2006 jako szósty tom kolekcji „Cała Polska Czyta Dzieciom” * Staś emigrant – Warszawa 1932 * W krainie niedźwiedzi – Warszawa 1932 * Afryka, kraj i ludzie – Warszawa 1934 * Polesie – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, seria Cuda Polski, Poznań 1934 * Pożółkły list – Warszawa 1934 * Mocni ludzie – Lwów, Warszawa 935 Wrocław, Warszawa k. 1946* Nauczycielka – Poznań 1935 * Skarb Wysp Andamańskich – Warszawa 1935 * Tajemnica płonącego samolotu – Warszawa 1935, pierwsze wydanie z 1932 jako Syn Beliry * W polskiej dżungli – Warszawa 1935 * Aldo – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Bajeczki niebajeczki – Częstochowa 1936 * Czarnoskórka – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Dimbo – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Drobnoludki i inne dziwy – Częstochowa 1936 * Grzmot – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Huculszczyzna: Gorgany i Czarnohora – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, seria Cuda Polski, Poznań 1936; reprint Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1990, * Iskry spod młota – Poznań 1936 * Kosmacz – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Kraczka – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Kruszenie kamienia – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Miś i Chocha – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Ogień wykrzesany – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Popielatka – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Puszcze polskie – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, seria Cuda Polski, Poznań 1936; Wydawnictwo Tern (Rybitwa) Book, Londyn 1953; reprint: Sejneńskie Towarzystwo Opieki Nad Zabytkami, 2008, * Rudy zbój – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * Szympansiczka – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1936 * W krainie niedźwiedzi – Warszawa, 1932 i wydania kolejne, 1935–1939 * Młode wino – Warszawa 1937 * Postrach gór – Warszawa 1937 * Szanchaj – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1937 * Biesy – Poznań 1938 * Orły podkarpackie – Przemyśl 1938 * Pierścień z krwawnikiem – Kraków 1938 * Pod sztandarami Sobieskiego – Warszawa 1938 * Zygzaki – Poznań 1938 * Biały kapitan – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, Poznań 1939; reprint Oficyna Cracovia Kraków 1990 * Cztery cuda Polski – Warszawa 1939 * Karpaty i Podkarpacie – Wydawnictwo Polskie R. Wegnera, seria Cuda Polski, Poznań 1928, 1939; reprint Libra, * Jasnooki łowca – Kraków 1946 * Wacek i jego Pies – Poznań 1947 * Dzieje burzliwego okresu (od szczytu do otchłani) – Wydawnictwo Polskie (R. Wegner), Poznań k. 1934* Cadyk ben Beroki – Białystok 1992, .

References

External links

* * *
''Beasts, Men and Gods''
at Google Books * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ossendowski, Ferdynand Antoni 1876 births 1945 deaths People from Ludza People from Lyutsinsky Uyezd Polish nobility Clan of Lis Polish people of Lipka Tatar descent Polish Lutherans Polish Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism National Party (Poland) politicians Polish anthropologists Polish anti-communists Polish biochemists Polish biologists Polish cartographers 20th-century Polish chemists Polish ethnographers Polish explorers Polish geodesists 20th-century Polish geologists Polish hydrotechnicians Polish journalists Linguists from Poland Polish mineralogists 20th-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists Polish physical chemists 20th-century Polish physicists Polish social scientists Polish travel writers 19th-century male writers Tomsk State University faculty People of the Russian Civil War Polish resistance members of World War II Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature People from the Russian Empire of Lipka Tatar descent