Konstanty Kalinowski, or Wincenty Konstanty Kalinowski ( – ), was a Polish-Belarusian writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary. He was one of the leaders of the 1863 January Uprising on the lands of the former

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. He is considered a national hero in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. Particularly in Belarus, Kalinowski is revered as Father of the Nation and icon of Belarusian nationalism. Kalinowski conducted his activities in the spirit of resurrecting the common state of Lithuania, Ruthenia (now Belarus and Ukraine), and Poland in the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Early life and education

Kalinowski was born in Mostowlany, in Grodnensky Uyezd of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now Mostowlany, Poland) to a ''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

'' family. The Kalinowski family hailed from the Polish region of Mazovia and bore the Kalinowa coat of arms. His father, Szymon, was a manager of the Mostowlany farm and manor. His older brother, would become a historian. In 1849 his father, Szymon bought a folwark near Świsłocz (now Svislach,

) where Konstanty grew up. After graduating from a local school in Svislach in 1855, Kalinowski entered the faculty of Medicine of the University of Moscow as an external student. After one semester he moved to St. Petersburg, where his brother was, and joined the faculty of Law at the University of St. Petersburg. Along with his brother Wiktor, he got himself involved in Polish students' conspiracies and secret cultural societies, headed by Zygmunt Sierakowski and Jarosław Dąbrowski. After graduating in 1860, Konstanty traveled to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

where he unsuccessfully applied to join the civil service under .

Career

Literary work

Konstanty then returned to the

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

area in 1861. Konstanty started publishing (''Peasants' Truth''), the first newspaper in Belarusian, written in Łacinka, first published in June 1862. The ''Peasants' Truth'' was issued seven times until 1863. Konstanty also published two other

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

newspapers. Konstanty was more aligned with the Reds which represented a democratic movement uniting peasants, workers, and some clergy rather than the more moderate Whites. In his literary work, Kalinowski underlined the need to liberate all people of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Russia's occupation and to conserve and promote the Greek Catholic faith and

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

. He also promoted the idea of activisation of peasants for the cause of national liberation, the idea that was until then dominated by the

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

. He favored the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's traditions of democracy, tolerance and freedom, as opposed to national oppression of cultures dominated by

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

: There is some academic debate about which texts to attribute to Konstanty. Konstanty was unhappy with the timing and objectives of the January Uprising, which broke out on 23 January 1863. There had been a growing rift between him and other leaders of the uprising in Warsaw. After the outbreak of the January Uprising, he was involved in the secret in

. Soon he was promoted to the commissar of the Polish National Government for the

Grodno Governorate Grodno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Grodno. It encompassed in area and consisted of a population of 1,603,409 inhabitants by 1897. Gro ...

. His writings made him popular both among the peasants and the gentry, which enabled the partisan units under his command to grow rapidly. Because of his successes he was promoted to the rank of Plenipotentiary Commissar of the Government for Lithuania (), which made him the commander-in-chief of all partisan units fighting in the areas of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which are in modern

, eastern

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Last months, capture, imprisonment, execution and burial

However, after initial successes against the Russian armies, the Russians moved a 120,000 man army to the area and the revolutionaries started to lose most of the skirmishes. Finally, Kalinowski was betrayed by one of his soldiers and handed over to the Russians. He was imprisoned in Vilnius, where he wrote one of his most notable works – '' Letters from Beneath the Gallows'' (), a passionate credo for his compatriots. He was tried by a court-martial for leading the revolt against Russia and sentenced to death. On 22 March 1864, at the age 26, he was publicly executed on Lukiškės Square in Vilnius. Kalinowski's remains, along with those of others, were clandestinely buried by the Tsarist authorities on the site of a military fortress on top of the Gediminas Hill in Vilnius. In 2017, Kalinowski's remains were excavated and identified, and solemnly reinterred in the Rasos Cemetery on 22 November 2019.

Legacy

During the so-called Jeans Revolution, protesters who disputed the 2006 Belarusian presidential election symbolically renamed October Square, after the Bolshevik revolution, Kalinovski Square. Kalinovski Square was also the title of a documentary film about these events. In Uladzimir Karatkievich's novel '' King Stakh's Wild Hunt'', one of the principal characters, Andrey Svetsilovich, had a portrait of Kalinowski above his writing desk. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Belarusian volunteers fighting on the side of

formed a battalion named Kastuś Kalinoŭski, which later transformed into a regiment. In Ukrainian Rivne, a street was named after Kalinowski. In June 2024, a memorial plaque in honor of Kalinowski was unveiled in a street named after him in Chernihiv. The Polish Government's scholarship program for Belarusian students expelled from their studies after the Jeans Revolution has been named after Konstanty Kalinowski since 2006. File:Kanstantyn Kalinoŭski stamp.jpg, Belarusian commemorative stamp in honor of Kalinowski (1993) File:KalinowskiSierakowskiWilno2.jpg, Memorial at the place of Kalinouski's execution in

File:Paminklas kalinauskui.JPG, Monument in Šalčininkai, Lithuania File:Pomnik Konstantego Kalinowskiego w Mostowlanach 2017.jpg, Monument in Mostowlany,

File:Полк Каліноўскага. Лагатып.png, Logo of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment (2022)

Notes

References

External links

Website about Kalinowski
(in Belarusian)

belarusguide.com
Archival documents and materials - 1863-4 uprising in Belarus

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20001216074400/http://www.belarus-misc.org/writer/kalinouski.htm Konstanty Kalinowksi biography belarus-misc.org
Каліноўскі як далакоп беларускай мовы
3 December 2013, in Belarusian
15 November 2024, in English {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalinowski, Konstanty 1838 births
1864 deaths">1838 births">15 November 2024, in English {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalinowski, Konstanty 1838 births
1864 deaths 19th-century journalists 19th-century Polish male writers Anti-Russification activists Belarusian nobility Belarusian revolutionaries Burials at Rasos Cemetery Executed Belarusian people Executed people from Podlaskie Voivodeship Polish participants of the January Uprising Kalinowski family Male journalists Members of Polish government (January Uprising) People executed by the Russian Empire by hanging People from Białystok County People from Grodnensky Uyezd Journalists from the Russian Empire Russian male writers