AdamRed222
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2025
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 10
Gabriel Narutowicz was a Polish politician, engineer and the first president of an independent Poland, from 10th to 16th December 1922.
Narutowicz won the presidential elections in December 1922, thanks to the votes of the left, of the representatives for national minorities and of the centre Polish People's Party "Piast". He won 289 votes, whereas his rival, supported by the right, won only 227 votes. Following the election, certain Catholic and nationalist groups began an aggressive campaign against Narutowicz personally, as they did not accept his victory. Among other things, these groups accused Naruwoticz of being an atheist, a freemason, and they claimed that Narutowicz's victory was forced on Poland by Jews, Germans and Ukrainians. While travelling to the swearing-in ceremony in his carriage, Narutowicz was greeted by the opponents of his election, who were throwing snowballs and branches at the president-elect, and they greeted him with hostile shouts, whistles, and curses. Five days after taking office, while attending an art exhibition in the Warsaw National Gallery of Art "Zacheta", Narutowicz was shot and killed during a conversation with a British envoy. Narutowicz died at the scene, partly from a pulmonary haemorrhage. His funeral was attended by 500,000 people, and he was buried with honours.
The assassin who killed Naruwoticz was Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an art critic, painter and right-wing sympathiser. During the trial, Niewiadomski admitted that before Narutowicz was elected president, he had intended to assassinate Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman, Marshal, and one of the founding fathers of a newly independent Poland, considering him the main culprit for the democratic and leftist decay that, in his opinion, was afflicting Poland. However, he later decided to kill Narutowicz after he won the presidential elections. He was sentenced to death and executed on 31st January 1923, and his funeral was attended by 10,000 people. Some right-wing newspapers praised Niewiadomski as a hero.
culture.pl
www.rte.ie
Narutowicz won the presidential elections in December 1922, thanks to the votes of the left, of the representatives for national minorities and of the centre Polish People's Party "Piast". He won 289 votes, whereas his rival, supported by the right, won only 227 votes. Following the election, certain Catholic and nationalist groups began an aggressive campaign against Narutowicz personally, as they did not accept his victory. Among other things, these groups accused Naruwoticz of being an atheist, a freemason, and they claimed that Narutowicz's victory was forced on Poland by Jews, Germans and Ukrainians. While travelling to the swearing-in ceremony in his carriage, Narutowicz was greeted by the opponents of his election, who were throwing snowballs and branches at the president-elect, and they greeted him with hostile shouts, whistles, and curses. Five days after taking office, while attending an art exhibition in the Warsaw National Gallery of Art "Zacheta", Narutowicz was shot and killed during a conversation with a British envoy. Narutowicz died at the scene, partly from a pulmonary haemorrhage. His funeral was attended by 500,000 people, and he was buried with honours.
The assassin who killed Naruwoticz was Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an art critic, painter and right-wing sympathiser. During the trial, Niewiadomski admitted that before Narutowicz was elected president, he had intended to assassinate Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman, Marshal, and one of the founding fathers of a newly independent Poland, considering him the main culprit for the democratic and leftist decay that, in his opinion, was afflicting Poland. However, he later decided to kill Narutowicz after he won the presidential elections. He was sentenced to death and executed on 31st January 1923, and his funeral was attended by 10,000 people. Some right-wing newspapers praised Niewiadomski as a hero.
Killed By An Artist: The Story of the First President of Poland
On 16 December 1922, the first president of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, was assassinated while attending the opening of an art exhibition at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. President Narutowicz was gunned down by the painter Eligiusz Niewiadomski. Narutowicz’s tenure as president...
culture.pl
First President of Poland assassinated | Century Ireland
First President of Poland assassinated | The Century Ireland project is an online historical newspaper that tells the story of the events of Irish life a century ago
