Gabriel Narutowicz
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| Gabriel Narutowicz | |
| Image:Gabriel narutowicz.jpg
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| In office December 11, 1922 – December 16, 1922 | |
| Prime Minister | Julian Nowak, Władysław Sikorski |
| Succeeded by | Stanisław Wojciechowski |
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| In office June 28, 1922 – December 14, 1922 | |
| Preceded by | Konstanty Skirmunt |
| Succeeded by | Aleksander Skrzyński |
| Born | March 17 1865 Telsze (Тельши, Telšiai), Russian Lithuania (now Image:Flag of Lithuania.svg Telšiai, Lithuania) |
| Died | December 16 1922 (aged 57) Image:Flag of Poland.svg Warsaw, Poland |
| Profession | Engineer |
| Religion | Atheist[citation needed] |
Gabriel Narutowicz (March 17 1865 – December 16 1922) was the first President of Poland. He was assassinated only a week after his election.
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[edit] Early years
Born into a Lithuanian noble family in Telšiai, Lithuania, then under the Russian Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Narutowicz had been a professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, from 1908, and had directed the construction of many hydroelectric plants in western Europe.
After Poland regained independence in 1918, he became involved in Polish national politics, serving as Minister of Public Works (1920-21) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1922).
Supported by the "Liberation" party, Narutowicz decided to run for President of Poland. On December 9, 1922, he was elected by the Polish parliament (the Sejm), convening as the National Assembly of Poland, to be Poland's first president, and was sworn in on December 11.
His election, supported by leftist, centrist, peasant and national-minority deputies, aroused the ire of right-wing deputies, particularly the National Democrats. They emphasized that the deputies who had supported Narutowicz had included national-minorities representatives, and disparagingly called the newly-elected head of state "their president."[citation needed] Narutowicz was also reproached for being an atheist and belonging to a Masonic lodge.[citation needed]
On December 16, 1922, five days after his inauguration, while attending the opening of an art exhibit at Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery, Narutowicz was shot dead by a mentally-deranged sympathizer of the National Democrats, the art professor and critic, Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who was sentenced to death and executed a month later.
[edit] Legacy
Warsaw's Plac Narutowicza (Narutowicz Square) is named in his memory.
[edit] Family
Gabriel Narutowicz's brother, Stanisław Narutowicz, was a member of the State Council of Lithuania, and his signature appears on the Lithuanian Act of Independence of February 16 1918.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Konstanty Skirmunt | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1922 | Succeeded by Aleksander Skrzyński |
| Preceded by Józef Piłsudski (Head of State) | President of Poland 1922 | Succeeded by Stanisław Wojciechowski |
Presidents of Poland and non-presidential heads of state since 1918 | |
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| Republic of Poland (1918-1939) | Józef Piłsudski (as chief of state) · Gabriel Narutowicz · Maciej Rataj (acting) · Stanisław Wojciechowski · Maciej Rataj (acting) · Ignacy Mościcki |
| Government in Exile (1939-1990) | Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski · Władysław Raczkiewicz · August Zaleski · Council of Three · Stanisław Ostrowski · Edward Raczyński · Kazimierz Sabbat · Ryszard Kaczorowski |
| People's Republic of Poland (1944-1989) | Bolesław Bierut (State National Council President) · Franciszek Trąbalski (acting SNC President) · Władysław Kowalski (acting SNC President) · Bolesław Bierut · Council of State Chairmen: Aleksander Zawadzki · Edward Ochab · Marian Spychalski · Józef Cyrankiewicz · Henryk Jabłoński · Wojciech Jaruzelski (turned into President mid-term) |
| Republic of Poland (since 1989) | Wojciech Jaruzelski · Lech Wałęsa · Aleksander Kwaśniewski · Lech Kaczyński |
| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Narutowicz, Gabriel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | The first elected President of the Republic of Poland |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17 March 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Telšiai, Lithuania |
| DATE OF DEATH | 16 December 1922 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Warsaw, Poland |
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