gabriel narutowicz

Gabriel Narutowicz, b. March 17, 1865, in Telšiai (Polish: Telsze), Samogitia; d. December 16, 1922, in Warsaw: first president of Poland. Narutowicz had from 1908 been a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic and had directed the construction of many hydroelectric plants in western Europe. After Poland regained independence in 1918, he became involved in national politics and served as minister of public works, 1920-1921, and as minister of foreign affairs in 1922.

On December 9, 1922, he was elected by the Polish parliament (convened as the National Assembly of Poland) to be the first president of Poland, and was sworn in on December 11. His election, by left, center, peasant and minorities deputies, roused the ire of the right, particularly the National Democrats, who emphasized that the MPs supporting Narutowicz had included Jews, and hence called the newly-elected head of state the "president of the Jews." On December 16, 1922, five days after his inauguration, while attending the opening of an art exhibition at Warsaw's Zachęta gallery, Narutowicz was shot to death by a National Democrat sympathizer, painter, art professor and critic, Eligiusz Niewiadomski.

Gabriel Narutowicz

See also