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Stanislovas Narutavičius ; 1862-1932) was a Lithuanian lawyer and politician, one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania and brother to the first president of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz. He was also the only Lithuanian-Polish member of the Taryba, the provisional Lithuanian parliament formed in the late stages of World War I.
Narutavičius was born September 2, 1862, in Brevikai near Telšiai (modern Telšiai County, Lithuania, then in the Russian Empire), to an old Lithuanian noble family, with roots as far back as the time period of Vytautas the Great and tracing back to certain Narutis, a Samogitian noble and founder of the family. A self-declared Pole, he was nevertheless for most of his life loyal to the traditions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania[1]. His parents, Jan Narutowicz and Wiktoria née Szczepkowska were landowners and ran a manor.
He graduated from the faculty of law of the Kiev University[2]. During his studies in Kiev Narutavičius joined the Polish circle of students and with time became a member of the II Proletaryat, an underground socialist-revolutionary party and the predecessor of the Polish Socialist Party[2]. However, his beliefs were much less radical than those of his colleagues, and with time Narutavičius contacts with far left weakened.
Early in his life Narutavičius married Joanna née Billewicz, owner of the Brewiki manor and a cousin to Józef Piłsudski. After 1907 the couple created and maintained a gymnasium for girls in Telšiai. It was the first school for girls in Russian-held Lithuania where teaching in Polish and Lithuanian was allowed. In the period preceding the World War I Narutavičius was also a journalist in various Polish language newspapers. He also was the publisher of the first issues of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly[3]. The couple were also engaged in several education societies spreading knowledge among the Lithuanian peasants of the area. In the period preceding the World War INarutavičius was also a journalist in various Polish language newspapers. He also was the publisher of the first issues of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly[3].
As a politician, Narutavičius was a mild socialist or a social-democrat[2]. He was a supporter of independence of Lithuania rather than of restoring a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, mostly for fear of far more numerous Poland gaining the upper hand in such a union[4]. In his vision the Polish minority in Lithuania was to gain a status similar to the Walloons in Belgium: with separate culture and language, but united with Lithuanians by what he called "state patriotism"[4]. At the same time he also supported close ties between the nations formerly constituting the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and took part in various Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian enterprises.
In September of 1917 Narutavičius joined the Council of Lithuania (Lietuvos Taryba), a Lithuanian governing body established by the Germans as part of their Mitteleuropa plan, yet largely independent and striving for establishment of Lithuania as an independent state. As a member of that body, Narutavičius became one of twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. However, following the conflicts within the Taryba he took a more anti-German stance than most of his colleagues. After the body asked the government of Germany for protection and help and vowed for stable and strong alliance with the German Reich, Narutavičius protested. When, on January 26, 1918, 12 of the Taryba's members voted for compromise with Germany, and three of his social-democratic colleagues (Steponas Kairys, Jonas Vileišis and Mykolas Biržiška) resigned their posts.
In the following years Stanislovas Narutavičius continued to actively support the increasingly difficult rapprochement between Poland and Lithuania, but to little avail. The futility of his actions, renounced on both sides of the border, as well as the increasingly hostile stance of the Lithuanian government towards the Polish minority in Lithuania and Narutavičius alienation led to his suicidal death on December 31, 1932, in Kaunas[1].
After Narutavičius' death his son Kazimierz Narutowicz (1904-1987) tried to mediate between the ministries of diplomacy of Poland and Lithuania for settlement of the conflict for the city of Vilna. Arrested by the Soviets during the World War II and forcibly resettled to Siberia, in 1947 he was released and settled in Poland. His widow continued to run various schools, notably the Polish gymnasium in Kaunas. After the outbreak of World War II she retreated to her manor in Brewiki, but was expelled from Lithuania by the Soviets and settled in Warsaw, where she died in 1948.
Notes and references
- In-line:
- ^ a b Template:Pl icon Krzysztof Buchowski (2001). "Stanisław Narutowicz - szkic do portretu idealisty (Stanisław Narutowicz: a sketch for a portrait of an idealist)". Biuletyn Historii Pogranicza (2). Białystok: Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne: 41–51.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - ^ a b c Template:Pl icon Gerard Żeberek (1981). Początki ruchu socjaldemokratycznego w Kijowie w latach 1889-1903. Wydawnictwo Literackie. pp. 34, 160.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|chapterurl=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Template:Pl icon Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1984). Listy. Wrocław: Ossolineum, Polish Academy of Sciences. p. 77. ISBN 8304020149.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|chapterurl=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Template:Pl icon Juliusz Bardach (1988). O dawnej i niedawnej Litwie. Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University. p. 268. ISBN 8323201188.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|chapterurl=and|coauthors=(help)
