Gabriel Narutowicz

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name=Gabriel Narutowicz

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Gabriel Narutowicz (17 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was the first elected President of the Republic of Poland.

Related Topics:
17 March - 1865 - 16 December - 1922 - Republic of Poland

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Born in Telsze (now Tel?iai in Lithuania), Narutowicz had from 1908 been a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic in Switzerland and had directed the construction of many hydroelectric plants in western Europe. After Poland regained its 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.

Related Topics:
Tel?iai - Lithuania - 1908 - Zurich Polytechnic - Switzerland - 1918 - 1920 - 1921 - 1922

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On 9 December 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 11 December. His election, by left, center, peasant and minorities deputies, roused the ire of the right-wingers, 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.

Related Topics:
9 December - 1922 - National Assembly of Poland - 11 December - National Democrats

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On 16 December 1922, five days after his inauguration, while attending the opening of an art exhibition at the Zach?ta Gallery in Warsaw, Narutowicz was shot dead (at the age of 57) by a National Democrat sympathizer: the anti-Semitic painter, art professor and critic, Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who was later executed for the murder.

Related Topics:
16 December - 1922 - Warsaw - Eligiusz Niewiadomski

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NOTE: Gabriel Narutowicz's brother Stanislovas Narutavi?ius ("Narutavi?ius" is a Lithuanian version of the same surname, after both Poland and Lithuania became independent the former nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania used to choose the variation of surname they would use as official depending on whether they associated themselves more with the Polish or Lithuanian nation) was a member of the State Council in Lithuania and his signature is under the Lithuanian Independence Act of 16 February 1918.

Related Topics:
Stanislovas Narutavi?ius - 16 February - 1918

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