Jarosław Dąbrowski

Jarosław Żądło-Dąbrowski (Polish pronunciation: [jaˈrɔswav ˈʐɔndwɔ dɔmˈbrɔfskʲi]; 13 November 1836 – 23 May 1871), also known as Jaroslav Dombrowski, was a Polish nobleman[2] and military officer in the Imperial Russian Army, a left-wing independence activist and radical republican[3] for Poland, and general and military commander of the Paris Commune in its later period. He was a participant in the Polish 1863 January Uprising and one of the leaders[4] of the "Red" faction among the insurrectionists as a member of the Central National Committee and the Polish Provisional National Government.

For the person after whom the Polish national anthem is named, see Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. For the film, see Jarosław Dąbrowski (film).

Jarosław Dąbrowski
Nickname(s)Żądło, Łokietek
Born(1836-11-13)13 November 1836
Żytomierz, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire (now Zhytomyr, Ukraine)
Died23 May 1871(1871-05-23) (aged 34)
Paris, France
Allegiance
Service/branch
Years of service1845–1864
1871
Rank
Commands heldNational Guard
Battles/wars
Awards Order of Saint Stanislaus[1]
FamilyRadwan coat of arms

Early life

Dąbrowski was born in 1836, after the Partitions of Poland, in Żytomierz, in the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire, in what is now Zhytomyr in Ukraine. He was the offspring of the old szlachta family Żądło-Dąbrowski z Dąbrówki.[2][5][6][7] He bore the Radwan coat of arms. His father was Wiktor Żądło-Dąbrowski, his mother was Zofia née Falkenhagen-Zaleska.[2]

Military career
Dąbrowski in 1861

In 1845 at age 9, Dąbrowski joined the Imperial Russian Army, enrolling in the officer training corps at the Brest-Litovsk Fortress, where he spent 8 years. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Cadet Corps in 1855. He fought as a Russian officer against uprisings of the local mountain populations in the Caucasian War. In 1859 he enrolled in the General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg. There he was one of the leaders of the secret "Officers' Committee of the First Army". Members included several hundred Russian and Polish officers, cooperating with the revolutionary "Zemlya i Volya" (Land and Liberty) movement.[8] He became involved in the preparation of the January Uprising, but was arrested on 14 August 1862, and exiled to Siberia for his participation in a plot against the Tsar, Alexander II. In 1865, he escaped and fled to France.

In Paris
Dąbrowski caricatured in Le Père Duchesne Illustré: "Un bon bougre!... Nom de Dieu!..." ("A Good Guy!... For God's Sake!!..."); May 1871

In early March 1871, following months of siege by the Prussians and the capture of Napoleon III by the Prussian Army, a socialist-anarchist coalition called the Paris Commune seized power in Paris and declared itself independent of the French government. Dąbrowski was elected to the Council of the Paris Commune, using the spelling Jaroslav Dombrowski.[9] As one of the few Commune soldiers with military experience, he was soon named Commander-in-Chief of the Commune forces.

On 21 May 1871, shortly after he was named commander, the French Army attacked and entered Paris. The first reaction of many of the National Guard was to find someone to blame, and Dąbrowski was the first to be accused. Rumors circulated he accepted a million francs to give up the city. He was deeply offended by the rumors. They stopped when he died two days later from wounds received on the barricades. His last reported words were, "Do they still say I was a traitor?"[10][11] The Commune fell on 28 May 1871.[12]

Misidentification with pianist Henri Dombrowski

A photographic portrait, taken before 1870, of Paris pianist Henri Dombrowski[13] was falsely portrayed as depicting General Jarosław Dąbrowski by photographer Pierre Petit. Petit sold 200,000 copies of the photo. Henri Dombrowski demanded damages.[14] The misidentification with pianist Henri Dombrowski can be seen in many monuments and portrayals of Jarosław Dąbrowski as a result of Petit's actions.

Legacy
See also: Polish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
  • Zhytomyr house where Dąbrowski was born
    Zhytomyr house where Dąbrowski was born
  • Monument dedicated to Dąbrowski in Zhytomyr
    Monument dedicated to Dąbrowski in Zhytomyr
  • Memorial on the Zhytomyr house where Dąbrowski was born
    Memorial on the Zhytomyr house where Dąbrowski was born

Several schools and roads are named after him in Poland; among them most notable is the Military University of Technology in Warsaw.[15] In the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the Dabrowski Battalion and various brigade-strength units (known in Polish as the Dąbrowszczacy) – were named in his honour.

See also

References
  1. (Złotorzycka 1946, p. 8)
  2. Zdrada, Jerzy (1973). JAROSŁAW DĄBROWSKI, 1836–1871. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie. pp. 9–10. Jarosław Radwan Żądło Dąbrowski urodzil się 13 listopada 1836 roku Żytomierzu na Wołyniu. Rodzina Dąbrowskich wywodziła się z Mazowsza, najprawdopodobniej ze wsi Dąbrówka pod Piasecznem w ziemi warszawskiej. Notują ją herbarze szlacheckie od XV wieku, ale była to zawsze szlachta dość uboga, w niektórych tylko okresach dochodząca do pewnej zamożności. Nigdy też nie dostąpili Dąbrowscy ważniejszych urzędów i godności, zadowalając się w latach istnienia Rzeczypospolitej komornictwami, skarbnikostwem, wojskostwem, miecznikostwem czy stolnikostwem. Nie brak też było w rodzinie duchownych. Rozrastającemu się rodowi Żądło-Dąbrowskich szybko zrobiło się ciasno na ubogim Mazowszu. W ciągu XVI i XVII wieku zaczęto się przenosić, głównie dzięki małżeństwom, w inne zakątki Rzeczypospolitej. Tym też sposobem jedna z gałęzi rodu Dąbrowskich w końcu XVIII wieku zakorzeniła się na Wołyniu. ... Matka Zofia z Falkenhagen-Zaleskich pochodziła ze spolszczonej od dawna rodziny inflanckiej i była siostrą Piotra Falkenhagen-Zaleskiego, emigranta z 1831 roku, cenionego ekonomisty tych czasów. Przez żonę Piotra, Marię z Korzeniowskich, byli Dąbrowscy spowinowaceni ze znanym pisarzem Józefem Korzeniowskim.
  3. Beer, Daniel (2017). THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD: SIBERIAN EXILE UNDER THE TSARS. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 195. ISBN 9780307958907. Jarosław Dąbrowski was a twenty-four-year-old radical republican whose biography appears to have been drawn from the pages of nineteenth-century Romantic fiction.
  4. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Taylor & Francis. 20 September 2007. p. 160. ISBN 9780203003787.
  5. Okolski, Szymon (15 September 1643). "RADWAN alias WIRBO". Orbis Polonus (in Latin). Vol. II. Kraków: Franciscus Caesarius. p. 564. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. LINEA FAMILIAE RADWAN
  6. Okolski, Szymon (15 September 1643). "RADWAN alias WIRBOW". Orbis Polonus (in Latin). Vol. II. Kraków: Franciscus Caesarius. p. 572. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Dąbrowfcij, cognominati Zedlowie ...
  7. Boniecki (Fredro-Boniecki), herbu Bończa, Adam Józef Feliks [in Polish] (1901). "DĄBROWSCY h. RADWAN z Dąbrówki" (online book). Herbarz Polski – Część I.; Wiadomości Historyczno-Genealogiczne O Rodach Szlacheckich. Warsaw, Warsaw governorate, Vistula land (Russian POLAND), Russian Empire: Gebethner i Wolff. IV.: 147. DĄBROWSCY h. RADWAN z Dąbrówki pod Piasecznem, w ziemi warszawskiej, w różnych stronach osiedli, przeważnie w ziemi rożańskiej. Przydomek ich "Żądło". Żyjący w połowie XV-go wieku Jakób z Dąbrówki, ...
  8. (Lerski 1996, p. 103)
  9. Petit Robert: Noms Propres
  10. (Milza 2009, p. 394)
  11. Horne, Alistair. The Fall of Paris. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 380.
  12. (Billington 1980, p. 613)
  13. (Dufour 1867, p. 109)
  14. (Friedl 2010)
  15. "Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna Warszawa ul. Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego 2". szkolnictwo.pl.

Bibliography
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