Joachim Lelewel | |
---|---|
Born |
Warsaw, Poland |
22 March 1786
Died | 29 May 1861 Paris, France |
(aged 75)
Resting place | Rossa Cemetery |
Nationality | Polish |
Occupation | Historian, bibliographer |
Relatives | Karol Maurycy Lelewel (father) |
Joachim Lelewel (22 March 1786 – 29 May 1861) was a Polish historian, bibliographer, polyglot and politician.
Born in Warsaw to a Polonized German family, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of Vilna, where in 1814 he became a lecturer in history, with a brief sojourn at Warsaw, 1818–1821, where he joined the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning. His lectures on Polish history created great enthusiasm, as shown in some lines addressed to him by Adam Mickiewicz that led to Lelewel's removal by the Russians in 1824.
Five years later, Lelewel returned to Warsaw, where he was elected a deputy to the Sejm of Congress Poland. He joined the November 1830 Uprising with more enthusiasm than energy, though Tsar Nicholas I identified him as one of the most dangerous rebels. He probably was the author of the motto: "For our freedom and yours". On the suppression of the rebellion, Lelewel made his way in disguise to Germany and subsequently reached Paris in 1831. The government of Louis Philippe ordered him to quit French territory in 1833 at the request of the Russian ambassador. The cause of the expulsion is said to have been his writing of revolutionary proclamations. He went to Brussels, where for nearly thirty years he earned a scanty livelihood by his writings.
In 1847, he, together with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, became a founding member and Vizepräses (vice president) of the Demokratische Gesellschaft zur Einigung und Verbrüderung aller Völker (Democratic Society for Unity and Brotherhood of All Peoples), seated in Brussels. The anarchist Michail Bakunin was strongly influenced by him.