150th anniversary of the January Uprising

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the January Uprising and the Institute is using this occasion to present to the public a collection of unique photographs portraying those who fought in the revolt. This collection is not only priceless because they are the oldest photographs in the Institute\'s archives but also because they recover from the past the faces of those who took part in this important national uprising. Looking at them we can see individuals who formed part of the tens of thousands of people involved in the national freedom movement. The individual life stories of the eight men shown in the photographs are unknown to us, we can only imagine the consequences of their involvement on their lives. The only points of reference we have are the annotations and dedications found on the back of the photographs. We also know that the photographs come from the private collection of the family of Henry Gorecki, himself a participant of the uprising. We see among the photographs his two brothers, Maurycy who died in the uprising and Felicjan who was exiled to Siberia, then later pardoned but refused the right to return to his homeland (the photograph was taken in a Russian photography studio). The remaining photographs were most probably given to Henry as mementos from his comrades in battle. Thanks to the dedications, we know the names of two of them; Cezary Ptaszkiewicz and Ignacy Łojko.

On gaining independence in 1918, around 35 thousand veterans of the January Uprising were living in Poland. The independent republic of Poland designed special navy uniforms for them, granted them special privileges and treated them with utmost respect (even generals and Marshal J Pilskudski saluted them first).

2013-01-09

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