Zdzisław Lubomirski (Zdzisław Lubomirski; April 4, 1865, Nizhny Novgorod — 1943) was a Polish political and public figure, jurist, and prince of the Lubomirski family of the Szreniawa coat of arms. He was Mayor of Warsaw and a member of the Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918). He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, where his family was connected to the Russian period in the history of the Polish aristocracy.[1]

Education and Early Career

Zdzisław's parents sought to raise their son in Polish traditions and sent him to study at St. Anne's School in Kraków. From 1883 to 1887 he studied law at the Jagiellonian University and the University of Graz. At the beginning of the 20th century, Lubomirski became well known in the Kingdom of Poland for his charitable work: in 1904 he took the post of deputy chairman of the Warsaw Charity Society and trustee of the Ophthalmological Institute in Warsaw, where free eye treatment was provided for the poor. In the context of mandatory Russian-language education in the Russian Empire, he campaigned for the opening of Polish schools and libraries and sat on the board of directors of the school records society. In 1905 he became one of the founders of the "National Unity" party and took part in congresses of teachers of the National Education Society. He organized trips by Polish public figures to Prague in 1908 and hosted return visits by Czechs in Warsaw.[1]

The First World War and the Regency Council

During the First World War, Lubomirski headed a number of charitable bodies: the Committee for the Support of Social Work, the Committee for Polish Sanitary Aid, and the Department of Temporary Mutual Aid of the Landowners. When German troops entered Warsaw in August 1915, the prince refused to leave the city and, with the permission of the occupation authorities, became chairman of the Central Citizens' Committee, under whose leadership a network of Polish schools was created. He served as an intermediary between the Polish population and the German command. On July 16, 1916, with the permission of the German authorities, elections to Warsaw's local government bodies were held, as a result of which Lubomirski became mayor of the city.[1]

On September 16, 1917, the Germans created the Regency Council, a provisional government of Poland. Lubomirski joined it as one of its three members. In October 1918, on his initiative, a declaration of Poland's independence from the Russian Empire was adopted; seven days later, soldiers of the first Polish army swore allegiance to the flag of Poland.[1]

The Interwar Period

In the early 1920s, Lubomirski withdrew from politics. After the May Coup of 1926 he returned to public life and was among four candidates for the presidency of Poland, but he declined the nomination. From 1928 to 1935 he was a senator from the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government and chairman of the Senate committees on foreign affairs and on military affairs, and he took an active part in international events. In 1930 he resigned from the Senate in protest against the Brest trials of the leaders of the parliamentary opposition, but Prime Minister Sławek refused to accept his resignation. Later, the Sanation government forbade him to run in the 1938 Senate elections after learning of secret meetings at which the political situation in the Second Polish Republic was discussed.[1]

The Nizhny Novgorod Connection

Zdzisław Lubomirski was born on April 4, 1865, in Nizhny Novgorod, at that time a major commercial and administrative center of the Russian Empire. The presence of a representative of the Polish aristocracy on the Volga was characteristic of the era, when Polish noble families often found themselves in Russian provincial cities because of government service or other circumstances. Lubomirski's later life and career took place entirely in Polish lands.[1]

References

  • Wikidata (Q169258 — an entry in the free knowledge base)
  • VIAF (302049064 — Virtual International Authority File)
  • ISNI (0000000408869560)
  • GND (1173284494 — catalog of the German National Library)

Sources

  1. rus.team — Zdzisław Lubomirski — Member of the Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918) — Biography