Author
Józef Szujski 1835-1883

He was born on 16 June 1835 in Tarnów. After graduating from St. Anne's Gymnasium (1854) he studied philosophy and law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and at the University of Vienna. He published four volumes of Dzieje Polski podług ostatnich badań (“History of Poland according to recent research”) between 1862 and 1866. He took part in the January Uprising as a soldier and supporter of the democratic left, as well as the publisher of the Cracow newspaper of the National Government entitled Naprzód (“Forward”). After the fall of the uprising, he became an advocate of renouncing conspiratorial activities, began speaking in favour of legal work under autonomous Galician institutions and promoted conservative ideas, although still in 1865 he argued with Paweł Popiel, a representative of the older generation of conservatives, when the latter published his “Letter to Prince Jerzy Lubomirski”, in which he proposed a programme of moving people responsible for the outbreak and subsequent support for the January Uprising away from governing national matters. He was one of the founders of “Przegląd Polski” (“Polish Review”) and a co-author of “Teka Stańczyka” (“Stańczyk's Portfolio”), passing as the main and most creative representative of Cracow's Stańczycy group. He was elected to the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria (from 1867) and the Imperial Council in Vienna, and finally – became a member of the House of Lords from 1879. In 1869 he became a professor of the newly created faculty of Polish history at the Jagiellonian University, in 1873 he took the office of secretary general at the Academy of Learning, and held the position of rector of the Jagiellonian University during the academic year 1878/79. He died on 7 February 1883 in Cracow. Notable works: Dzieje Polski podług ostatnich badań, (1862-66), Historii polskiej treściwie opowiedzianej ksiąg dwanaście (1880), Rozstrząsania i opowiadania historyczne (1876), Dzieła, 20 volumes (1885-96). Parafrazy myśli rządowej (“Paraphrases of governmental thought”) constituted a series of articles published during the January Uprising in “Naprzód”; the presented article was published in an issue dated 10 June 1863. reprinted from: J. Szujski, O fałszywej historii jako mistrzyni fałszywej polityki. Rozprawy i artykuły, Warsaw (1991). At this time Szujski was a supporter of the struggle for independence by means of a national uprising and preached the need to submit to the authority of the National Government After the fall of the January Uprising, he adopted a more conservative viewpoint, criticising the independence conspiracy movement – a fragment of the article Dawna Rzeczpospolita a jej pogrobowce. Ustęp z obszerniejszego studium. Prelekcja na korzyść komitetu bratniej pomocy uczniów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego miana d 10 marca 1871 przez Prof. Józefa Szujskiego.

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