Gabriel Narutowicz

Gabriel Narutowicz

Gabriel Narutowicz
Term of Office:	December 9, 1922, to December 16, 1922
Predecessor:	Józef Piłsudski
Successor:	Stanisław Wojciechowski
Date of Birth:	March 17, 1865
Place of Birth:	Telsze, today's Lithuania
First Lady:	?
Profession:	Engineer, university professor
Political Party:	nonpartisan

Gabriel Narutowicz, b. March 17, 1865, in Telšiai (Polish: Telsze), Samogitia; d. December 16, 1922, in Warsaw: first president of Poland.

Narutowicz had from 1908 been a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic and had directed the construction of many hydroelectric plants in western Europe. After Poland regained independence in 1918, he became involved in national politics and served as minister of public works, 1920-1921, and as minister of foreign affairs in 1922.

On December 9, 1922, he was elected by the Polish parliament (convened as the National Assembly of Poland) to be the first president of Poland, and was sworn in on December 11. He was a sympathizer (though not member) of the "Liberation" peasant party, the more radical of the peasant parties, and so was considered a leftist. His election, by left, center, peasant and minorities deputies, roused the ire of the right, particularly the National Democrats.

On December 16, 1922, five days after his inauguration, while attending the opening of an art exhibition at Warsaw's Zachęta gallery, Narutowicz was shot to death by a National Democrat sympathizer, well-known painter, professor and art critic, Eligiusz Niewiadomski.

See also

• List of Presidents of Poland

Preceded by: Józef Piłsudski

Second Republic President of Poland (1922 - 1922)

Succeeded by: Stanisław Wojciechowski