Poland's January Uprisings of 1863

as I know my fathers familly came there (north east Poland) form Crakow region. but it was long long time ago ...

They don't seem to be a small szlachta as my mother's ancestors.
I wrote only that I can hardly imagine Clan admission of smal families of some 1-2 wolokas


Wasn't that Great Duchy of Lithuania before 17 century? I write about Suwalki

I mentioned Suwalki because it was the nearest town on map, but my ansestors fortune was definately in Great Duchy of Lithuania

Shall you mention exact names of gmins? That is very interesting. I payed much attention to Suwalki powiat and neighbouring lands. My grandgrandmother was born in Grodno

To be honest I cant tell much more than you can find yourself, I know stories about wars, and things like that but I cant descirbe you current situation there or situation in the past.

You may look for ancestors documents in Sain Petersbourg as I did

any details? why in Russia ?

There was a body called Senate of Russian Empire. Within it there was a Department of Geroldia ( Департамент Герольдии). Poles and Lithuanians adressed copies of burth rates and documents on property in past to confirm nobility. You may learn mani details from that documents.

First consult Seweryn Uruski if your surnames are before letter R

thank you for information, now I m rather concentrated on researches about my famili fight in years 1945-52 ... there is new book about one of memberes of my family, but maybe in future I will do new researches, about more ancient history ;)

podziemiezbrojne.blox.pl/html/1310721,262146,21.html?330888

Doing one work you may do another at the same time

where are these documents now ? :)


what about choromanski ? I seen something in the St Petersburg website
on Choromanski but it was spelled horomanski I think

Jan 18, 10, 00:08 - Thread attached on merging:
Ancestry

Who could help me with some information about Poles deported to Sibirea after the January Rebellion of 1863? Is there any database with the names (in Poland or Russia)?

Thanks for your help!

One can conquer Poland, but never submit the will of the people...

Witek I understand why you say our uprising is not worth it as so much was lost for poland. But I disagree with you when you say the uprising was not worth it. Our uprising was crushed and our people were killed, but these soldiers completed their honourable duty to our country. Think about what would have happened if there was no uprising. The soviets would have ma rched in and they would claim to the world that armia krajowa collaborated with the Germans. Then they would effectively stomp out all resistance.without a fight at all and we.would have.no help. While this happened.to us any.way, and with great loss of life, the uprising would remind poles later on, even under soviet propaganda, that another free poland existed. Poles looked up to these freedom fighters and heroes in some of the hardest times of our history. Poland lost that fight, but we lost it fighting, not hiding and waiting for the.next set of occupiers. You may disagree with me and that is okay. The uprising was tragic, but not in vain.

Poland's January Uprisings of 1863

On 5 August 1864, 150 years ago to the day, Romuald Traugutt, the dictator of the January Uprising, was hanged near the Warsaw Citadel.

The 1863 Rising was a tragedy but also a blessing for Poland. Paradox? Read the short description of the events below:

January Uprising - Polish uprising against the Russian Empire , announced in the Manifesto on January 22 issued in Warsaw by the Provisional National Government . It broke out on January 22, 1863 in the Kingdom of Poland and on February 1, 1863 in Lithuania, lasted until the autumn of 1864, covered the lands of the Russian partition , i.e. the Kingdom of Poland and the annexed lands , also gaining wide support among the Lithuanian population and partial support among the Belarusian population.

It was the largest and longest-lasting Polish national uprising and was supported by international public opinion . It was a guerrilla war in which approximately 1,200 battles and skirmishes were fought . About 200,000 people participated in the January Uprising - both from noble families and, to a lesser extent, from the peasantry and middle class . In Lithuania proper , Samogitia and western Belarus, the uprising took on a mass character, involving not only Poles, but also Lithuanians and some Belarusians . However, in the remaining areas of the taken lands ( Polish Livonia , eastern Belarus, Ukraine), the uprising was indifferently or hostilely received by the Latvian, Belarusian and Ukrainian people.

Despite the initial successes, the insurgents ended in defeat, of whom approximately 10-20 thousand died in battles, nearly 1 thousand executed , approx. 38 thousand were sentenced to hard labor or exile to Siberia , and approximately 10,000 emigrated. Russian troops pacified the uprising with great determination and cruelty. Towns that provided shelter to the insurgents were burned, and there were also cases of massacre of civilians. Cultural goods were destroyed, e.g. the archive of the Zamość Ordinance in Zwierzyniec was burned . Vilnius was pacified by Murawjov Veshatiel 's troops , 10,000 Polish nobility out of a total number of 40,000 died in Lithuania.

After the failure of the uprising, the country and Lithuania were plunged into national mourning . In 1867, the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland, its name and budget were abolished , in 1868 an order to keep parish books in Russian was introduced , and in 1869 the Warsaw Main School was closed . In the years 1869-1870, hundreds of cities supporting the uprising had their city rights revoked , thus leading to their decline. In 1874, the office of governor was abolished , and in 1886, the Bank of Poland was liquidated . Catholic monasteries in the Kingdom were dissolved , approximately 1,600 land estates were confiscated and intensive Russification of Polish lands began .

Despite the military defeat, the January Uprising achieved some of the political goals, especially the long-term ones, set by its organizers. It contributed, among other things, to stopping the policy of reconciliation towards the Russian invader, represented by Count Aleksander Wielopolski , and supported by some of the Kingdom's elites. As a result of the repression and suppression of the uprising, the policy of the Compromisers lost recognition among the general public. The memory of the uprising revived patriotic sentiments in the following decades, which contributed to regaining independence half a century later. The uprising contributed to a more favorable enfranchisement of peasants , both in the Kingdom and in the annexed lands, than in the other two partitions and in ethnic Russia . The consequence was a sharp demographic jump in the last three decades of the 19th century , but also a huge increase in industrial production, increased urbanization, and an increase in the standard of living. These economic processes were accompanied by the flourishing development of magazines, belles-lettres, theater and painting. What is particularly important: in spite of the Russification policy of Hurka and Apuchtin , Polish reading began to spread in the countryside. There were various reasons behind these processes; all together they testified to one thing: the exceptionally rapid progress of the Kingdom on the path of capitalist development. The basic premise for this development was the radical nature of the enfranchisement reform announced in 1864 .

After the fall of the uprising, a significant number of patriots, including the participants of the uprising (see Bolesław Prus , Hipolit Wawelberg ), turned to organic work , and the memory of the insurgents became an important motif in literature (e.g. Bolesław Prus , Eliza Orzeszkowa , Stefan Żeromski ) and painting (including Artur Grottger , Jan Matejko , Maksymilian Gierymski ) and motivation for a new generation of independence activists (e.g. those gathered around Józef Piłsudski ).

A guerilla skirmish with Russian cavalry unit who finally take over:

I'm very interested in the January Uprising because I believe it affected one side of my family. I'm pretty sure in 1850 they were serfs. The generation I could remember talking to were born in the 1880s. unfortunately I was too young and didn't ask questions. The reason my grandparents came to the USA was because they were only hired farm hands. But my grandmother's older brother owned property. He left that property (and his whole family) and also came to the USA. I think he got land because of the 1863 uprising.

The info about this uprising in English is very scarce. The events leading up to it are very confusing.
I know the following sporadic details:
1.)It was being planned for a long time.
2.)The real reason for the unrest was agrarian and social reform amongst the Polish landlords and magnates under the watchful eyes of the Russian overlords.
3.)Reforms were coming from Aleander II anyway and it seems the Polish landowners did not have a plan to synchronize their reforms with the upcoming czarist reforms.
4.)There was another, more radical group. They were the instigators of the uprising. These radicals were allowed back into Poland after Nicholas I died.
5.)The unplanned event was the "conscription crisis" where hotheads ran amok without any leadership or a plan.

I'm still struggling to figure out more of the details. In this thread it is mentioned if Poland's uprisings were worth the bloodshed. I have to admit this 1863 rebellion seems to be a badly bungled fiasco! Whatever aims they had were totally unrealistic fantasy, i.e. go back to 1772 for example.

So to me it was a question of who was going to lead the way for agrarian/social reforms: the Polish or the czar and his admins. Each was trying to undermine the other. What stands out is that the Polish landowners did not want to budge concerning serf labor. Times were changing but if they had their way they would be content with ongoing slave labor. They argued and dickered around too long. The Russians started to take the initiative.

Your thoughts?

Also it was a question of legitimacy, if the Szlachta had not resisted. It would be proof of accepting Tsars position as head of state, not only as a reality on tve ground. Him having a larger army, but also the silent support of the Aristocracy. It can be compared to Catholic Church position in Bohemia while under Austrian rule. It was considered Austrian influenced and not Czech.

The antagonism and hostility between Szlachta, peasents, middle class, intelligentsia would have only increased and created a far larger split for the German Kaiser, Austrian Kaiser and Russian Tsar to use as they saw fit. It would have much larger breeding ground for communism later on too.

The failure of the uprising was also a hard lesson that was learned from, with a new pragmatic approach later on that bore fruit at the end of ww1 and knowledge learned being used during interwar period.

It's a part of a chain of events that was one of the worst and more painful to bare for those involved

@Mr Grunwald
Many thanks for the info. I'm still learning about this uprising. Very complicated, especially the reasons why.

Yes, exactly! A wonderful fiasco which led to the liberation of Poland in 1918. After Poles and Polesses were defeated in 1864, Russians executed or sent to Siberia a lot of patriots. They confiscated property and dissolved Polish institutions and organisations. The Polish language was banned in education and the youth was to be russified. Generally, the repressions were crushing.
All this led to unexpected results - the Polish nation started to hate Russians. This hate was necessary for our survival . Without it, one day we could assume that Russians were our Slavic brothers. Just like Ukrainians had assumed for decades until they were invaded.

About as much as gorillas are brothers to baboons. 🦍🦧

The danger was quite real. We needed such events as lost Risings to reject Russians as our Slavic brothers and start treating them as the mortal enemies of the Polish nation.

I have to admit that I agree with you concerning a "hatred" of Russians and all things Russian. The stories I heard as a child from my grandparents always pointed out the dislike for Russians. These grandparents were born in the 1880s-90s, one generation after the uprising. One set came from Bylorussia. Since it was closer to "mother Russia" it was not that repressive. The other set came from south of Lublin. The closer you lived near another empire's border the more repressive the local government was.
Nothing was "Polish" anymore, everything was "Russian". No one was educated; no one went to school. Luckily the men were educated in barns and cellars at night and learned reading, writing, math, history, etc. the women were totally illiterate. They knew some arithmetic. They didn't even know about money until they came to the USA. Religious education was in Polish and that's how hymns and prayers were learned. Secretly other education took place during religious education.
I was shocked to find out how illiterate the Polish people were in 1860. 81% were totally illiterate (out of 4,764,446). (statistics from R.F.Leslie, Reform and Insurrection in Russian Poland, 1856-1865). This translates into people NOT INTERESTED AT ALL IN POLITICAL ACTIVITY. It didn't matter to millions who was the overlord was as long as they could eek out a subsistence living. THAT'S WHY SO FEW PEASANTS SUPPRTED THE UPRISING.


I'm finishing up reading about the 1863 uprising. One side of my family were peasants; the other side were minor landowning szlachta (lived in a village; did their own farming) in Bylorussia. The bottom line is that the Polish landowning "gentry" wanted to keep their own people enslaved as serfs and continue a "type of lifestyle" that contributed to the rot that started in the Commonwealth in the 18th century. Unfortunately, history now tells us that the lousy Russian czar (Alexander II) freed the serfs in his domain. He gets the credit whether you like it or not because of how wretched a fiasco the 1863 Uprising was!!!
Reading the history leading to the birth of the Republic is fantastic. It was brutal but everything was planned and executed and the Polish kept winning against anyone. This was their third "major" time at bat and they hit a grand slam! Finally.
But you have to remember that many had to find a better way to survive. Millions left the lands of the Polish culture. My people came here NEVER TO STAY; ONLY TO MAKE MONEY AND GO BACK. Within a month of living in the USA they sent for their families never to return to the "OLD COUNTRY". Thank God!
As a side note, as an American, this is why I hate anything to do with "Confederate" in US history. I despise everything about US Southern Confederacy and its history and its memory. If they had won in 1863 then my people would probably have never thought of coming to the USA. Amen!

So true.Russians are not as people like Crow believe, our "Slavic Brothers".

@marion kanawha

Excellent post!

@Miloslaw

You may be right or wrong in something but, your complete path is missed. You can`t speak in the name of Slavs in Poland or Russia. Belgrade and Serbia will take over if your governments fail. For Slavia ie Sarmatia must not fall.

Belgrade will offer alternative to the Slavic masses. Only Belgrade can encompass our civilization.

What the heck is this post all about? What does it mean? How does this have anything to do with the 1863 Uprising? Belgrade? What's Belgrade have to do with the original topic?