Władysław Ewaryst Plater (actually Broel-Plater;

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, 7 November 1808 – 22 April 1889, Broelberg by Kilchberg, near Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) was a Polish count, patriot, insurrectionist, and a cousin of

Emilia Plater Countess Emilia Broel-Plater ( lt, Emilija Pliaterytė; 13 November 1806 – 23 December 1831) was a Polish-Lithuanian (adjective), Polish–Lithuanian szlachta, noblewoman and revolutionary from the lands of the partitions of Poland, partitione ...

. Together with

Agaton Giller Agaton Giller (Opatówek, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, 1831 – 1887, Stanisławów, Austro-Hungary) was a Polish historian, journalist and politician. He and his brother Stefan Giller played notable roles in the Polish independence movemen ...

, he founded the Polish National Museum in

Rapperswil Rapperswil ( Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dia ...

, Switzerland.

Life

A member of the noted polonised

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

family, the Platers, Władysław Plater was a son of Kazimierz Plater and Apolinara Żaba. He took part in the November 1830 Uprising against

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. His older cousin,

, played a significant role in the struggle during which she died. His role in the armed insurrection forced him into exile. In 1832 he was one of several figures who succeeded in influencing British public opinion in favour of the Polish cause. While in exile in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

among Poland's

Great Emigration The Great Emigration ( pl, Wielka Emigracja) was the emigration of thousands of Poles and Lithuanians, particularly from the political and cultural élites, from 1831 to 1870, after the failure of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and of oth ...

, he founded the journal ''Le Polonais'' (1833–36). In 1863 Plater was again politically active in the next Polish

Uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

against the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

yoke. To mark the centenary of the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now part of Ukraine) in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish� ...

, in 1868, Plater had a column erected surmounted by a Polish eagle with the Latin inscription, "''Magna res libertas''" (the great cause of liberty) in the Swiss town of

, on the shore of

Lake Zurich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

. Two years later, on 23 October 1870, he founded a Polish National Museum having taken out a 99 year lease on Rapperswil Castle. It was to become a major repository for Polish historic memorabilia, a library and archive based on donations and legacies from members of the Great Emigration. Barely a century later, the collection, previously returned to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in independent Poland, was set alight in 1944 by the German occupiers as part of their systematic decimation of Polish and Jewish heritage on Polish soil, in a resurgence of their earlier

Kulturkampf (, 'culture struggle') was the conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck. The main issues were clerical control of education and ecclesiastic ...

. Plater met and married the actress, Karoline Bauer in Rapperswil.

References

*Janusz S. Morkowski, ''Polish Museum, Rapperswil: Guide through the Exposition'' (triligual English-German-Polish guidebook), Rapperswil, 1994, . *Gabriela Pauszer-Klonowska, "''W Rapperswilu śladami Żeromskiego i Prusa''" ("In Rapperswil in the Footsteps of Żeromski and Prus"), ''Problemy: organ Towarzystwa Wiedzy Powszechnej'' (Problems: Organ of the Society of Universal Knowledge), ''rok XXV, nr 8 (281)'' ear XXV, no. 8 (281) 1969, pp. 466–70. *"Władysław Plater," ''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon'', 4. Aufl. 1888–1890, Bd. 13, S. 118 f. 1808 births 1889 deaths Activists of the Great Emigration Diplomats of the Hôtel Lambert Polish diplomats of the January Uprising Polish philanthropists Counts of Poland Wladyslaw Plater People from Rapperswil-Jona 19th-century philanthropists People from Vilnius {{Poland-noble-stub

Life

See also

References