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Bolesław Kajetan Kołyszko alias ''Rutkowski'', ''Szyszka'' (; 1838 – 9 June
O.S. 28 May">Old_Style_date.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style date">O.S. 28 May1863) was one of the Polish people">Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
* Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
-
Lithuanian leaders in the January Uprising">Lithuanians">Lithuanian leaders in the January Uprising.
Early life
Kołyszko was born into a petty nobility">petty noble family as a son of Wincenty Kołyszko and his wife from the Jursza family. He had an older brother, Feliksas Kolyška, who also fought in the January Uprising. Boleslovas Kołyszko graduated from the Vilnius Gymnasium and studied law in the Moscow State University, University of Moscow. According to Dawid Fajnhauz, he might have graduated from
Lida gymnasium instead of Vilnius. In the University of Moscow, Kołyszko was part of the Polish students
association
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
called "Ogół". He was arrested in 1861 for his involvement in student demonstrations in Lida. At the end of 1861, after a short imprisonment, he emigrated to Italy, where he met
Ludwik Mierosławski
Ludwik Adam Mierosławski (; January 17, 1814 – November 22, 1878) was a Polish general, writer, poet, historian and political activist. Mierosławski took part in the November Uprising of the 1830s, and after its failure he emigrated to France ...
. First in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
and later in
Cuneo
Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area.
It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...
, he studied in the . Although the Military School acquainted Kołyszko with the military, it was impossible to develop his military talent or even qualify him for a commander in such a short time.
Uprising of 1863
After the start of the
uprising
Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...
he went back to Lithuania. On 21 March 1863, he began the uprising between
Čekiškė
Čekiškė is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, it is located about north-west of Kaunas city municipality
Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic s ...
and
Panevėžys
Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...
. In a few days, his unit included 400 men and was also joined by the unit led by the priest Antanas Navaina. As he organized the rebel group near
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
during March, it was joined by the groups of
Bronislavas Žarskis and
Antanas Norvaiša. The combined group was called the
Dubysa Regiment. The regiment had three battalions, with the battalion commanders being Bronislavas Žarskis, Antanas Norvaiša and Juozas Radavičius. Kołyszko led his 400 men strong regiment in fights against units of the Imperial Russian Army at
Aukštdvaris on March 29–30. He then fought near
Lenčiai on April 1 (together with the unit of
Tomas Kušleika), near on April 11.
By
Zygmunt Sierakowski
Zygmunt Erazm Gaspar Józef Sierakowski (, ; 19 May 1826, – 27 June 1863, Vilnius) was a Polish leader of the January Uprising in lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Biography
Youth and ed ...
's order, he led a rebel column - two battalions and a cavalry unit that fought in the
battle of Biržai. On May 7, Kołyszko was the first from the rebel columns to reach the designated spot, . They were attacked by Russian forces, but when Sierakowski came and joined the battle, the Russian attack was repelled. Kołyszko and Sierakowski's aide-de-camp were supposed to take wounded the Sierakowski and transport him out of the country, but they were captured on May 10. During the interrogation he blamed Sierakowski for the uprising's failure and underlined that he was doing everything for the homeland. He was hanged by a
court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
on June 9, 1863. The remains were secretly buried in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
'
Gediminas' Hill.
Commemoration
Kołyszko already during his lifetime became the hero of songs and poems. One of them called ''Przeszły troski i frasunki...'' ("Troubles and sorrows are gone...") is dated 28 March 1863, the authorship of it is attributed to Vilnius-born poet . Alongside Kołyszka, it praises other leaders of the uprising in Samogitia, Lithuania and Belarus. Kołyszko is portrayed in it as a revolutionary folk leader:
His remains were found in 2017 during the works designed to strengthen . On 22 November 2019, the remains were solemnly buried in the
Columbarium
A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...
of the
Rasos Cemetery
Rasos Cemetery (; , , ) is the oldest and most famous cemetery in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is named after the Rasos district where it is located. It is separated into two parts, the old and the new cemeteries, by a narrow Sukilėliai ...
in Vilnius.
Sources
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolyška, Boleslovas
1830s births
1863 deaths
Rebels from the Russian Empire
Polish participants of the January Uprising
Polish people executed by the Russian Empire
People executed by the Russian Empire by hanging
Burials at Rasos Cemetery
Lithuanian participants of the January Uprising