Mieczysław Perejasławski-Jałowiecki (2 December 1876 – 1962 ) was a Polish diplomat,

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

, writer and nobleman.

Early life and education

Mieczysław was born in his family manor in Saldutiškis (then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, now in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

). His mother, Aniela, was a sister of Stanisław Witkiewicz; she was also a relative of the Piłsudski family.Zbigniew Machaliński, ''Mieczysław Jałowiecki − delegat Rządu Polskiego w Gdańsku w latach 1919−1920.'', Studia Gdańskie, t. V, ?–2
Online
/ref> His father, general , was an engineer, the grandson of an

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

general who sided with the Polish-Lithuanian 1830–31 insurgents during the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

and was sentenced to death, but pardoned. He graduated from the

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) () is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as Riga Polytechnical Institute and Riga Polytechnicum. In 1 ...

, studying

agronomics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, finishing agronomics studies. He also served in the Russian army, and continued studies at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he worked for the Russian government (Ministry of Agriculture) as the agricultural consul in Germany, was a director or a board member of several organizations and presided over the

sejmik A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; ) was one of various local parliaments in the history of Poland and history of Lithuania. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of Poland (before ...

of local nobility (

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

). He worked at the Vilnius Land Bank. His agricultural possessions (in Saldutiškis and ''Otulany'') were seen as a model by many in Lithuania, he was frequently visited by other landowners interested in his methods; he also gave talks and presentations on the agronomic subjects.

World War I and post-war

During World War I, he served in the civilian arm of the Russian Army, reaching the rank of colonel. After the war he found that his estates had been taken over by the German administration, whose representatives refused to turn them over to him. At the same time, he was worried by the worsening relations between Poles and Lithuanians. He was a vocal representative of the many among the local Polonized nobility who wanted to reach a compromise solution with the Lithuanians (the

krajowcy The ''Krajowcy'' (, ''Fellow Countrymen'' or ''Natives''; , ) were a group of mainly Polish-speaking intellectuals from the Vilnius Region who, at the beginning of the 20th century, opposed the division of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonw ...

); he was involved in direct negotiations with the Lithuanian president

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

. Machaliński, in his biographical sketch of Jałowiecki, writes that he was "shocked by the growing hostility of Lithuanians towards the Poles". Jałowiecki himself, after the failure of his attempt to reach a compromise with the Lithuanian authorities, wrote: "For me and many of my compatriotes... who were raised in the spirit of love for Lithuania, Lithuanian people... this new direction was totally incomprehensible." As the tensions between Poles and Lithuanians grew, he became involved in the organization of self-defense forces, and was one of the members of the delegation from the

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, requesting his aid (that would eventually take the form of the

Vilna offensive The Vilna offensive was a campaign of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. The Polish army launched an offensive on April 16, 1919, to take Vilnius from the Red Army. After three days of street fighting from April 19–21, the city was capt ...

). In Warsaw, he began working for the government of

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, employed as a diplomat for the

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 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 ...

; he was the Polish government's delegate to

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

(Danzig) in the years 1919–1920. In Gdańsk he was involved with

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

American Relief Administration American Relief Administration (ARA) was an American Humanitarian aid, relief mission to Europe and later Russian Civil War, post-revolutionary Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program dire ...

. Afterwards, unable to return to his Lithuanian homeland, he bought a new estate in Kamień, near Kalisz. Saldutiškis, looted during the war, was converted by the Lithuanian state into administrative offices and a primary school while the former barn was converted into a parish church.

Later life

After

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

he left for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where he was a politician and social activist in the

Polish government in exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

. He stayed in the UK after the war. Till his death he was involved in the activities of the British Polonia, publishing books and brochures about agronomics and about his homeland. In 1962 he died near

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Mieczysław was also a writer and has published several books in the Polish language about his diplomatic career and on agronomic subjects. He also wrote a diary trilogy, describing his life in ''Na skraju imperium'', ''Wolne Miasto'' and ''Requiem dla ziemiaństwa''.

Early life and education

World War I and post-war

Later life

Notes

References

Further reading