Franciszek Smolka (politician)

Franciszek Smolka, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1861

Franciszek Jan Smolka , German Franz Schmolke or Franz Smolka (born November 5, 1810 in Kałusz , Galicia , † December 4, 1899 in Lemberg ) was a Polish-Austrian politician.

Life

Franciszek Smolka was the son of a Hungarian, Anna Nemethy, and an Austrian officer Vinzenz Schmolke in Lemberg . Smolka studied law at the University of Lviv and settled there as a lawyer. In 1834 he joined the democratic, Polish-national federation of “People's Friends” (later “Union of the Polish People”), of which he soon became leader. In 1841 he was arrested and, after four years of judicial investigation, sentenced to death in January 1845, but immediately pardoned.

Reichstag Proclamation, Vienna, made on October 6, 1848

In March 1848 he took the lead in the national-Polish movement in Galicia and worked on their behalf at the Reichstag in Vienna. He was first elected Vice-President of this Parliament, then on October 12, 1848 President. After the repeal of the Reichstag in March 1849, he returned to Lemberg and worked as a lawyer again.

In 1861 he was sent by the Galician state parliament as a deputy to the Reichsrat , took his place here alongside the Polish and Czech federalists on the right and opposed Anton von Schmerling's centralization system . Smolka's leading position in the Club of Poles dwindled visibly in favor of Kasimir von Grocholski (1815–1888), and in December 1862 he resigned from the Reichsrat and Landtag, but was re-elected in 1867 and was one of the leaders of the Polish faction. In 1879 he was elected first Vice President and in 1881 President of the House of Representatives. On September 16, 1882 he was awarded the dignity of a secret council (title: "Excellency"). In 1891 he was senior president of the House of Representatives of the Reichsrat. He died of a stroke in Lviv in 1899.

A statue unveiled in Lviv in his honor on December 8, 1913 (sculptor: Tadeusz Błotnicki , 1858–1928) was destroyed in World War II.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Smolka, Franz . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 35th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1877, pp. 197–209 ( digitized version ).
• Karol Widmann: Franciszek Smolka. Jego życie i zawód. Lemberg 1884–1886, German abbreviated as Franz Smolka. His life and political work. 1st part (not published anymore). Konegen, Vienna 1887 ( digitized, PDF ).
• Smolka . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 14, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 1041.
• Franz Ilwof :  Smolka, Franz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 54, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1908, pp. 367-371.
• Józef Białynia Chołodecki: Franciszek Smolka. Komitet budowy pomnika F. Smolki, Lemberg 1913 ( digitized version ).
• H. Binder:  Smolka Franciszek. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001–2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 379.

Web links

Commons : Franciszek Smolka  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Smolka, Franciszek Dr. iur. . Short biography on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Parliamentary correspondence No. 727 dated November 5, 2001, depicting the bust of Smolka on the parliament building in Vienna

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Domestic. The resignation of the mandate. In:  Die Presse , No. 352/1862 (15th year), December 25, 1862, p. 2 (unpaginated), column 1. (Online at ANNO ). .
2. ↑ The unveiling of the Smolka monument. Minister Heinold's speech. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , Morgenblatt, No. 335/1913 (XXV. Volume), December 9, 1913, p. 3, column 2. (Online at ANNO ). .
3. ↑ The Smolka monument to Lviv and its creator. In:  Illustrierte Kronen-Zeitung , No. 4938/1913 (XIV. Volume), September 30, 1913, p. 6. (Online at ANNO ). .