Ludwig Michalski

Ludwig Michalski (born August 25, 1836 in Cracow as Ludwik Matyasek , † June 26, 1888 in Hilfikon ) was a Polish - Swiss entrepreneur . He was involved in the January uprising and had to flee to Switzerland, where he trained as an engineer. As the owner of a tobacco plantation in Sumatra , he made a great fortune. He lived in Hilfikon Castle and was a leading figure among Polish exiles in Switzerland.

biography

Father Michael Matyasek was a teacher at the Cracow Technical Center, but could not give his son an education at this school for financial reasons. Instead, he worked as an office worker in a factory for agricultural equipment and was drafted into the Austrian army in 1858 . In October 1863 he deserted and ran over to the rebels of the January uprising in the Russian- occupied Vistula . He took the name Ludwig Michalski to hide his identity as an officer in the rebel army. After the uprising was finally put down in August 1864, he fled to Switzerland and settled in Zurich .

With the support of Gottfried Keller , the secretary of the humanitarian «Swiss Central Committee for Poland», Michalski was able to complete an engineering degree at the Polytechnic (today's ETH Zurich ), which he completed in 1868. He was a co-founder of the Association of Polish Students and the Polish Library. Shortly after he was naturalized in the municipality of Stallikon , he traveled to Sumatra with his wife Anna Breker in October 1868 . The Sultan of Deli commissioned him to set up a guard corps based on the European model. For his services Michalski was given a large piece of land on which he set up a lucrative tobacco plantation . He called it "Polonia" in memory of his Polish homeland. The airport of Medan , Polonia International Airport, is located on part of the former plantation .

Michalski's wife died in 1869 because she couldn't stand the hot and humid tropical climate. At her request, he married her friend Anna Hottinger, with whom he had four children. Michalski returned to Switzerland in 1875. At first he lived with his family in Zurich until he bought the Hilfikon Castle in 1879 for 70,000 francs , which he had repaired again. Michalski was a member of several cultural and scientific associations. He also presided over the association of all Polish organizations in exile in Switzerland. A serious lung disease forced him to take frequent spa stays in the last years of his life. His wife stayed in Hilfikon until 1905, and his two daughters married the sons of the politician Anton Bruggisser from Wohlen .

Web links

• Halina Florkowska-Frančić / AHB: Ludwig Michalski. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

literature

• Dieter Kuhn: Hilfikon - history of the village and castle on the Rietenberg . Ed .: Municipality of Hilfikon. Hilfikon 2010, p. 45-48 .