Jan Czyński

Who was Jan Czyński?

Jan Kazimierz Czyński was a Polish independence activist, lawyer by education, writer and publicist, a life-time fighter for the emancipation of the Jews, trade supporter, utopian socialist, radical democrat.

He was born on 20 January 1801 in Warsaw, Prussian partition of Poland, South Prussia province of the Kingdom of Prussia, in a Polish Jewish family of Frankists. After finishing his studies at the University of Warsaw, Czyński became a lawyer and activist in Lublin, supporter of Polish Jacobins and member of Patriotic Society. In 1830, he participated in the November Uprising as an adjutant to the local Polish commander, Col. Wincenty Szeptycki. He became known as one of most vocal supporters of the Uprising and the founder of the first daily newspaper in Lublin, "Kurier Lubelski". After the Uprising was defeated, the Russian government issued a bounty for his capture; Czyński went into exile, escaping to Prussia and eventually joining the Great Emigration in France.

In Paris, France, he became one of the important activist of the Polish emigrants, where he successfully merged the Polish independence and pan-European thought. Early coworker of Joachim Lelewel.