Stanisław Zieliński (1880-1936)

POLISH HISTORIAN, SOCIAL AND INDEPENDENCE ACTIVIST, EDITOR ANDJOURNALIST, CURATOR OF THE LIBRARY OF POLISH NATIONAL MUSEUM IN RAPPERSWIL.

He studied in Cracow and Lviv. From his young years, he was involved in independence activity. In 1907 he got the function of secretary and treasurer of the Masuria People’s Party and at the same time became one of its secret
leaders. His connections with Catholic circles in the Greater Poland region were the source of deep crisis within the party and the reason for many radical members leaving it. In order to avoid the invigilation of Prussian authorities, he left Poland in the second half of 1907 and emigrated to Switzerland. From 1910 he took the post of manager of the library of the Polish National Museum in Rapperswil. At the same time, in the years 1913-1914, he was the editor of “Mitteilungen des polnischen Pressebureau” monthly magazine and in 1916-1918, the head of Polish Press Office of the Main National Committee in Switzerland. In the early 1919, he came back to Poland together with his wife Danuta. He became famous in connection with his attempt to modify the unfavourable date of the plebiscite, for which he was dismissed by Polish authorities from his position. As a volunteer, he took part in Polish-Bolshevik war. He worked as a librarian and editor. Then he became active within the Maritime and Colonial League. He was considered a pioneer of maritime and colonial thinking.