Julian Klaczko

Julian Klaczko (6 November 1825, Vilna (Wilno, Vilnius) – 26 November 1906, Kraków) was a Polish author, proficient in Hebrew, Polish, French, and German.

He was born Jehuda Lejb into a wealthy Jewish family. At the age of 17 he published a book of Hebrew poetry called "Duda'im" (דודאים), as well as translating Polish literary works into Hebrew.

He studied in Wilno and Königsberg (Królewiec), his interests including philosophy, history and literature. In 1847, he earned a PhD (doctorate work De rebus Franco-Gallicis saeculi XV). He then moved to Heidelberg, and published in the liberal Deutsche Zeitung.

After the failure of the Poznań uprising (1848) he emigrated to France where he lived for the following 20 years. In Paris he changed his name and converted to Roman Catholic Christianity (1856), after his father's death. He was a co-editor of Wiadomości Polskie, and published in Revue de Paris, Revue Contemporaine, and Revue des Deux Mondes (since 1862).

Klaczko was a politician who co-operated with the liberal-aristocratic Hotel Lambert faction of Polish exiles (Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski). As a Polish nationalist, he expressed an outspoken resentment and hatred of Russia and Prussia for their share in the Partition of Poland, but had a more positive attitude towards Austria-Hungary, with its relatively more tolerant policies towards the Poles under its rule.

In 1869 he moved to Vienna, and was in 1870 elected Privy Councillor ("Hofrat") at the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Austria-Hungary. He was also a member of the Galician Parliament (1870–71) and later of the Imperial Parliament, the Reichsrat. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 he agitated intensely for an Austro-Hungarian intervention on the French side. For these (unsuccessful) efforts, Bismark called him "A Jewish agent of France".

In the 1870s he lived for some years in Italy. Also when moving to Kraków, where he spent his last years, he was involved in researching on Italian literature and art. He is buried at Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Julian Klaczko — Polish author, b. at Vilna, 6 November, 1825, of Jewish parents; d. at Cracow, 26 November, 1906. After taking the doctor's degree in 1847 at the University of Königsberg, he went to Heidelberg to continue his studies under Gervinus, who appointed him a collaborator on the "Deutsche Zeitung", a periodical for Russian and Polish affairs. In 1848 he spent some time in the Grand Duchy of Posen and published at Berlin his first political pamphlet, "Die deutschen Hegemonen", an open letter to Gervinus againt the incorporation of Posen in the German Confederation. About this time he resolved to become a Christian, but deferred his baptism for a time owing to parental opposition. His father having met with financial reverses, Klaczko was left without means, and in 1850 went to Paris, where he supported himself by his literary labours. His articles written in French and published chiefly in the "Revue de Paris", were so brilliant as to win speedy fame for the young author. The death of his father, meanwhile, left him free to enter the Church, and he was accordingly baptized. From 1857 to 1860, with the collaboration of Valerian Kalinka, he published a monthly, "Wiadomosci Polskie" (Polish News), the general tone of which was opposed to revolutionary impulses and sudden uprisings. Viewed from a political, as well as from a literary and aesthetic standpoint, Klaczko's articles were the most effective and most brilliant that had ever appeared in the Polish language. The periodical was put under the ban in Russian Poland and Galicia, and in 1860 also in Prussia, after which it had to be discontinued on account of a lack of subscribers.

In 1862 there appeared in the"Revue Des Deux Mondes" Klaczko's "Le poete anonyme", the first adequate appreciation of Sigmund Krasinski, and so excellently done that it became the basis of all later account of the poet. This paper assured Klaczko's literary reputation arnorg the French. Soon afterwards occurred the unfortunate uprising of 1863. While any Polish organization or activity outside of Poland itself was now impossible, Klaczko did not forget the cause of his country. From official diplomatic sources he compiled information on all the details of the Danish and Polish questions, and in 1866 published his "Etudes de diplomatie", a sharp but veiled criticism of the policy of the Powers, to the disadvantage of all save Russia and Prussia. The "Etudes" caused a great sensation, which was increased by the author's subsequent work "Les preliminaires de Sadowa", in which he shows how Austria was drawn into war with Prussia (1886).

Klaczko's writings bore such strong testimony to his political talents that he was appointed by Count Benst on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, holding in addition a seat in the Galician Diet at Lemberg, and in the Diet which was out of harmony with Austria's policy of neutrality during the war of 1870 he signed his public offices and returned to Paris penniless, to devote himself with renewed vigour to the artistic and literary pursuits of his youth. After several years of work he published "Causeries florentines", a study of Dante in the form of a dialogue, containing in one volume the substance of all that scholars and critics had said on the subject. Even before this he had produced, in 1875, his "Deux chanceliers", a brilliant portrayal of the characters and policies of Princes Bismarck and Gortschakoff. Finally, he planned an extensive work under the title of "La papaute et la renaissance", to show the effects produced on the papacy by the worldly spirit of some pontiffs, without in the least derogating from the greatness of any epoch. Of the three volumes "Julius II", "Leo X", and "Clement VII and the Sack of Rome", only the first was completed, and by the time of its publication Klaczko was already in the state of paralysis in which he spent the last eight years of his life. Mass was celebrated in his little drawing-room twice a week until his death. Klaczko was by far the most powerful intellect and the most brilliant writer of Poland during the latter half of the nineteenth century.

External links

• Works by Julian Klaczko at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Julian Klaczko at the Internet Archive