Traditionally, Lviv, as the capital of autonomous Galicia, was the center of celebrations for Poles from the three parts of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Anniversaries of the Union of Lublin, the November Uprising, the January Uprising, the Siege of Vienna, the May 3 Constitution and others were celebrated here. It has been so since 1872, when Poles commemorated the 100th anniversary of the First Partition of Poland. At that time the Lviv City Council allocated funds for this event, and delegates from Krakow, Poznan and Silesia came to commemorate the anniversary. In order to distance themselves from the Polish tragedies, the local Ruthenians organized carnival parties instead of mourning, celebrating the arrival of Austrian rule as "liberation from Polish captivity."
Patriotic organizations (almost all organizations at that time were patriotic) celebrated many other dates in addition to the above mentioned anniversaries. For example, the anniversary of the death of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the death of the Marshal of the Napoleonic Army, Józef Poniatowski, or the Napoleonic Wars in general, as well as certain events of the January and November Uprisings, such as the execution of the rebels in Warsaw in August 1864. Most of these events were not large-scale and were usually held in the form of commemorative evenings in the halls of the societies' buildings. During the "round" anniversaries, however, efforts were made not only to attract more people, but also to diversify the program of celebrations.
The "rounds" on the occasion of the 115th anniversary of Kosciuszko's victory at Racławice belong to this category, as they included, in addition to traditional services, solemn meetings and rallies, other interesting, unusual events. In 1909, the Poles of Lviv did not limit themselves to a solemn service in the Latin Cathedral and a memorial evening in the hall of the Gwiazda Society building on May 28.
On April 25, young craftsmen honored the insurgent and shoemaker Jan Kiliński: they laid flowers at his monument, illuminated it and held a rally nearby. At the end of the evening, they marched from the Jan Kiliński monument to the Adam Mickiewicz monument.
Meeting next to the Jan Kiliński Monument
Installation of a memorial plaque and a cross on the Chortovi rocks
One of the most noteworthy events was the installation of a memorial plaque and a cross on the Chortovi (Devil's) Rocks. An iron plaque measuring 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters with an inscription in honor of Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Bartosz Głowacki was placed on the side of the rock, and an iron cross with the inscription "3 May" was placed on the top. The consecration took place on the day of Corpus Christi, Thursday, June 10, 1909. The event was organized by the Gwiazda Society of Craftsmen, whose members gathered at the monument to Bartosz Głowacki at the Lychakivska toll gate and marched from there through the forest to the Chortovi Rocks at about 3:30 p.m. Members of the Lviv Polish Sokół Society, other patriotic organizations, and schoolchildren joined the march, a total of about 2,000 people.
Another 2,000 people were waiting on the meadow near the rocks: members of patriotic organizations from neighboring Vynnyky and Chyzhky, as well as Polish and Ukrainian peasants from the surrounding villages. The orchestra played the national anthem and the table was embedded in the rock 9 meters above the ground. An image of the Virgin Mary of Częstochowa was embedded above the table, and an iron cross was placed on the top of the rock. The whole composition was blessed by Bishop Władysław Bandurski, and the consecration ceremony was followed by a rally, a historical lecture and the performance of patriotic songs by the choir of the Gwiazda Society.
The consecration took place in the evening, as the traditional Corpus Christi celebration took place on Rynok Square before noon, with the participation of the Roman Catholic Archbishop, the Governor, the Marshal of the Galician Diet, representatives of the City Council, the Riflemen Society and the Gwiazda Society, as well as troops from the 30th and 15th Infantry Regiments.
These two events overlapped on the same day because it was the second attempt to consecrate the plaque on the Chortovi rocks. The previous plaque was installed in May, but before the inauguration it was removed and smashed by three Ukrainians from the neighboring village of Lysynychi. At the trial they managed to prove that the case had no political background, so they were sentenced to monetary compensation in favor of the Gwiazda Society and imprisonment for 2 and 3 months.
In the following years, the Gwiazda Society organized its actions on May 3 along the route "Głowacki Monument — Chortovi Rocks — Głowacki Monument". These marches were mainly attended by representatives of the working class youth, who marched with torches and sparklers to the music of an orchestra. Rallies were held on the meadow near the Chortovi Rocks.
Commemorating Berek Joselewicz
Berek Joselewicz. Painting by Juliusz Kossak. The National Museum in Krakow
Another unusual event that took place within the framework of the 115th anniversary of Kosciuszko's victory at Racławice was the commemoration of Berek Joselewicz, a Jewish Polish officer and insurgent who took part in the Napoleonic Wars and died in a battle with the Austrian army. The celebrations in Lviv on June 13, 1909 also marked the 100th anniversary of his death. They are an eloquent example of how the Jews of Lviv were included in the Polish national project.
The ceremony began at the Tempel Synagogue, where both vice presidents and many council members were present. A commemorative plaque was unveiled on ul. Berka (which was to be renamed Berka Joselewicza). Pl. Zbożowy and ul. Słoneczna were "filled with people, mostly Jews," as Gazeta Lwowska reported. The whole of ul. Berka (now vul. Mayera Balabana), as well as the entire Jewish neighborhood (but not the entire city, i.e. the celebrations were clearly ethnic in nature), were festively decorated. A platform was set up near the plaque. The Vice President of Lviv, Tadeusz Rutowski, said that 115 years ago a "Polish Jew" had patriotic feelings, that "Jews are sons of the same fatherland" and that "this country is a real mother to them. He recalled the Polish kings who protected the Jews from pogroms and gave them equal rights with all other peoples, and that during the period of autonomy, as part of Austria-Hungary, "the Poles gave the Jews a full set of freedoms." It is interesting that Tadeusz Rutowski did not mention Austrian legislation, because it was this legislation that actually guaranteed equality to the Jews, not the goodwill of Polish officials. Izydor Karlsbad spoke on behalf of the 1863-1864 insurgents, and the deputy Natan Loewenstein spoke on behalf of the Jewish community. He also emphasized the equality that Jews had "earned" through their sacrifices and work for the common homeland.
Then there was a march to the Mickiewicz monument. Polish Sokółs, guilds (with their banners), members of the City Council and numerous societies took part in the march along ul. Korzeniowskiego, ul. Alembeków, ul. Szpitalna, ul. Gołuchowskich and Hetmańska streets. Most of the participants were members of Jewish organizations. Dr. Horowitz spoke at the monument (also about the mutual love of Poles and Jews and the common homeland); on behalf of the Jews of Lviv he laid a wreath at the monument to the "Prophet". Tobiasz Aszkenaze went further than the previous speakers, saying that Berek Joselewicz's heroic deed "redeemed the Jews" and made them part of the Polish nation. As usual, all this took place to the accompaniment of an orchestra.
In general, the figure of Berek Joselewicz provided ample room for ideological maneuvering. Formulations such as "a Jew who testified to his love for Poland with his blood and paid for it with his life" or "a nation within a nation that began to feel Polish" were used, or nostalgia was evoked for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where all nationalities were supposedly given equal opportunities. Finally, Joselewicz died in the war with Austria, which also added to the event's opposition to Vienna.
This idyll did not go unnoticed by the press: newspapers reported on the "strange" phenomenon of members of the Sokół and other Polish patriotic organizations gathering in the Jewish neighborhood, although they usually did not shy away from anti-Semitism.
Ukrainian reaction to these events was predictably muted, as Ukrainian newspapers preferred to ignore "fictitious Polish anniversaries". Nevertheless, they did not spare critical epithets against the Poles when they occasionally intersected with them in real life. This happened, for example, when participants in the commemoration of Berek Joselewicz and the Corpus Christi procession on the "Ruthenian" calendar crossed paths on Rynok Square.
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Thus, in the early twentieth century, Polish patriotic demonstrations became more diverse, covered a wider geographical area (such as the Chortovi Rocks near Lviv), and involved new groups of people (such as Jews who identified with the Polish political project). Conventional demonstrations, which could only be dreamed of in the mid-nineteenth century, no longer met the needs of society. In addition, numerous monuments to national heroes (Bartosz Głowacki, Jan Kiliński) and memorial plaques dedicated to prominent personalities (Berek Joselewicz) allowed celebrations to take place in different parts of the city and even outside it.
