Emilia Plater

Countess Emilia Plater (13 November, 1806 – 23 December, 1831) was a revolutionary from the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She fought in the November Uprising and is considered a national hero in Poland, Belarus and also Lithuania, which were former parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Biography

Emilia Plater was born in Vilnius, into an aristocratic family of Livonian extraction which originated in Westphalia. Her parents, Franciszek Ksawery Plater and Anna née Mohl, divorced when she was nine years old. She was brought up by distant relatives, the Plater-Żyberk family, in their family's manor Līksna in Livonia, contemporary Latvia. Well-educated, Plater was brought up to appreciate the efforts of Tadeusz Kościuszko, and the poet Adam Mickiewicz. She also admired Bobolina, a woman who became one of the icons of the Greek uprising against the Ottomans, as well as Joan of Arc. These pursuits were accompanied by an early interest in equestrianism and marksmanship, quite uncommon for early 19th century girls from aristocratic families.

In 1829, Emilia Plater began a grand tour throughout the historical Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but returned home due to the death of her mother. After the outbreak of the November Uprising against Imperial Russia, the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania were initially unaffected by the fighting and during the initial stages, no anti-Tsarist units were in existence.

Emilia Plater decided to form one of the first such partisan Lithuanians units herself. She cut her hair, prepared a uniform for herself and organized and equipped a group of volunteers. The unit was composed of roughly 280 infantry, 60 cavalry and several hundred peasants armed with war scythes.

From the area of (Daugavpils (Dyneburg, Dünaburg) she entered Lithuania, where in April of 1831 her unit seized the town of Zarasai. Her unit then attempted to return to Daugavpils, but after a reconnaissance mission discovered that the city was defended by a strong garrison and was impregnable to attack by such a small force as her own unit, that plan was abandoned.

She then returned to Samogitia and headed for Panevėžys, where she joined forces with the unit commanded by Karol Załuski. Shortly afterwards General Dezydery Chłapowski entered the area with a large force and took command over all units fighting in the former Grand Duchy.

According to a popular legend, he advised Emilia Plater to stand down and return home. She allegedly replied that she had no intention of taking off her uniform until her fatherland was fully liberated.

Her decision was accepted and she was made the commanding officer of 1st company of the Polish 1st Lithuanian Infantry Regiment. She fought with distinction and was promoted to the rank of captain, the highest rank awarded to a woman at that time.

After the Polish units were defeated by the Russians, Gen. Chłapowski decided to cross the border into Prussia and become interned there. Emilia Plater refused to follow orders and instead decided to try to break through to Warsaw and continue the struggle.

However, Emilia Plater became seriously ill and died December 23, 1831 in a manor of Abłamowicze family in Justinavas. She was buried in the small village of Kapčiamiestis near Lazdijai.

Legacy

Her death was widely publicised shortly afterwards and Emilia Plater became one of the symbols of the uprising. The symbol of the fighting girl became quite widespread both in Poland, Lithuania and abroad.

Adam Mickiewicz immortalized her in one of his poems, "Śmierć pułkownika" ("Death of a Colonel"), although the description of her death is a pure poetical fiction and was only loosely based on her real life.

Other literary works based on her life were published, mostly abroad, both by Polish emigres and by foreigners. Among them were Georg Büchner, Konstanty Gaszyński, Antoni E. Odyniec and Władysław Buchner and Józef Straszewicz, who published three successive versions of her biography in French.

She also became the theme of paintings by several artists of the epoch, among them Hyppolyte Bellange, Achille Deveria, Philipp Veit, Francois de Villain and Wojciech Kossak. In 1842 J. K. Salomoński published a short biography of Emilia Plater in New York, under the title of "Emily Plater, The Polish Heroine; Life of the Countess Emily Plater".

She was shown on the Second Polish Republic's notes (20 zloty). During the World War II, a Polish female support unit ("1 Samodzielny Batalion Kobiecy im. Emilii Plater") in Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division; its former members founded a village (Platerówka) in Lower Silesia.

In 1959 she was made the name-sake of M/S Emilia Plater, a 10,000 BRT ship built for the Polish Oceanic Lines. She has a street named after her in most major towns of Poland.

External links

* [http://www.platerowie.com/emilia.php Short biography]
* [http://www.emiliaplater.org/ www.emiliaplater.org]
* [http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/gal/5/7/233/med.jpgOriginal letter by Emilia Plater] , in which she confirms the fact that she joined the ranks of the army of her own will
* [http://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=112946 Westphalian Plater family]