Bolesław Szymański (politician)

Bolesław Szymański (1877 - 1940) was a local government politician who served as mayor of Białystok from 1919 to 1928.

He was born in Białystok and spent his childhood at 30 Starobojarska street in the Bojary district of the city.^[1] In 1905, he got involved in the organization of the Muza Society and performs in a staging of Pan Tadeusz and in 1908 he worked for one year as a teach at the School of Commerce. After that he left with his wife to Smolensk, and then to Livny, Oryol Governorate, working as an official and banker. In 1915 returned to Białystok, and was mobilized into the Tsarist army and returned to Białystok at the turn of 1918 and 1919. Following the regaining of independence and the establishment of the Second Polish Republic he occupied the prominent position of deputy government commissioner of the eastern territories.^[1]

On 15 October 1919, he was elected by the Białystok City Council as the mayor following the first local election to the city council that took place on September 7 that year, in which he ran on Polish Electoral Committee (Polish: Polski Komitet Wyborczy) ticket. He held this position for two terms until 1927.^[2] He was valued positively as being energetic person, having extensive knowledge of the economy and administration.^[1] As the front of the Polish–Soviet War was approaching to the city, on 13 June 1920, the Citizens' Committee for National Defence (Polish: Obywatelski Komitet Obrony Narodowej) was established. Its presidium included Karol Tołłoczko, Władysław Kolendo, Kazimierz Riegert and Szymański himself. Additionally, he was given the authority to create a volunteer army by order of General Józef Haller. The last meeting of the Committee in Białystok took place on 27 July, a few hours before the Bolsheviks occupied the city. The next one took place in Wysokie Mazowieckie, from where the Committee left for Warsaw. On 18 September 1920 Szymański returned to the city.^[1]

His later tenure was characterized by a growing criticism of his conduct and he was mocked by the press about his education.^[3] He was a political ally of Feliks Filipowicz, the chairman of the city council. During Józef Piłsudski's visit to the city in August 1921, he was staying at Szymański's residence in Bojary. After the end of his term he worked at the Białystok power plant until the outbreak of the war, holding the position of chief accountant.^[3]

He was married to Maria Dąbrowska (1888-1969) and had a son, Janusz, who died shortly after his birth and a daughter, Halina (1911-1981).^[2] In the autumn of 1939, he was deported to Siberia with his family.^[4] His symbolic grave is located at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.