Henryk Jan Józewski (Kyiv, August 6, 1892 - April 23, 1981, Warsaw) was a Polish visual artist, politician, a member of government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later an administrator during the Second Polish Republic.
A member of Polish-independence organizations, during World War I he joined the Polish Military Organization (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa). An advocate of Polish-Ukrainian alliance and a friend of Symon Petlura, in 1920 he served as a member of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Józewski supported Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 coup d'état. He served as Polish Minister of Internal Affairs twice in 1929-30; as voivode of Volhynian Voivodeship (1928–38); and as voivode of Łódź Voivodeship (1938–1939). As voivode of Wołyń, a region with a large Ukrainian minority, he advocated increased Ukrainian autonomy.
During World War II, Józewski served in the Polish resistance. Later he joined the anti-communist resistance and in 1953 was arrested by the Security Service. Released during the Polish October thaw in 1956, he resumed painting.
Life
Early life
Born August 6, 1892, in Kyiv, Kyiv Governorate, Russian Empire, Józewski attended the city's schools, then studied mathematics and physics at the University of Kyiv, graduating it in June 1914.
He was active in Polish cultural and pro-independence organizations. In 1905, while in high school, he joined such an organization and became the leader of one of its sections. In 1910 he founded his own organization, Związek Młodzieży Postępowo-Niepodległościowej (Youth Association for Progress and Independence). In 1915 he joined the Polish Military Organization (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, or POW), a precursor of Polish intelligence, and soon became POW deputy commander in Kyiv. Arrested by authorities, he was freed right after the February 1917 Revolution. Soon, Henryk Józewski returned to Kyiv and resumed his activities with the POW once again.
Around that time, Józewski also began his painting career and married a fellow POW activist named Julia. In 1919 he moved from Kyiv to Warsaw during the Polish-Soviet War. An advocate of the Polish-Ukrainian alliance, in April 1920 Józewski became deputy minister of internal affairs in the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic. During the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-21, he traveled with Petlura's Ukrainian government to Kyiv, later retreating with that government into exile in Polish Tarnów.
At war's end, with the Treaty of Riga having ended Piłsudski's hopes for a Międzymorze federation and an independent, pro-Polish Ukraine, Józewski returned to Warsaw, where he resumed his artistic career. He was a friend of novelist Maria Dąbrowska and of many of the Skamander poets. He also actively supported Petlura, whom he considered a friend and mentor; when the Soviet Union requested Petlura's extradition, Józewski engineered his "disappearance," secretly moving him from Tarnów to his own Warsaw apartment. Petlura would eventually leave Poland in December 1923.
In Polish government
Józewski actively supported Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup d'État. In its aftermath he returned to politics, in August 1927 becoming a member of the government. In December 1928, he became voivode of Wołyń Voivodship. From December 29, 1929, to March 17, 1930, and again from March 29, 1930, to June 3, 1930, he served as Minister of Internal Affairs, then resumed his post as voivode of Wołyń. In 1923 he was decorated with the Virtuti Militari, and in 1929 with the Polonia Restituta.
As voivode of Wołyń, where Ukrainians formed the majority of the population, Józewski concentrated on improving relations between the Polish government and Poland's Ukrainian minority. He advocated a broad autonomy for Ukrainian self-governance, promoted Ukrainians to administrative posts, and sought to ensure their fair representation in the government. His administration included many former activists of the Ukrainian People's Republic. During his governing period, in Wolyn Voivodeship was established the Volhynian Ukrainian Association, a member of which was Mstyslav (Skrypnyk).
Józewski fostered Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian organizations. In education, he supported the teaching of the Ukrainian language and argued for the introduction of Ukrainian as the local official language. As Piłsudski, Józewski espoused a multicultural and multinational view. In Józewski's eyes, the modernization led by the Polish state would lead to a multinational province.