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Secondary sourceBook1911

Tadeusz Kościuszko (Macierz Polska biography)

Antoni Chołoniewski · 1911

A 1911 Polish popular biography of Kościuszko published by a national educational society, telling his life story to Polish readers.

A popular biography written about Kościuszko decades after his death, showing his later role as a Polish national symbol.

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Tadeusz Kościuszko (Macierz Polska biography)PDF · 146 pages
Antoni Chołoniewski, Tadeusz Kościuszko, 1911. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a short popular biography of Tadeusz Kościuszko, published in 1911 by Macierz Polska, a Polish educational society, as part of a numbered series of booklets. It was written by Antoni Chołoniewski and includes illustrations and a reproduction of Kościuszko's autograph.

Why it matters

Published while Poland did not exist as an independent state, this booklet shows how Polish educators used Kościuszko's story to keep national memory and pride alive. It reveals how later generations shaped him into a patriotic symbol.

Look closer

  • Why might an educational society choose Kościuszko as a subject for a cheap, widely distributed booklet?
  • What does the inclusion of his autograph suggest about how the publisher wanted readers to feel connected to him?
  • How might a biography written over 90 years after his death differ from an account by someone who knew him?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tadeusz Kościuszko on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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