Józef Bem
Józef Zachariasz Bem Bem József | |
---|---|
Ottoman Army | |
Rank | General |
Unit | Artillery |
Battles | Battle of Borodino (1812) Battle of Iganie (1831) Battle of Ostrołęka (1831) Battle of Temesvár (1849) Battle of Segesvár (1849) |
Awards |
Józef Zachariasz Bem (
Early life
He was born on 14 March 1794 in
After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Duchy of Warsaw was transformed into the constitutional Kingdom of Poland, a dependent territory of the Russian Empire, and Bem became a teacher at a military college. There he carried out research on a newly designed rocket-like missile, publishing his research with extensive illustrations.
Bem became involved in a
November Uprising
When the
First exile
Bem then escaped to Paris, where he supported himself by teaching mathematics.[8] In France, he published his next work, on the national uprising in Poland, in which he not only gave an appraisal of the 1831 insurrection, but also tried to present a programme for the continuation of the struggle for the country's freedom. During his stay in France, he collaborated with the Hôtel Lambert organization and was a member of the Historical and Literary Society.[9]
In 1833 he went to Portugal to assist the liberal Dom Pedro against the reactionary Dom Miguel, but abandoned the idea when it was found that a Polish legion could not be formed there.[10] While in Portugal he was the target of an assassination attempt carried out by Russian agents.[10]
1848 hero
A wider field for his activity presented itself in 1848 due to the
After relieving Transylvania he was sent to drive the Austrian General Anton Freiherr von Puchner out of the
Second exile and death
On the collapse of the rebellion he fled to the Ottoman Empire, where he adopted Islam,[13] and served as Governor of Aleppo under the name of Murad Paşa/Pasha.[14] His last military victory was defeating Bedouins sieging the city of Aleppo.[5] On 10 December 1850, he died of malaria.[5]
Burial and grave
Bem was buried in a military cemetery in Aleppo. In 1926 a committee was formed to bring his body back to Poland. His mausoleum was designed by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz and built on an island in a pond, in Strzelecki Park in Tarnów. Since Bem has converted to Islam, as was required for his career in the Ottoman Empire, he couldn't be buried in Catholic ground, but the unique design of this mausoleum – a rectangular sarcophagus standing on six Corinthian columns, above ground – made it possible for him to be buried in his hometown. On the longer side walls of the sarcophagus there are inscriptions: Józef Bem on the front, Bem apó, a magyar szabadságharc legnagyobb hadvezére 1848–1849 ("Grandpa Bem, greatest leader of the Hungarian fight for freedom 1848–1849" in Hungarian) on the back. On the shorter side walls فريق مراد باشا ("Lt. General Murat Pasha") is written on one side and the years 1794, 1850 and 1929 (the years of his birth, death and reburial, respectively) on the other.
The mausoleum has been completed in July 1928. Bem was exhumed on 20 June 1929. Before the coffin reached Tarnów, it was displayed to the public at the National Museum in Budapest, and then in the Wawel Castle in Kraków. The funeral ceremony of General Józef Bem in Tarnów took place on 30 June 1929. The next day, the coffin, after being moved to the building of the Rifle Society, was opened for an anthropological research to be carried out. The skull was too fragile to make a plaster cast. On 6 July in the morning, after the construction of a special scaffolding, the coffin was lifted with cranes to the top of the mausoleum and placed in the sarcophagus, and the side wall was bricked up.
Character and legacy
Bem was a man respected for his courage and heroic temper, both of which were in contrast with his small stature. His influence is said to have been magnetic: although none of his Székely subordinates understood the language he spoke, most revered him. As a soldier Bem was remarkable for his excellent handling of artillery and the rapidity of his marches. In Hungarian, he is often referred to affectionately as "Bem apó", which roughly translates into "Grandpa Bem" or "Old Man Bem".[12]
In the 1930s Hungary and Poland each had a regiment of mounted artillery named for him.
A statue to his honour has been erected at
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (which originally started as a sympathy protest, supporting the Polish Poznań protests) began on 23 October with a protest at the foot of the Bem Statue in Budapest.
Works
Józef Bem published also in French, Polish and German languages books about the history of Poland, technology and military aspects:
- Józef Bem – "La Pologne dans ses anciennes limites et l'empire des Russies" 1836
- Józef Bem - "Notes sur les fusées incendiaires"
- Józef Bem – "Erfahrungen über die Congrevischen Raketen" (Uwagi o rakietach zapalających, Practical Knowledge of Incendiary Rockets) 1820
- Józef Bem – "O machinach parowych" (About Steam Engines)
- Józef Bem – "Węgrzy i Polacy w dzisiejszym stanie Europy" (Hungarians and Poles in Contemporary Europe)
- Józef Bem – "O powstaniu narodowym" (About National Uprising)
Honors
- Three commemorative postage stamps were issued on 10 December 1950 by Hungary on account of his death centenary.[16]
- A souvenir sheet was issued on 10 December 1950 by Hungary on Stamp Day.[17]
- On 15 March 1952 his stamp appears in Heroes of the 1848 Revolution series.[18]
- Poland issued a commemorative postage stamp on 15 July 1948 in Revolution Centenaries series.[19]
- Poland issued postage stamp on 10 December 1950 on his death centenary.[20]
Gallery
-
Statue of Józef Bem in Budapest
-
Statue inscription – (I will) retake the bridge or perish, onwards Hungary! With no bridge, there is no fatherland
-
Józef Bem sculpture by Richárd Juha
-
Bust in the Céhtörténeti Múzeum
-
Bust of Józef Bem in Kiskőrös
-
Commemorative plaque, Cluj-Napoca
-
Monument dedicated to Bem, Târgu Mureș
-
Commemorative plaque,Brasov
-
Józef Bem, Polish medallion ND by J. Misztela
-
Statue in central Tarnów
-
Bem Monument in Warsaw
-
Bem Monument inŁazienki
In popular culture
The great Polish poet
Since 1969 Czesław Niemen's Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod (Mourner's Rhapsody in Memory of Bem) became cult status in Central Europe and also beyond the Iron Curtain.[21]
In 1974 an English version was re-recorded with the help of Michał Urbaniak, John Abercrombie, Jan Hammer, Rick Laird and Don Grolnick, which was published worldwide by CBS Records International.[22]
In 1977 the
Józef Bem's descendants are present mainly among artists and in music related business in Poland and in exile and include the jazz singer Ewa Bem[24][25][26] and her brothers Aleksander Bem and the jazz guitarist Jarosław Bem.[27]
See also
- History of Poland
- Poland-Hungary relations
References
- ^ "JÓZEF BEM (1794-1850)". Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ Laskowski, Otton (1931). Encyklopedia wojskowa t. I, hasło Bem Józef. Warsaw: Wojskowy Instytut Naukowo-Wydawniczy. pp. 252–253.
- ISBN 978-83-7399-328-0.
- ^ "JÓZEF BEM (1794-1850)". Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Józef Bem – człowiek ze spiżu". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Gen. Józef Bem – bohater trzech narodów". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Józef Bem: Son of Tarnów, Hero of Three Nations". Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Józef Bem – kim był?". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Kim był Józef Bem?". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Jeszcze o próbach stworzenia legionu polskiego w Portugalii" (PDF). Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. XXXVII (14): 257–278. 1982. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Kalendarium życia Józefa Bema". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Wielcy tarnowianie: gen. Józef Bem, Bohater Obojga Narodów". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ The Islamic World and the West, Christoph Marcinkowski, pg. 99
- ^ "How General Jozef Bem became Murad Pasha". Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Sándor Petőfi: The Transylvanian Army (Az erdélyi hadsereg) (in Hungarian)
- ^ colnect.com/en/stamps/list/country/6955-Hungary/year/1950/page/5,6. Catalog codes: Mi:HU 1142-44, Sn:HU 914-16, Yt:HU 979-81.
- ^ colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/179093-József_Bem_1794-1850_battle_of_Piski-Stamp_Day-Hungary. Catalog codes: Michel HU BL19, Stamp Number HU C80, Yvert et Tellier HU BF24.
- ^ colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/178820-József_Bem_1794-1850_battle_of_Piski-Freedom_fighters_of_1848-Hungary. Catalog codes: Michel HU 1226, Stamp Number HU 992, Yvert et Tellier HU 1036A.
- ^ colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/137466-Generals_HDembinski_and_JBem-Revolution_Centenaries-Poland. Catalog codes: Michel PL 498, Stamp Number PL 430, Yvert et Tellier PL 510, Stanley Gibbons PL 611, AFA number PL 494, Polish Stamps Catalog (Fischer) PL 451.
- ^ colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/138403-Josef_Bem_and_battle_scene-Death_cent_Of_Gen_JBem-Poland. Catalog codes: Michel PL 670, Stamp Number PL 489, Yvert et Tellier PL 598, AFA number PL 562, Polish Stamps Catalog (Fischer) PL 532.
- ^ Czesław Niemen - Bema pamięci rapsod żałobny (original video clip)
- ^ NIEMEN - Mourner's Rhapsody (1974, CBS)
- ^ Jane - Between Heaven and Hell 2/2 (pirated copy)
- ^ Ewa Bem & Czesław Niemen - Jednego serca (2000)
- ^ Ewa Bem (discography at Discogs)
- ^ Ewa Bem (homepage - in progress)[permanent dead link]
- ^ Jarosław Bem (discography at Discogs)
- public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Bem, Josef". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). p. 713. In turn, it gives the following references:
- Johann Czetz, Memoiren über Bems Feldzug (Hamburg, 1850)
- Kálmán Deresnyi, General Bem's Winter Campaign in Transylvania, 1848–1849 (Hung.), (Budapest, 1896).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the