Tadeusz Czacki

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Tadeusz Czacki; portrait by
Józef Pitschmann, c.1805

Tadeusz Czacki (28 August 1765 in

Enlightenment in Poland
.

Biography

Czacki was born in Poryck in Volhynia,

Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, founded by Stanisław August Poniatowski
in 1773 and considered to be the world's first ministry of education.

From 1786 to 1792 he worked for the Polish Commission of the Treasury and was responsible for supervising Jewish affairs in the country. During this time and afterwards, he worked for the emancipation of Jews in Poland. Exemption from the poll-tax was granted in 1775 to those who would apply themselves to agriculture, and by 1787, owing to Czacki's efforts while in the treasury (see his report of 1787 on the Ruthenian and Ukrainian provinces), he had the satisfaction of seeing a few scores of families enjoying that privilege. Furthermore, he co-wrote the Constitution of 3 May 1791, and founded the Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk (Society of Friends of Science).

In 1786 he was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, and in 1792 the Order of the White Eagle.

Writings

Czacki's Rozprawa o Żydach (Discourse on the Jews), first published in Wilna 1807, and translated into Russian by Basil Anastaszewicz, passed through several editions, and was published finally in Dzieła Tadeusza Czackiego (Works of Tadeusz Czacki), edited by Edward Raczyński, Posen, 1845 (iii. 138-270). For the history of the Jewish institutions, Czacki, who did not know

Hebrew, availed himself of the only sources open to him; namely, Bartolocci and Ugolino
. After relating the early history of the Jews, Czacki describes their situation among the Arabs, Italians, Spaniards, French, Germans, and Hungarians. He tells of their entrance into Poland in the twelfth century; of their intellectual condition; of their government and laws; and of the persecutions to which they were subjected.

He also wrote a short discourse on the

Karaites
(Dzieła Tadeusza Czackiego, iii. 271-285) which attempts to explain, on the basis of the sources accessible to the author and referred to above, "what the Karaites are, and wherein they chiefly differ from other Jews; when their separation occurred; and in what countries they dwell."

Czacki, who had been interested in the

Lithuanian Statute of the year 1529 (Polish title: O litewskich i polskich prawach, o ich duchu, źródłach, związku i o rzeczach zawartych w pierwszem Statucie dla Litwy 1529 roku),[3] explaining differences between the two nations of the former Commonwealth
.

See also

References

  1. Vle.lt
    (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  2. ^ Yla, Stasys (Summer 1981). "The Clash Of Nationalities At The University Of Vilnius, 1803-1832". Lituanus. 27 (1). Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  3. ^ (in Polish)Full text of the work

External links

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