Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1758-1841) and Karol Otto Kniaziewicz (1762-1842)
The Polish presence at Les Champeaux Cemetery, Montmorency, was established early in the nineteenth century. Among the first Poles buried there were Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, a politician, writer, and poet, and General Karol Otto Kniaziewicz, a veteran of Kościuszko’s Rising of 1794 and the Napoleonic Wars. They were laid to rest on 24 May 1841 and 12 May 1842, respectively.

Their choice of final resting place was a thoughtful and deliberate one. The two friends, particularly Kniaziewicz, were deeply fond of the small town north of Paris, where they spent their final summers together. In accordance with their wishes, they were buried side by side in a shared grave. Today, their resting place is marked by two modest white marble slabs atop a common limestone plinth, enclosed by an iron fence with their names cast in bronze. The funerals of Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz became important patriotic demonstrations for the Polish community. Kniaziewicz’s burial, in particular, was a grand affair, accompanied by full military honours befitting a French general and a Knight of the Legion of Honour. These ceremonies, which marked the beginning of the „Polish cemetery” at Montmorency, set a precedent for later burials at Les Champeaux.

Amid the fierce disputes that divided the Polish émigré community in France after the collapse of the November Rising (1830-1831), Montmorency was initially promoted as a burial ground for Poles by the conservative-liberal circle led by Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770-1861). Both Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Karol Otto Kniaziewicz were his close associates. Shortly after Niemcewicz’s demise, the Polish Literary Society, chaired by Czartoryski, proposed erecting a grander monument in his honour. Rather than the then-remote hillside of Montmorency, they considered the Gothic Collegiate Church of Saint Martin. There were even ambitious, though unrealised, plans to create a Polish mausoleum in the adjoining churchyard. However, in 1850, a tomb containing the remains of Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz was placed inside one of the church’s chapels. Designed by Władysław Oleszczyński, the monument features reclining figures of the two men, with a statue of a standing angel between them, the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania lying at his feet. Above the tomb was a stained-glass window depicting Our Lady of Częstochowa, inscribed with the words Regina Regni Poloniae, ora pro nobis („Queen of the Kingdom of Poland, pray for us”). During the remodelling of the collegiate church between 1877 and 1909, the monument was moved to a shallow niche at the end of the left aisle, and the coffins were returned to their original resting place. As the political divisions from the post-November period gradually diminished, the cemetery at Les Champeaux became one of the most important resting places for Polish émigrés. The annual Mass commemorating Niemcewicz’s death, held on 21 May, became a pilgrimage tradition that continues today.

Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz belonged to the last generation of the Enlightenment era. Their youth and early careers unfolded during the reign of Stanisław II August (1764-1795), a period when reformist ideals, which had taken root during the Saxon era under the Wettin dynasty, i.e. the reigns of Augustus II and Augustus III (1697-1763), began to yield tangible results. Efforts towards the social and political overhaul of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had been tottering into a decline since the mid-seventeenth century, culminated in the Great Sejm (1788-1792) and its crowning achievement, the Government Act of 3 May 1791, which introduced a new political order based on an efficient constitutional monarchy. Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz then faced the collapse of the Commonwealth, an ordeal made all the more bitter by what Niemcewicz described as „a nation newly revived, only to be handed over as prey to the triumph of violence, barbarism, and crime”, which was a reference to the dismemberment of his homeland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

Both men hailed from noble families. Born in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Niemcewicz inherited his father’s patronage ties with the influential Czartoryski magnate family. At the recommendation of Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski (1734-1823), father of Adam Jerzy, the young Julian entered the Warsaw Cadet Corps. Founded in 1765 by King Stanisław II August, the school aimed to educate enlightened patriots, and was primarily intended for sons of middle-ranking noble families. Notable alumni and teachers included Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817). It was here that Niemcewicz met Kniaziewicz, born in Courland, a fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Family connections to the magnates were equally crucial for Kniaziewicz’s career. When his impoverished father could no longer afford his education at the Warsaw Cadet Corps, Kniaziewicz’s patron, Alois Friedrich von Brühl (1739-1793), General of the Crown Artillery, arranged his enrolment in the artillery school and later, as was the custom of his time, purchased him a sub-lieutenant’s commission in a fusilier regiment. As a junior officer, Kniaziewicz spent the following years stationed in various Commonwealth garrisons until the Russo-Polish War of 1792. Upon completing his education, Niemcewicz served as a courtier to his magnate patron, Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski. In 1788, he was elected a deputy to the Great Sejm, where he emerged as one of its most active members, supporting reform with speech and pen. His notable achievements during this period included his celebrated 1790 play Powrót posła („The Deputy’s Return”), which championed the patriotic faction and their programme. During the Russo-Polish War of 1792, Kniaziewicz was promoted to the rank of major and particularly distinguished himself at the Battle of Dubienka, where he effectively covered Tadeusz Kościuszko’s retreat, for which he was awarded the Virtuti Militari. Both Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz were involved in Kościuszko’s Rising: Niemcewicz served as an aide-de-camp to Tadeusz Kościuszko and Kniaziewicz as a military officer, advancing to the rank of major general. Both were captured alongside Kościuszko at Maciejowice on 10 October 1794. Niemcewicz and other insurgent leaders were imprisoned in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg, while Kniaziewicz was held in Kiev (modern-day Kyiv, Ukraine). They were released in November 1796.

In the wake of the Third Partition, the Enlightenment-era aim to „reform the Commonwealth” was supplanted by the question: „How can Poles regain independence?” This shift also brought the challenge of redefining the Polish nation, previously deemed equivalent to the nobility, in a context of statelessness. In the turbulent years that followed, Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz, before reuniting in Paris in 1834, responded to the demands of the time differently; they alternated between periods of frenzied activity and phases of voluntary or enforced withdrawal. After his release, Niemcewicz travelled to the United States, where he spent nearly a decade (with a brief interruption), married, and obtained citizenship. For Kniaziewicz, this period marked the height of his military endeavours as he strove to restore Polish independence alongside France amid international instability and the War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802). He co-founded the Polish Legions in Italy under French patronage. Following the Italian campaigns, he organised the Polish Danube Legion, which he also led to his greatest victory by playing a decisive role in the French triumph over the Austrians at the Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800. However, the French-Austrian Treaty of Lunéville, signed in 1801, dashed hopes for a swift restoration of Polish statehood. Kniaziewicz, like many Polish officers, resigned in protest, as he saw no prospect for Poland in the new political order. Returning home without financial support, he spent the subsequent years living as a landowner, enjoying a favourable lease arrangement. Kniaziewicz refused offers to form a Polish army under Russian patronage, which were made personally by Tsar Alexander I. He only returned to the battlefield in 1812 to join the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, where he again distinguished himself for bravery during Napoleon’s campaign against Russia.

Niemcewicz returned to Poland in 1807 when the French Grande Armée entered Polish territory. He hoped, as many others did, that the nation might be reborn under Napoleon’s star. In the newly established Duchy of Warsaw, which was a semblance of statehood created from Polish lands previously under Prussian and Austrian rule, he became Secretary of the Senate, a member of the Directory of National Education, and a contributor to the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning. After Napoleon’s defeat, like many others, he turned his hopes to Tsar Alexander I, who enjoyed a reputation as an enlightened liberal. The Polish question became a vital issue at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), which concluded with the creation of the Kingdom of Poland from parts of the Duchy of Warsaw and in personal union with Russia. The Tsar granted it a relatively liberal constitution and considerable autonomy. Niemcewicz remained Secretary of the Senate and continued his work in educational administration, but he soon grew disillusioned with the government’s misuse of power and disregard for the constitution. He dedicated himself to historical research, including documenting national relics during his travels around the country. Most notably, he composed Śpiewy historyczne („Historical Songs”), a history of Poland in verse. Aimed at the general public, the poem celebrated the „most glorious moments of the Polish nation”. Published in 1816, Niemcewicz’s work achieved considerable success. Despite his disappointment with the Congress Kingdom, Niemcewicz, like many of his generation, saw no viable alternative for Polish statehood under the circumstances and regarded the outbreak of the November Rising on 29 November 1830 with scepticism. Nonetheless, he joined the insurgent authorities while expressing a moderate stance and advocating for compromise with Russia. In July 1831, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to London, from which he would never return to his homeland. In 1817, Kniaziewicz settled in Dresden and, like Niemcewicz, viewed the Rising’s prospects cautiously. Yet he, too, became involved in the insurgent cause, serving as Poland’s emissary in France.

In their final years in France, Niemcewicz and Kniaziewicz became active contributors to the Polish Literary Society and the Polish Library.