On the 100th anniversary of his election as the first President of the Republic of Poland and (a few days later) the assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz, we recognise that if someone, like a new Plutarch, had undertaken to write the Lives of Famous Polish Men of the 20th Century, Gabriel Narutowicz would probably have been among the characters. His life is the story of a career as a constructor and inventor, entrepreneur and visionary, pioneer of the electrification of Switzerland by means of natural forces, and first President of the Republic of Poland.

Childhood, youth, studies - Gabriel Narutowicz's educational path

Gabriel Narutowicz, born into a landed gentry family in Samogitia, never met his father (he died when the boy was one year old). His mother therefore took care of his upbringing and that of his older brother, Stanisław, and was their first teacher. Wanting to protect her sons from being educated in a Russified school, she moved with them to the coastal town of Lipawa in Latvia.

Between 1873 and 1883, Narutowicz attended the local classical Nikolaus-Gymnasium (Nikolaus-Gymnasium) with German as the language of instruction. In 1884, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of St Petersburg. He interrupted these in the spring of 1886 due to pulmonary tuberculosis, which he treated in Davos, Switzerland. From then on, he forged increasingly strong ties with this country. In the autumn of 1886, he enrolled at the Faculty of Engineering and Construction of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH, often referred to as the Federal Polytechnic).

Commemoration of Gabriel Narutowicz in Switzerland

It was with the Federal Polytechnic that Gabriel Narutowicz linked his career as a designer and pioneer of the electrification of Switzerland using energy drawn from flowing waters. Thanks in part to his achievements, a country devoid of natural resources became an exporter of energy. It is therefore no surprise that in addition to the Poles, the Swiss also remember Gabriel Narutowicz, who gave up a wealthy life to serve his reborn homeland as an expert civil servant and the first President of the Republic.

The marble plaque commemorating Gabriel Narutowicz, designed by Hans Gisler, was unveiled on 20 February 1932 and is located in the main building of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Initially, the plaque was placed in the building temporarily occupied by the ETH Department of Hydrogeology. After its relocation to the main building, the plaque was planned to be located in the warehouses. However, thanks to the intervention of the Polish Society "Zgoda" in Zurich, the plaque was placed in the main building of the Federal University of Technology in 2016.

Funded by the Committee for the Commemoration of Engineer Narutowicz (chaired by Eng. Karol Brodowski), it consists of a relief of the bust (in left profile) and an inscription in German and Polish: GABRJEL NARUTOWICZ / *17.III.1865-† 16.XII.1922 / 1908-1920 PROFESSOR OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING AT THE UNION POLYTECHNIC. 1920-1922 MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND. FROM SWISS AND POLISH FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS.

On national holidays, flowers are laid at the plaque, accompanied by events organised by the local Polish community.

Let us also get to know, at least briefly, the career of Gabriel Narutowicz, reputedly Europe's foremost expert on hydroelectricity and a great expert on geological issues.

Gabriel Narutowicz - a world-famous engineer

As a newcomer from Kaunas, Narutowicz was lucky. When he arrived in Switzerland, the hydroelectric construction boom was just beginning (677 hydroelectric power stations are in operation today; data from 2021). He completed his studies with honours in 1891, combining them with evening lectures in history, literature and political economy at the Faculty of Philosophy. As a volunteer, he completed a special military course at the ETH, theoretical and practical.

He started his career at the railway construction office in St. Gallen, then worked at the municipal water and sewer construction office (1892-1895). In 1895, he obtained Swiss citizenship and directed the construction of a section of a navigable canal in the Rhine valley to make the areas above Lake Constance cultivable through drainage. In his own words: An engineer has the pleasure of God. He became associated with the technical office of engineer Louis Kürsteiner in St. Gallen, first as an engineer, then as a manager, and finally as one of the owner's closest collaborators, especially on hydroelectric projects. The projects co-developed by Kürsteiner and Narutowicz received a prize at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1896.

Gabriel Narutowicz and hydroelectric power engineering

The Polish engineer's first great achievement was the hydroelectric power plant in Kubel near St. Gallen (1898-1900), then one of the most important in Switzerland. He later directed the construction of a facility in Andelsbuch, Austria, to which water was led through a tunnel more than 1.5 km long (1905-1908). His contribution to the development of the world's hydroelectric power industry was the construction of a reserve reservoir from which power generating equipment was supplied, ensuring continuous operation.

At the Refrain hydroelectric power station (1906-1908) on the Swiss-French border, he used the waters of the Doubs River alone for the first time, without having to divert them in any way. His magnum opus was the Mühleberg facility on the Aare River near Bern, then one of the largest and most modern hydroelectric plants in Europe. He radically improved the original design and directed the construction (1917-1920). Despite the war and the economic difficulties, he brought the work to completion after the war had ceased.

Gabriel Narutowicz - expert, constructor, visionary

Engineer Gabriel Narutowicz's realisations in Switzerland were accompanied by renown and publicity. As a result, his construction bureau created hydroelectric power station projects for orders coming also from other countries, such as Italy (Montjovet power station on the Dora Baltea river in Piedmont, 1912-1914) or Spain (Buitreras power station on the Guadiaro river in Andalusia, 1917-1919; reconstruction of the Corchado power station). In total, he supervised the construction of more than a dozen European hydroelectric power stations. The Polish engineer was also the author of projects and expertises in Finland, Portugal, Turkey, Italy and the Austrian partition (project of the Szczawnica-Jazowsko hydroelectric power station, 1911).

He served as Switzerland's delegate to the International Commission for the Regulation of the Upper Rhine (1915 and 1919 - chairman). He was a visionary; among other things, he postulated the use of water energy from melting Alpine glaciers (which was done in the second half of the 20th century).

Naruti - this is what Gabriel Narutowicz's students called him

One year Narutowicz was persuaded to return to the ETH as a lecturer. He succumbed to the argument that he would be more socially useful in this role. He was an associate professor at the Federal Polytechnic from 1907 and professor and head of the Department of Civil Engineering from 1908 to 1919; he served as dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 1913 to 1920. His students held him in high esteem as a man of uncommon integrity, including frequently asking him to settle honour disputes. He combined his university duties with his membership of the Swiss Water Management Commission and the management of his own construction office, which he founded (1908; his move to Zurich required him to resign from Kürsteiner).

Gabriel Narutowicz, a titan of work and a boss who was very demanding of himself and his employees. He earned a reputation as Europe's foremost expert in his field and a great geological expert.

With the outbreak of the Great War, he became involved in aid activities (as founder and later director of the Swiss Committee for Aid to War Victims in Poland) and in politics - as a spokesman for the Polish cause, which he brought to international opinion through his lectures and articles.

I would like to thank Professor Maria-Jolanta Zagalak, long-standing President of the Zgoda Polish Society in Zurich, for her assistance in writing the text.