Father Ryszard Markwart | |
|---|---|
 Father Markwart tombstone, Bydgoszcz | |
| Born | 9 September 1868 |
| Died | 16 August 1906 (aged 37) |
| Burial place | Nowofarny cemetery, Bydgoszcz |
| Nationality | German  German Empire, Polish  Poland |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
| Church | Latin Church |
Ryszard Markwart, or Richard Marquardt (1868-1906) was a German-Polish catholic priest and Polish national activist who served in Magdeburg, Berlin and Bydgoszcz.
Richard Marquardt was born on 9 September 1868 in Ostróda, then part of the German Empire, from a Polish-German family. [1]
His father was a German of the Evangelical faith and worked as a veterinarian. His mother Norberta was a Polish Roman Catholic woman. She had the most influence on Ryszard and was critical to shape her son's attachment to Polishness and Catholic faith. [2]
After graduating from gymnasium, he attended lectures at different universities:
Furthermore, Markwart was educated in theological seminaries in Poznań and Gniezno. He finally received ordination in Gniezno. [3]
He was first a "manservant" "(Polish : mansjonarz)", i.e. below the rank of priest in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, in Środa Wielkopolska during two years (1892–1894). Ryszard then became a vicar at the Gniezno Cathedral.
Between 1894 and 1899, he worked as a priest in the German imperial army. He transferred as parish priest to the garrison church in Magdeburg, then moved as the military chaplain of the 7th division, billeted in Berlin.
During this period, he permanently showed support to Polish national activities, in particular by actively participating in meetings and happenings organised by Polish organizations in Berlin. Concurrently, Markwart expressed tactfulness towards German Catholics, gaining also their sympathy.
In 1899, the parish church in Bydgoszcz lost his priest, Father Józef Choraszewski. To replace him, Florian Stablewski, the serving archbishop of Gniezno, supported Markwart candidacy for the position of parson of the only catholic parish of Bromberg. [4]
With the tacit agreement of the German authorities, Ryszard Markwart was nominated to this place on 15 November 1899. [3] As the parish priest of Bydgoszcz, he taught religion in the two existing realschules of the city: in downtown (today's High School Nr.1) and in the old town (today's High Seminary of Bydgoszcz Diocese at 18 Grodzka Street).
Like his predecessor Józef Choraszewski, Father Markwart faced constant challenges to provide pastoral care in his vast and populous parish. To overcome the issue, he constantly leveraged to have another church built in his city. The project designed by architect Roger Sławski will be eventually carried out in autumn 1912: the Church of the Holy Trinity was consecrated on 18 May 1913 by Gniezno suffragan bishop Wilhelm Kloske. [5]
In 1904, the archbishop of Gniezno granted him the title of "honorary clerical counselor". [6]
In 1906, he founded the Nowofarny Cemetery at Artyleryjska Street, since the old cemetery (Starofarny Cemetery) had reached its full capacity.
Ryszard Markwart died on 16 August 1906 in Międzyzdroje, [7] while swimming in the Baltic Sea. He was buried at the Nowofarny Cemetery, in a ceremony attended by a multitude of Polish inhabitants of Bydgoszcz and its surroundings. [8]
In addition to his minister work, he additionally supervised the religious and charity associations of the parish. In particular, Ryszard Markwart took extra care of the "Polish-Catholic Workers' Society" (Polish : Towarzystwo Robotników Polsko-Katolickich), reactivated in 1892, which championed patriotism and Polish culture. Under his patronage, the institution joined the "Union of Workers' Societies" (Polish : Związek Robotników Polskich) in 1904 in Poznań. The Polish-Catholic Workers' Society had a rich library, allowing to promote the Polish language among Bydgoszcz inhabitants. It distributed the Polish press, conducted lively lecture activities and provided Polish catechism and historical story books to children from poor families. [6]
Feeling deep attachments to his mother Polish roots he had changed his birth name Richard Marquardt to Ryszard Markwart. [8]
Actually, he combined the pastoral work with a dynamic support to national activities among Polish inhabitants. In this matter, he became in 1905 a member of the Bydgoszcz board of the "K. Marcinkowski Society for Scientific Support", established in 1841 by Marcinkowski and Maciej Mielżyński in Prussian occupied Poland. Additionally he participated to the "Straż" organization, which opposed the Germanisation policy of the ruling authorities. [6]
This national activism aroused suspicion then opposition from German nationalists. They informed the institutions of the Bromberg region, claiming falsely that Father Markwart defied the law by teaching religion lessons in Polish. In parallel, German Catholics in Bromberg, having been denied by Ryszard the possibility to create a separate parish church, asked for his departure from the city in 1904. However these slanders and other requests did not reach any result, in particular because of Markwart unexpected death.
After 1920, a street in Bydgoszcz Śródmieście district was named after him. [9]
The Carl Rose Tenement is a historical building in downtown Bydgoszcz.
Śniadecki Street is one of the most important streets of downtown Bydgoszcz, with an important mercantile concentration.
The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a historical Roman Catholic building in downtown Bydgoszcz, Poland. It stands at 5 Piastowski Square, not far from Śniadecki Street in the city's downtown district. The church is registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List.
St. Martin and St. Nicholas Cathedral, or simply known as Bydgoszcz Cathedral, is a Catholic church built in the 15th century. It has a Gothic style, serves as a parish church and cathedral of the Diocese of Bydgoszcz. It also houses a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its address is 10 Farna Street.
The Church of the Holy Trinity is a historical and religious building in downtown Bydgoszcz, Poland. It stands at 26 Świętej Trójcy street, nearby Mill Island and is registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List.
The sculpture The Archer stands in the Jan Kochanowski Park in Bydgoszcz, facing the Polish Theater.
Świętego Floriana Street is located in the downtown district of Bydgoszcz, Poland. Despite its short length of roughly 200 metres (660 ft), it features many notable buildings in a variety of architectural styles, including Eclectic, Art Nouveau and early modernist. The street is named after Saint Florian.
Markwarta street is located in the downtown district of Bydgoszcz, Poland. Situated in its path are two green areas and several villas built during the Polish interwar period.
Seminaryjna street is located between Wilczak, Błonie, Downtown districts in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Laid in the late 1870s, its winding path offer a view on the old town nested down in the Brda river. Many frontages and edifices display architectural and historic interests, one of them is registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List.
The Leon Wyczółkowski Regional Museum is an ensemble of cultural institutions which have been first created in 1923 in the city of Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Emil Warmiński was a Polish physician, social and national activist and founder of the Polish House in Bydgoszcz.
Sielanka Street is a small and twisty road, laid in the mid-1910s in downtown Bydgoszcz. It displays a series of villas, each of which is unique in its architectural concept.
Sielanka is a housing estate developed in the 1910s in the heart of downtown city Bydgoszcz, Poland. Its completion spans almost 25 years, across the political changes of the period. It was created in the spirit of garden city spirit originating from the beginning of the 20th century and refers to eclectic forms. In addition, there are many modernist villas, fashionable in the interwar period.
Antoni Weynerowski was a Polish entrepreneur, founder in Bydgoszcz of the firm Leo, renamed Kobra, one of the largest shoe manufacture in Poland in the interwar period.
Heinrich Ernst Dietz, generally called Heinrich Dietz or Henryk Dietz, (1840–1901) was a Prussian rentier, member of the Bromberg city council, member of the Prussian parliament and a prominent philanthropist in the second half of the 19th century.
Hermann Ernest Georg Dietz, generally called Hermann Dietz, (1861-1944) was a German physician, a member of the Bromberg city council, a senator of the Republic of Poland and a prominent social activist in the first half of the 20th century in Bromberg/Bydgoszcz.
Jan Biziel (1858-1934) was a German and Polish physician, social activist, city councilor of Bydgoszcz. He was designated "Honorary Citizen of Bydgoszcz" in 1930.
3 Maja Street is a historical street of downtown Bydgoszcz, Poland, which displays several murals.
Teofil Magdziński was a Polish lawyer, conspirator, activist in exile who participated in several Polish uprisings of the second half of the 19th century. He was one of the most prominent politician in Bydgoszcz, representative at the Reichstag and a staunch defender of Polishness.
Bydgoszcz Furniture Factory is a furniture factory in Bydgoszcz founded in 1884. It gained a pre-eminent role on the Polish and European market during the Polish People's Republic, before decreasing its activity at the end of the 20th century. The company has been taken over in 2016, though the brand is still used.
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