Tadeusz Kościuszko, a hero with a tongue-twisting name and extremely twisted road of life that would make a great storyline for a film series.
Freedom, the word Kościuszko chose for his lodestar. Throughout his life, he witnessed Poland, his beloved homeland, gradually losing independence. The Pole employed his talents and experience to prevent this loss, and when, towards the end of the 18th century, Poland had eventually been partitioned by the neighbouring powers, he worked hard to put his country back on the map of the world. At the time, Kościuszko was already an experienced strategist and engineer, a US army brigadier general and a hero of the American War of Independence, designer of fortifications at West Point, admired to this day, and many other locations. The skill of organising the armies and improvising amidst the ever-changing tides of battle, as well as the expertise in military engineering and quartermastery made him the leader of the Polish fight for independence. However, after significant success, he was forced to succumb to the overwhelming army of Tsarina Catherine II of Russia, and spent two years in prison. Liberated by Tsar Paul I, he returned to the US via Sweden and England, with Russian agents keeping a close eye on him. In London, he was hailed as “the champion of freedom”, and the crowds cheering him in the US unhitched the horses of his coach to pull it themselves from the harbour to Kościuszko’s hotel. Among the geopolitical puzzle of the dynamically changing world of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he was recognised a “defender of peoples against despots”.
Equality: “It is not enough to give one freedom, you also need to teach them how to use it.” Quoted from Kościuszko’s last will, these words serve as a perfect summary of his activity. Grateful for the respect and support for first Nations of America, Sagamore Little Turtle presented Kościuszko with a tomahawk. For his services to the fight for US independence, Kościuszko received land with slaves from the US government. The Pole sold a part of the estate, liberated the slaves at his expense, and made an endowment fund for opening literacy schools for Afro-American children. Leaving the US, he asked his friend and later US president, Thomas Jefferson, that as soon as the US Congress has paid his overdue wartime salaries, to liberate as many slaves as the money thus received could liberate. As Kościuszko found his contemporary social order unjust, he liberated his subjects in his Siechnowice estate in Poland. As the Supreme Commander of the Polish State, he made a following declaration: “with me, equality in the defence of homeland pays off, and therefore I treat a Jew, a peasant, a noble, a priest, and a burgher with equal respect”. Having made the Swiss city of Solothurn his home, Kościuszko supported the poor and the destitute, gave generous alms, bought medications and aided people any way he could. His kindness is remembered even today.
Art, this part of that Kościuszko’s interests usually escapes the researchers of his life, and yet, just as his concepts of freedom and equality outpaced his time, he was an exemplary representative of social life of the time. In his days, it was considered good manners to speak French, dance, play an instrument of your choice, and also draw or paint. No preserved records speak of Kościuszko’s dancing skills, but he certainly could draw and was a flawless copyist. His studies took him, among others, to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. The letters and diaries of his contemporaries note that he made portraits of other participants of social gatherings, and used his free time for painting. A music afficionado, he not only enjoyed listening to music but also composed, and some of his works have been preserved.
This is only a handful of hints explaining what a colourful figure that soldier, engineer, and leader was. Creating the Freedom Festival, we intend to show that the values and concepts Kościuszko preached remain valid today.
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PROGRAMM
Grosser Konzertsaal, Solothurn
Tickets: LINK
Programme: Felix Yaniewicz, Grażyna Bacewicz, Karol Szymanowski, Helena Winkelman, The Stone Alphabet
Artists: Carmina Quartet & The Stone Alphabet
Urban game for children and teenagers: what does it mean to be a hero.
6 thematic stations set in the city space: Freedom, Equality, Art, Charity, Politics, World
Two age categories: 5 - 10 years old and 10 - 15 years old and a sweet prize upon completion of the route for each participant.
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