Stach Konwa w oczach Adama Chętnika

The aim of this article is to examine the attitude of Adam Chętnik – an eminent scholar of the Kurpie region, ethnographer, museum curator and social activist – towards Stach Konwa, a legendary Kurpie hero. Chętnik’s interest in Konwa dates back to the years before the First World War, when the future founder of the Kurpie Museum in Nowogród was already expressing hopes of commemorating him. During the Second Polish Republic, Chętnik repeatedly evoked the Kurpie hero in his writings, highlighting his patriotism and bravery. A particularly significant form of commemoration was the unveiling of a monument dedicated to Konwa, an initiative launched and organized by Chętnik himself. He also devoted a separate publication to this event, reporting on the ceremony and noting, among other things, the presence of Masurians – an observation tied to his contemporaneous efforts to strengthen Polish identity among the Masurian population. According to Chętnik, the unveiling ceremony became a major patriotic demonstration, attracting ten thousand participants. After 1922, when he took up parliamentary work, Chętnik continued to refer to Konwa in his publications, consistently portraying him as a courageous leader of the Kurpie people. For Chętnik, Konwa formed a permanent component of the region’s historical canon, alongside such events as the 1708 Battle of Kopański Most, the Kurpie contributions to the Kościuszko Uprising, and their role in the Polish–Soviet War. There is no doubt that Adam Chętnik was one of the most important – and in the interwar period, likely the single most important – promoters of the legacy of Stach Konwa.