Antoni Berezowski
{{Short description|Polish nationalist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Antoni Berezowski
| image = Antoni Berezowski post 1863 (77169342) (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1847|05|09|df=y}}
| birth_place = Avratin, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire
| death_date = 1916 (aged 69-70 years)
| death_place = Bourail, New Caledonia
| death_cause =
| nationality = Polish
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = {{no wrap|Attempted 1867 regicide of Alexander II of Russia}}
| notable_works =
}}
Antoni Berezowski (May 9, 1847 in Avratin, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire – 1916 in Bourail, New Caledonia) was a Polish nationalist who made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Russian emperor Alexander II.
Biography
Anton Berezowski (Russian: Антон Иосифович Березовский) was the son of an impoverished Polish nobleman from the Volyn region of north west Ukraine. His parents taught music. As a 16 year old, in 1863, he took part in the Polish revolt against Russian rule. He emigrated to Paris in 1865 where he worked in a metalwork workshop.{{cite book |last1=Shmidt |first1=O.Yu. (chief editor), Bukharin, N.I. et al (eds) |title=Большая советская энциклопедиа, volume 5 |date=1927 |location=Moscow |page=606}}
In 1867 when Tsar Alexander II arrived to Paris for the World's fair, Berezowski conceived the idea to kill him to liberate his native land. On June 6 at 5:00 p.m. at Longchamp Racecourse (in Bois de Boulogne) he shot at the tsar who had just come back from a military review (together with the tsar there were two of his sons and Napoleon III, Emperor of the French). His double-barrelled pistol broke off at the shot, and the bullet, having deviated, wounded a horse of an accompanying Russian. Berezovsky, whose hand was wounded by the explosion, was seized by the crowd and arrested. In court on July 15 Berezovsky declared that his purpose in shooting at the tsar was to release his native land; he only expressed one regret, that it occurred in Poland-friendly France. Berezovsky avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to lifelong hard labor in New Caledonia on the island of Grand Terre. In 1886 hard labor was commuted to life. In 1906 he was pardoned, but did not wish to come back from New Caledonia, remaining there until his death in 1916.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=January 2018}}
- http://db.generiques.org/biographie/?bio=el&row=97{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120302220148/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3876219 Berezowski Antoni – Encyklopedia PWN] at encyklopedia.pwn.pl
- [http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/10727,,,,berezowski_antoni,haslo.html Berezowski Antoni - WIEM, darmowa encyklopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606021154/http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/10727,,,,berezowski_antoni,haslo.html |date=June 6, 2011 }} at portalwiedzy.onet.pl
- [http://www.hrono.ru/dokum/1800dok/18670525.html Корреспонденции газеты “Северная почта” по поводу покушения на Александра II 25 мая 1867 г.]
- [http://www.pravda.ru/society/fashion/tendencies/06-06-2007/227145-sfrhkm-0 Иван Правдин. Покушение на российского императора совершил Березовский]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2530/art6.htm Д.Шерих. Березовский метил в царя] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20091022232001/http://geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2530/art6.htm Archived] 2009-10-25)
- [http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=10176 Березовский Антон Иосифович//Биография.ру]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berezowski, Antoni}}
Category:People from Zhytomyr Oblast
Category:People from Zhitomirsky Uyezd
Category:People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent
Category:19th-century Polish nobility
Category:Polish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France
Category:Polish people imprisoned in Russia
Category:Recipients of French presidential pardons
Category:1867 crimes in Europe
{{poland-noble-stub}}