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Bem Józef Zachariasz
(1794—1850)

Polish general and a national hero of Poland and Hungary. Józef Bem was a freedom fighter with a military reputation regarded not only in Poland, but other European countries as well. Just as Tadeusz Kościuszko (who fought in the American War of Independence) or Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (who fought alongside Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy and Russia) Bem also fought outside Poland's borders for the future of Poland; he fought everywhere his leadership and military skills were needed. Józef Bem was born on 14 March 1794 in Tarnów. The second Partition of Poland put his hometown under the Habsburg Monarchy in 1793. After the creation of the tiny Duchy of Warsaw on the territories captured by Napoleon, Bem moved with his parents to Kraków, where after finishing school he joined the ducal forces as a fifteen-year-old cadet. A brilliant army career brought him up to the rank of sub-lieutenant after only half a year of study; later, as a lieutenant in the artillery, he took part in Napoleon's 1812 campaign. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Duchy of Warsaw was transformed into the constitutional Kingdom of Poland, a dependent territory of the Russian Empire, and Bem became a teacher at a military college. There he carried out research on a newly designed type of rocket-like missile, publishing his research along with extensive illustrations. Bem became involved in a conspiracy to restore Poland to full independence, but when his membership in a secret patriotic organisation was discovered he was degraded and sentenced in 1822 to a year in prison. Although the verdict was suspended, Bem resigned his commission and moved to Galicia, the Austrian region of partitioned Poland. In Galicia he researched steam engines and their application, and again published his results.

Józef Bem lived in Brody, Galicia until 1830. When the November Uprising broke out on 29 November, 1830, Bem immediately joined the Polish insurgents. He arived in Warsaw and was given a major's commission and the command of the 4th Light Cavalry Battery, which he led during the Battles of Iganie and Ostrołęka. During the Battle of Ostrołęka, Bem's forces bravely charged at the Russian opponents. Although the Polish army suffered a serious defeat with a loss of 6,000 men, Bem's actions prevented the destruction of the entire army. For his valour on the battlefield, Bem was awarded the Virtuti Militari Golden Cross and promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. He was steadfastly against capitulation until the very end of the Uprising. Nonetheless, the Polish army was eventually compelled to lay down arms on 5 October 1831, and crossed the Russian-Prussian partitional border under the command of General Maciej Rybiński.

As a result of the defeat of the November Uprising, Józef Bem was forced to emigrate. The period between 1832 and 1845 is known as the Great Emigration and Bem, like the majority of Polish combatants, went to France, which had become a haven for exiled Polish patriots. There he published his next work, on the National Uprising in Poland, in which he not only gave an appraisal the 1831 insurrection, but also tried to present a programme for the continuation of the struggle for the country's freedom.

In Paris Bem witnessed the outbreak of the Revolutions of 1848, which engulfed all of Europe. In that year the Polish general went to Austria, where he fought alongside the revolutionaries defending Vienna against the Habsburg forces. Bem then served with the Kingdom of Hungary, becoming the commander-in-chief of the Transylvanian army. Between December, 1848 and March, 1849 Bem cleared Transylvania of Habsburg soldiers, thereby becoming a Hungarian national hero. In 1849 he was given supreme command of the entire Hungarian army. However, when Hungary was invaded by Russian armies, the Magyar forces were not capable of withstanding the 70,000-strong combined Austrian-Russian forces. The overwhelmed uprising collapsed on 13 August 1849.

Together with the remnants of the Hungarian army, Bem crossed the border to the Ottoman Empire. He tried to rebuild his forces and even converted to Islam to facilitate his career in the Ottoman army, but his actions did not bring the expected results. The Ottoman Empire, for that matter, was forced by Austria and Russia to spread out its immigrants, so there was no possibility of creating any coherent armed units. The Polish general, appointed Marshal of the Turkish Army, died of fever on 10 December 1850 in Aleppo, Syria. His ashes were brought back to Poland in 1929 and laid to rest in a mausoleum in Tarnów.

Poland, 1928, Jozef Bem

Poland, 1948, Genrik Dembinski and Josef Bem

Poland, 1950, Jozef Bem and Battle at Piski

Poland, 1994, Josef Bem, gun

Poland, 1994.03.14, Tarnow. Jozef Bem

Poland, 1997.09.27, Warsaw. Jozef Bem