Following his death, his coffin was followed by hundreds of Kraków residents. The funeral procession was observed by many people from their windows, with many openly weeping. It was in fact those very same people of Kraków who erected the monument upon his grave. Apollo Korzeniowski had indeed earned such a send-off due to his lifetime of dedication and hard work.
Korzeniowski was born into a patriotic noble family – his father, Teodor Antoni, had been a combatant in both the Napoleonic Wars and the November Uprising. Apollo was born on 21 February 1820 in Ukraine, at the family estate in Honoratka (a present-day village in the Vinnytsia Oblast). He completed secondary school in Zhytomyr, subsequently going on to study in St. Petersburg, where he enrolled in law and oriental studies. After returning to his family’s home region, he took up the position of manager of the Łuczyniec estate. However, what interested him most of all was to be found elsewhere: during the Crimean War (1853–1856), he attempted to instigate an anti-Tsarist uprising behind the Russian lines. It ended in failure.
In April 1856, after a ten-year courtship, Korzeniowski was married to Ewelina Bobrowska, who also hailed from a noble family (one of Apollo’s brothers-in-law, Shatefan, would later, in 1863, be appointed head of the National Government). The Korzeniowskis leased the village of Derebczynka. In December 1857, their only child, Józef Teodor Konrad, arrived into the world. Years later, going by the name Joseph Conrad, he was to become a world-renowned literary figure, overshadowing his father to such an extent that Stefan Żeromski would write of Apollo: “The unknown father of a famous writer.”
Since Korzeniowski was clearly not cut out for managing farmland, he quickly abandoned the rural life and, in 1859, settled with his family in Zhytomyr. He decided he would earn a living in a completely different fashion – by becoming a correspondent for Polish periodicals published in Warsaw and St. Petersburg.
His strictly literary activity had begun some time earlier, during his university years, when he had begun the penning of a cycle of religious and patriotic poems entitled Purgatorial Songs. At first, none of his works appeared in print, as Tsarist censorship made publication impossible – his poems were passed around among noble circles in only handwritten form. After the end of the Crimean War, however, censorship eased off. In 1855, Korzeniowski published a volume containing a wide selection of poems along with the play Comedy, which caused a huge public stir. His scathing critique of Polish nobility living in Ukraine – accusing them of vanity, greed, and narrow-mindedness – was so biting that the play would not be staged for almost a hundred years. Korzeniowski’s next work, the play For Dear Money’s sake, published a few years later, once more ruffled feathers among noble circles, as the author once more uncompromisingly set about them for their relentless pursuit of material wealth.
In Zhytomyr, Korzeniowski became actively involved in social and underground political activity. The easing of Tsarist repression after the Crimean War offered Poles hope that their situation might improve – if only they would fight for it. Korzeniowski was involved in the creation of an organization, the goals of which included the promotion of economic education and the publication of a journal devoted to agricultural issues. He also urged that a petition be sent to the Tsar demanding the administrative unification of the so-called Congress Kingdom with the Ziemie Zabrane (“The Taken Lands”). He advocated for the emancipation of peasants from serfdom, although he remained cautious regarding the question of land ownership reform. He emphasized the importance of tradition as the essential bond holding together all that was best about the Polish nation – and as the foundation upon which hopes of regaining independence might rest. For him, tradition was so highly valued, that he was distrustfully disposed towards any innovations aimed at modernizing the economy.
In Zhytomyr, Korzeniowski became actively involved in social and underground political activity. The easing of Tsarist repression after the Crimean War offered Poles hope that their situation might improve – if only they would fight for it. Korzeniowski was involved in the creation of an organization, the goals of which included the promotion of economic education and the publication of a journal devoted to agricultural issues. He also urged that a petition be sent to the Tsar demanding the administrative unification of the so-called Congress Kingdom with the Ziemie Zabrane (“The Taken Lands”). He advocated for the emancipation of peasants from serfdom, although he remained cautious regarding the question of land ownership reform. He emphasized the importance of tradition as the essential bond holding together all that was best about the Polish nation – and as the foundation upon which hopes of regaining independence might rest. For him, tradition was so highly valued, that he was distrustfully disposed towards any innovations aimed at modernizing the economy.
In the spring of 1861, Korzeniowski closely followed the demonstrations taking place in Warsaw and organized ceremonies of mourning to commemorate the victims of the massacres that had occurred during them — for instance the massacre of April 8, 1861, when Russian troops opened fire on demonstrators in Castle Square. Such organized events resulted in clashes with the police and numerous arrests. His activism brought him into the orbit of the Tsarist authorities and he was placed under surveillance. In May of 1861, he moved away from Zhytomyr and settled in Warsaw — at first he was by himself, later to be joined by his wife and son in August.
In his new environment, he showed not the slightest intention of resting. He coordinated religious and patriotic demonstrations, including events commemorating the anniversaries of the Union of Lublin and the Union of Horodło — in attendance at the latter were several thousand people from the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, and Galicia — thereby underlining the unity of the lands that had once formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Just prior to the municipal elections in September 1861, he issued a proclamation titled “The Electors’ Mandate”, in which he stressed that the duty of elected councilors should be to fight for the interests of all nations inhabiting pre-partition Poland.
Korzeniowski wasted no time entering into the world of Warsaw’s underground activists, aligning himself with the “Reds” faction. It was he in October of 1861, who set about initiating the uniting of previously separate small conspiratorial circles. He himself joined as the head of their newly established Committee of Movement . The committee members divided up responsibilities among themselves (touching on finance and propaganda), thereby bringing into existence the nucleus of a Polish underground state. The conspirators’ plans centred on the collection of weapons and funds and preparations to fight for the restoration of Poland within its pre-partition borders.
Unfortunately, barely a few days since the Committee began had begun its activities Apollo Korzeniowski was placed under arrest by the Tsarist police and imprisoned in Pavilion X of the Warsaw Citadel. In the course of his interrogation, he flatly refused to give up any of his fellow conspirators. In May 1862, he and his wife were sentenced to exile in Vologda. While there, news of the January Uprising was relayed to him — in Korzeniowski’s opinion, it had broken out too early.
While in exile, he returned to literary pursuits, writing among other things, the play No Rescue (Bez ratunku) and the essay An Enquiry into Shakespeare’s Dramatic Art (Studia nad dramatycznością w utworach Szekspira). He also translated foreign literature into Polish, including the works of Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, and Charles Dickens.
In the summer of 1863, due to Evelina’s deteriorating health, the Korzeniowskis obtained permission from the authorities to relocate to Chernihiv. Within only two years, Evelina was to pass away from tuberculosis. In the wake of her death, Apollo’s health also took a rapid turn for the worse — he, too, was suffering from tuberculosis with additional weakening brought on by heart disease. Although increasingly frail, he continued to write. In the spring of 1866, he made the difficult decision to send his son to live with his brother-in-law, Tadeusz Bobrowski. In December 1867, Apollo finally received permission to leave Russia. He went first to Lviv, eventually settling in Kraków with his son in the spring of 1869. There, already incredibly weakened and afflicted, he yet again recommenced his activities, establishing contact with the newly founded periodical Kraj, also hoping to continue his writing. He was still hopeful that he could overcome his illness — alas, it was not to be. He died on May 23, 1869, and was buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery.
His son, Konrad, was subsequently taken into the care of his grandmother, Teofila Bobrowska, with his uncle Tadeusz later taking up the responsibility. In 1873, the teenage boy returned to Kraków. He had already, for several years been an honorary citizen of the city — a title that had been granted to him in recognition of his father’s merits.