Undoubtedly, the most important successes of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries included the construction of the great Trans-Siberian Railway. It currently stands as the longest railway line in the world, crossing 8 time zones, with a total track length of 9,288.8 km.
The construction of Trans-Siberian Railway contributed to trading development between China, Russia and Europe and in consequence to the economic growth of Siberia and the Urals. Siberia, once sparsely populated, became inhabited as per the agrarian reform initiated by prime minister Piotr Stolypin and carried out between 1906-1914. 3 million peasants from European Russia left by their own will in search of the new land and reached the southern region of Siberia. Among them were: Russians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Estonians and Poles. The Trans-Siberian Railway held strong geopolitical importance for Tsarist Russia, later USSR and currently for the Russian Federation.
On May the 19th, 1891 in Vladivostok, Tsar Nikolai solemnly laid the cornerstone for the construction of the railroad and this date is considered to be the official opening of the works. The entire project was planned to be completed no later than 1905. However, difficult construction conditions, the Russo-Japanese War and the events of the 1905 revolution were not anticipated. All of this had an influence on the date of completion of the investment, which was officially finalized on October the 5th 1916, eleven years later than the originally planned date. From that day on, trains were able to pass through the entire territory of Russia: from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok.
The construction of the world’s biggest railroad required not only the physical effort of thousands of workers but also the talent of engineers constructing bridges and tunnels on the territory of Ural, Siberia and The Far East. Significant input into the construction of the arterial line brought Poles – citizens of the Russian Empire, who were numerous among builders, especially engineers.
The reasons for the rise of a large community of Polish technical intelligentsia in Russia.
The shutting down of the Polish universities by tsarist governors after the uprisings in November 1830 and January 1863, as well as the boycott of Russian universities in Warsaw after 1905 led to an influx of scholars and students from the Kingdom of Poland. Polish youth from the former eastern territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and other regions of Russia usually chose to study at Russian universities. They were provided with, among other things, numerous state rights: scholarships, priority in obtaining a job and promotion.
The largest concentration of higher education institutions in Russia was to be found in Saint Petersburg, where in 1861 there were 15 higher education institutions, and by the beginning of the academic year of 1914/15 there were already 35. They were attended by approximately 41,700 people, including around 3,000 Poles. The most popular among them were university and medical studies, but they were closely followed by the technical universities of St. Petersburg. The industrialization of Russia, which progressed quite rapidly in the later decades of the 19th century, encouraged the creation of lucrative positions for engineers and architects in the ever-increasing number of factories, steelworks, mines and railways.
Poles studied technology primarily at the Petersburg Institute of Technology, which had been founded in 1828. The Institute of Communication Engineers, founded in 1809, enjoyed a great reputation in the engineering and scientific world. A particularly large influx of Poles to this university occurred in the 1870s. For example, in the academic year 1875/76 they constituted 20 percent of all students. Despite the introduction of a ten percent limit for Catholics in 1884, the number of Polish youth at the Institute never fell below 10 percent of the total number of students.
In 1902, classes began at the Polytechnic Institute (popularly known as the polytechnic). In 1913, about 300 Poles studied there. Based on the lists prepared in the interwar period, it can be assumed that in total this was the number that in fact graduated from the university.
Among other (although less significant) reasons for the mass hiring of Poles in the key engineering and technical positions during construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was nationalization of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway in 1912. As a result of latter, thousands of Polish railway men and engineers were laid off. Many of them began looking for employment on the Trans-Siberian Railway and Chinese Eastern Railway.
Poles in the construction of railways in Russia.
Poles can be encountered even in the first clusters of the earliest railways in Russia. Romuald Zaćwilichowski together with Konstanty Jankowski built the Nikolaev Railroad which in 1851, linked Saint Petersburg with Moscow. Many engineers and architects of Polish origin worked on the construction of the Saint Petersburg – Warsaw Railway and other sections of railway routes. An important figure among Polish engineers was a notable specialist in the domain of bridges and railway construction Stanisław Kierbedź (1810-1899). Kierbedź was born in the Kovno Governorate into a family of minor nobility (szlachta drobna)*. He began his studies at Vilnius University. He failed to complete these studies and relocated to Saint Petersburg to the Institute of Engineers of Communication. He finished his education in 1831 and for nine years he was a lecturer of construction and applied mechanics at several Petersburg academies. He gained his reputation from engineering the Nikolayev bridge (known presently as the Blagoveshchensky Bridge – edit.) on the river Neva in Saint Petersburg. The bridge was designed in 1841 with its construction lasting until 1850r.
Kierbedź actively contributed to the development of the railway infrastructure in Russia. His views and work were continued by his nephew, Stanisław Kierbedź Jr. (1845–1910). At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he was the head of the Vladikavkaz Railway, connecting Rostov with Vladikavkaz, and later vice-president of the Chinese Eastern Railway. On his initiative, seven new types of steam locomotives were built in the railway workshops in Rostov. He also contributed to the construction of new railway lines in the Caucasus and the Far East, as well as to the creation of a railway connection between the Transcaucasian Krai and central Russia, by extending the Rostov-Vladikavkaz line along the Caspian Sea to Tiflis.
However, most important were the achievements of Poles during the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Chief of construction of the middle section of the Siberian Iron Road was Ernest Bobieński. Complicated and responsible construction works of the rail bridges over the rivers Tobol, Ishim, Irtysh was entrusted to Polish engineers – Wieńczysław Bersow, Antoni Litwiński and Stanisław Olszewski – experienced employees, whose duty was technical supervision over the construction of those bridges. The steel for their structure was delivered from factories in the Urals under the supervision of engineer August Salmanowicz. Chief of temporary exploitation of the western part of the Trans-Siberian Railway Władysław Pawłowski was responsible for the delivery of the materials to the construction site and for overseeing the cargo train traffic.
At the beginning of the 20th century, almost the entire Trans-Siberian Railway, from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok, was ready. Only an unfinished section around Baikal remained. Trains reached the lake, from where they were ferried to the other side. In winter, rails were laid on the ice and wagons were rolled over them. In 1899, it was decided to start building a railway route – from Irkutsk, along the shore of Baikal, to the Mysovsk (Мысовск)– over 240 km long.
Engineer Bolesław Sawrymowicz, who had previously been the manager of the Ufa-Zlatoust railway line and (until 1894) the manager of the Amur Railway, was appointed as construction manager. Sawrymowicz developed the project and became involved personally in the construction of this section, which was called the Krugobaikal Railway (Circum–Baikal railway). In 1905, the construction was completed and he became the manager of this route. The railway line that winds along the shore of the lake is an outstanding achievement in the field of railway construction.
An important role was played by the constructors of bridges on the turbulent Siberian rivers. Among them was engineer Aleksander Miłosz (the father of the poet Czesław Miłosz) – a graduate of Riga Polytechnic. In 1913, he settled in Krasnoyarsk with his family, having arrived on a one-year government contract. 2 year old Czesław (born in Szetejnie June the 30th 1911) was brought there by his nanny. He spent there a further 2 years. He reminisced about his stay in “Family Europe” in addition to many interviews and poems.
“With one foot on the step, clinging to the door, I let out dreadful howls, they could not tear me away, and the uniformed chauffeur laughed. To remember something from such early childhood seems unbelievable, yet I swear I could see the edge of the sidewalk and the gleaming lacquer.”** They spent many days in a Trans-Siberian carriage: travelling through Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Omsk, where the empire seemed to never end. Russia was importing agricultural machinery, building fabrics and roads and trying to explore the natural wealth of Siberia. In 1914, due to the outbreak of world war one, the family returned to Szetejnie.
The Chinese Eastern Railway was an extraterritorial section of the railway – a geopolitical project implemented by the Russian Empire during the construction of the great Trans-Siberian Railway. In fact, this section is part of the Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya magistral). This railway branched off from the great Trans-Siberian Railway near the city of Chita and ran through China, and then – across the Sungari River – to Vladivostok and south to Port Arthur. At the junction of these routes, the city of Harbin was founded, designed by engineer Adam Szydłowski on the orders of Stanisław Kierbedź. The chief coordinator of the construction works at Harbin in the years 1901–1905 was Ludwik Czajkowski, who had previously been head of the construction division of South Ussuriysk Railway. He was supported on this project by the Polish engineers Karol Weber and Walenty Wells. In turn, engineer Stanisław Kwiryn Miller worked in the Main directorate of the Chinese Eastern Railway in the years 1911–1918. Important work for the construction of the railway was also carried out by engineer Stefan A. Offenberg, who oversaw construction of the section between the Khingan Mountains and the Nonni River. He was later appointed as head of the railway maintenance service, and in the years 1921-1924 – served as deputy technical director of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Under the management of Offenberg and Kierbedź, the Khingan tunnel was built, which stretched for over 3 kilometres.
Responsibility for the construction of the route between Harbin and Port Arthur fell to engineer Teofil Hirszman. The route along the Amur River was of great importance for connecting the Chinese Eastern Railway with the Amur Mainline, and its construction called for engineers and bridge designers, who once again were headed by Poles. Among them was Michał Hieropolitański, who supervised the construction of what was, at that time the longest bridge in Eurasia – over the Amur near Khabarovsk. The bridge consisted of 20 bridge spans, with a total length of 2,598 meters. During construction work on the bridge, a tragic accident occurred, in which engineer Hieropolitański lost his life. The construction project was completed by Polish engineer Antoni Płaczkowski in 1916. Other engineers and bridge designers who worked on the Amur included Ludwik Czapski and Bolesław Liberadzki.
The construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway was one of the most challenging engineering projects of the time. The complex logistical and engineering difficulties encountered during the construction required the employment of highly-qualified engineers and designers. The core of this group was made up of graduates of the St. Petersburg Institute of Communication Engineers. Stanisław Kierbedź, then vice-president of the Board of the Chinese Eastern Railway, according to railway historians, was said to have favored Poles when appointing engineering and management staff. As a result, a Polish community formed in Harbin, made up of engineers, railwaymen, workers and representatives of other professions. The Polish community in Harbin endured in this area until the 1960s and is well documented in numerous memoirs and popular-scientific works by Edward Kajdański, Marek Cabanowski and Adam Winiarz.
Polish railway workers in Siberia and the Far East after the outbreak of World War I and the 1917 revolution
The events of World War I brought refugees flocking to Siberia from Polish territory, followed later by Polish prisoners of war from the Prussian and Austro-Hungarian armies. Among them were also to be found railway workers and engineers. Before the outbreak of the 1917 revolution, there were between 300-500 thousand Poles living in Siberia. The increase of the Polish diaspora led to the creation of a large number of Polish organizations, unions and associations. These were primarily military organizations in Manchuria, Irkutsk and Vladivostok. In addition to military organizations, professional Polish organizations were established, among which the railway workers’ organizations were the most prominent. In 1918, the Union of Polish Railway Workers was established in Harbin – bringing together employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway. In 1919, the Union of Polish Railway Workers was established in Krasnoyarsk. The presence of railway workers was of significant importance for the development of the Polish community movement in the city of Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan Ude).
From the moment Poland regained independence, emissaries arriving from Poland appealed to railway workers and engineers working in Russia to return to their homeland immediately, due to the lack of highly qualified personnel there. As early as March 1919, a repatriation association of Polish railway workers was established in Omsk, in order to assist them in making a quick return to their homeland.
Poles who began their careers on the construction of the great Trans-Siberian Railway went on to enjoy successful careers in the newly reborn Polish state. The contribution of Polish engineers, builders and railway workers to the creation of the great Trans-Siberian Railway is significant and still warrants more in-depth research – based not only on analysis of surviving memoirs and narratives, but above all on the Russian archival record.
*Szlachta Drobna – polish nobility, there were different economic status of Polish aristocracy. Szlachta drobna are poor nobility who owned only part of a given village with peasants or even had no subjects and cultivated the land themselves.
** This passage comes from a poem by Czesław Miłosz entitled “Memory”. The poem “Memory” by Czesław Miłosz was translated into English by Louis Irby and was included in the collection “Czesław Miłosz: New and Collected Poems 1931-2001” published by Ecco Press in 2001.
Sergiusz Leończyk is a professor at the University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce
Translated by Katarzyna Remża