Joachim Józef Lelewel

Joachim Józef Lelewel (1786–1861) was a Polish historian and political thinker and activist. Lelewel was a professor of history at Wilno University in 1822-1824. He was dismissed following the Philomath and Filaret trials. He went to Warsaw, where he devoted himself to academic research. Lelewel was a great influence on young people. Maurycy Mochnacki, Seweryn Goszczyński, Bohdan Zaleski and perhaps even Fryderyk Chopin went to him. After the failure of the November Uprising, Lelewel left for Brussels via Paris, where in settled in 1833.

Lelewel strongly opposed the politicisation of religion. ‘Whoever creates his homeland from religion... renounces the citizenship, nationality and political principles of his race. In a word, he renounces his own homeland’, he wrote. He proposed building Poland as a community of nations with no hierarchy of religious faiths and opposed independent statehood that failed to respect equitable principles of community life.