Bogdan Hutten-Czapski

Bogdan Hutten-Czapski in Knight of Malta UniformBogdan Franciszek Serwacy Hutten-Czapski (referred to in German contexts as Bogdan Graf von Hutten Czapski) h. Leliwa (b 13 May 1851 in Smogulec, d. 7 September 1937 in Poznań) was a Polish Count, politician, curator of the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw University of Technology, President of the Association of Polish Knights of Malta. Bogdan was the grandson of two Polish generals – Józef Grzegorz Longin Hutten-Czapski (1760–1810) and Stanisław Kostka Mielżyński (1778–1826), associate of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and servant of the Kingdom of Prussia until the end of WWI.

Early life Bogdan Czapski was born in Kreis Wongrowiec as the only son of Józef Napoleon Czapski (1797–1852) and Countess Eleonora (Laura) Mielzynska (1815–1875). Józef Napoleon Czapski was a colorful character, described by the historian Charles Forbes René de Montalembert as a "célèbre révolutionnaire". As a Lieutenant of the Polish army during the November Uprising, he was awarded for bravery, the Virtuti Militari 4th class. He supported revolutionairy activities in France, Germany and Ireland, travelling under different aliases. Later he wanted to study medicine, but had to give up when he got into politics. He remained a lifelong member of the board of the German Anti-Cancer Society. From 1884 to 1885 he was Aide-de-Camp to Edwin von Manteuffel during his tenure as the governor of Alsace-Lorraine. He served as Castellan of Posen, Member of the Prussian House of Lords, and unofficial aide and advisor to Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. Czapski was one of the few politicians that in 1900 was shown Chief of Staff Count Alfred von Schlieffen´s plan to invade France through neutral Belgium. Wilhelm II further said to him "..an independent Polish state in alliance with which Germany will be, forever secured against Russia". Czapski reported the Polish clergy in Posen had received the news "with jubilation" and that the clergy, in their sermons, had urged the Poles to fight against the Russians. and he was instructed to promote insurrection in Russian held Poland. Assigned successively to the staffs of Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg and field marshal August von Mackensen, he mediated between them and government in Berlin, as well as with the Polish society. He had also been requested to form a German Legion of Poles as Pilsudski had done in Austria, but after his request for similar concessions for the Poles that Pilsudski had achieved, this matter was dropped, and the recruited Poles joined the Pilsudski Legions. In the last years of his life he devoted himself to the drafting of his memoirs and the Polish Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, of which he was president since 1926. He died in Poznań on 7 September 1937 and was buried next to his parents in the crypt of the Smogulecki church. Though a very controversial figure, because of his ties with the Germans and Prussians, there was no doubt that Bogdan Hutten-Czapski considered himself a Polish patriot. Though he never married, he named Emeryk August Hutten-Czapski, a distant nephew from the Llituanian Czpaski branch as his heir, who would follow in his footsteps by being very involved with Polish politics, the Vatican and the Knights of Malta.

His book of recollections - "Sechzig Jahre Politik und Gesellschaft" ("Sixty Years in Political and Social Life") was published in Berlin in 1936.

Awards Order of Polonia Restituta Commanders Cross with Star Venerable Bailiff Knights Grand Cross of Justice Professed of Solemn Vows Knight Grand Cross in Obedience of the Order of Malta Order of St. Gregory the Great Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great Order of the Crown of Italy Commander Cross Order of Glory (Tunisia) Commander Cross Order of the Red Eagle Knight's Cross French Legion of Honor Knight's Cross Saxe-Ernestine House Order, Knight's Cross Order of Franz Joseph, Knight's Cross Austrian Marian Cross of the German Knight Order