Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki

Graf Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki
Statthalter of Galicia and Lodomeria
In office June 1903 – 12 April 1908
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Leon Piniński
Succeeded by	Michał Bobrzyński
Personal details
Born	(1861-06-10)10 June 1861 Krzeszowice, Austrian Empire (now Poland)
Died	12 April 1908(1908-04-12) (aged 46) Lemberg, Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine)
Parent	Adam Józef Potocki (father)
Relatives	Potocki family
Alma mater	Jagiellonian University

Graf Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki (10 June 1861 – 12 April 1908) was an Austro-Hungarian Polish aristocrat and politician who was Statthalter of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria from 1903 until his assassination by Ukrainian nationalist Myroslav Sichynskyi in 1908. A hardliner against Ukrainian nationalism, Potocki oversaw violence against Ukrainians during the 1908 local election to the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, which prompted his assassination.

Early life and career

Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki was born on 10 June 1861 in the city of Krzeszowice to Adam Józef Potocki, a member of the Potocki family of landed gentry and a politician in the Eastern European region of Galicia, at the time under the control of the Austrian Empire. He was educated at the Saint Anne Gymnasium in Kraków from 1877, passing the matura exam with honours in 1879. He next travelled to the University of Graz, where he studied several subjects, including Roman law, geography, philosophy, psychology, and history. After leaving university for one year to serve in the Common Army as an uhlan in Prague, he began studying at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, graduating with a degree in law in 1884.

Political career

Potocki became a deputy of the Imperial Council and the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria in 1895, and in 1901 he was elected as Marshal of the Diet, establishing himself as an influential figure in Austrian politics. He took a hardline position against the growing Ukrainian nationalist movement at the time, instead supporting Galician Russophilia. The election of Volodymyr Dudykevych, the public face of the Russophiles and a political ally of Potocki, as a member of the Imperial Council particularly incensed Ukrainian nationalists.

Potocki was appointed as Statthalter of Galicia and Lodomeria in 1903, following a revolt by Ukrainian peasants the year prior. With political support from other ethnically-Polish landowners, he made an effort to prevent Ukrainian peasants from emigrating, suppressed protests in solidarity with Ukrainians involved with the Russian Revolution of 1905, and opposed the Ukrainian Radical Party, the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, and the Ukrainian National Democratic Party, instead supporting Russophile groups during the 1907 Cisleithanian legislative election.

1908 election

During the 1908 elections to the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, Potocki employed political violence in an effort to deter proponents of Ukrainian nationalism from voting. In one instance, Marko Kahanets, a local peasant who had tried to run against Graf Stanisław Marcin Badeni, was bayoneted to death after being asked why he had been barred from running. The elections resulted in a victory for supporters of the government, and protests began in the aftermath against the results.

Potocki began negotiations with representatives of the Ukrainian national movement in an effort to soothe tensions. He began to speak personally to National Democratic politician Yevhen Olesnytskyi on a compromise. Shortly before Potocki's death, he met Olesnytskyi in Stryi, where an agreement was reached to overturn electoral results for Russophiles and give Olesnytskyi the position of Deputy Marshal of the Diet. The agreement would not come to fruition, as a result of Potocki's assassination and Olesnytskyi's subsequent heart attack.

Assassination

Myroslav Sichynskyi (pictured after his arrest) assassinated Potocki by shooting on 12 April 1908

On 12 April 1908, Potocki held a Sunday reception with citizens at the Government House, the statthalter's residence in Lemberg. Shortly after 13:40, Potocki was shot three times at point-blank range with a revolver by Myroslav Sichynskyi, a student and the youngest member of a prominent family of Greek Catholic priests and politicians. Sichynskyi had previously partaken in a pro-autonomy riot by Ukrainian students at the University of Lemberg in 1907, and he had been pardoned after being arrested for involvement in the riots. While leaving the Government House, Sichynskyi expressed to bystanders that his motivation for assassinating Potocki was the killing of Kahanets.

Potocki lived for another hour after being shot, during which he confessed to Catholic priest Józef Bilczewski, composed and sent a telegram to Emperor Franz Joseph I, and said goodbye to his wife, saying, "You were my happiness, light and sunshine throughout my life." A wave of violence by Poles against Ukrainians began following Potocki's assassination, further increasing already-inflamed tensions. The killing also led to an increased interest in militancy as a means to acquire Ukrainian independence from Austria and separation from Polish landowners. Several moderate Ukrainian politicians and public figures condemned the assassination, chiefly among them Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Andrey Sheptytsky.

In addition to political qualms, there was at first speculation that Sichynskyi had been suffering from suicidal urges when he killed Potocki, as his eldest brother had previously committed suicide and Sichynskyi himself was believed to be suicidal. During mental evaluations conducted prior to his trial, however, Austrian police assessed that he was mentally healthy. Sichynskyi would be imprisoned for only a year before being set free by sympathetic prison guards. He emigrated to the United States, where he remained as a minor, pro-Soviet figure in the Ukrainian diaspora community until his death.