Dembinski, Henryk

Dembiński, Henryk

 

Born Jan. 16, 1791, in the village of Strzałków, present-day Kielce Wojewödztwo; died June 13, 1864, in Paris. Polish political figure and general.

Dembiński was a member of the middle gentry. As an officer iń Napoleon’s army, he took part in the campaigns of 1809-12 and 1813. During the Polish Uprising of 1830-31 he successfully led a large insurgent detachment from Lithuania to Warsaw. Appointed commander in chief by the rebel government at a time of military setbacks, Dembiński tried through repressions to stifle popular protest in Warsaw against the government’s conservative policy. After the defeat of the rebellion, he emigrated to Saxony and later to France. In 1849 he commanded a unit of the armed forces of revolutionary Hungary. After the defeat of the Hungarian revolution, he lived in Turkey and afterward in France.