Henryk Sienkiewicz

Novelist, social activist, born in Wola Okrzejska in Podlasie, died in Vevey, Switzerland. He studied law and historical sciences at the Main School in Warsaw. He collaborated with many magazines such as “Niwa”, “Word”, “Gazeta Polska” and others. During the war, he stayed in Switzerland. His novels such as “Quo vadis”, “Trilogy”, “Teutonic Knights” made him the most famous Polish writer. In 1900, the society donated him the Oblęgorek estate, then he was awarded the title of doctor of the Jagiellonian University, and five years later the Nobel Prize. He was active on many social, charity and social levels. He founded sanatoriums for children, a church in Zakopane, and during the war with Switzerland he was a co-organizer of the Committee for Aid to War Victims in Poland. He often visited Krakow, where his children grew up, and here he made a donation for scholarships for artists from the Academy of Learning.