„Z żarów nad Nilem w ogień rewolucji nad Wisłą”. Izydor Kajetan Wysłouch (1869–1937) i jego działalność społeczna

Abstract

“From the Heats by Nile to the Fire of Revolution by Vistula”. Izydor Kajetan Wysłouch (1869–1973) and His Social Activity The paper reminds the profile of a respected religious reformer and social activist whose life was also connected to Egypt. From 1902 to 1904, due to ill-health, he visited Egypt twice as he required climatotherapy. At that time he stayed in Helwan, a popular resort near Cairo. During his treatment, he was probably residing in Wanda Bilińska’s guesthouse, where residents from the territories of former-day Poland met. The stay in Egypt made a huge impression on Wysłouch. An ample evidence of his fascination with heritage and monuments of ancient Egypt is the neatly published volume, issued soon after the author’s return to Poland, titled From the Land of Ruins (Warsaw 1906); what is also interesting is its graphic design, using Egyptian motives, created by Franciszek Siedlecki (1867–1934). The volume, containing the author’s reflections on existence and prose poetry, signals the state of his soul, which was filled with loneliness and bitter sadness. Its content also suggests that the author had visited most of the country, from the Giza Pyramid Complex to the city of Aswan. Egypt influenced him to such a great degree that he called the country his second homeland. He also took his pen-name “Szech” (ar. Sheikh) at that time. Having returned to his motherland, Wysłouch became a keen supporter of working-class protests (1905). He also strongly backed the reforms in the Ethical and Social Teachings of the Church; he published numerous brochures in which he described an utopian programme that would connect Christianity with Communism and Polish patriotism; he decided to leave Church in 1908. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, Wysłouch, as a public servant, played a vital role in organising and introducing the system of public disability pensions and retirement insurance in the reborn Poland.