Poland Banknotes 20 Zloty banknote 1931 Countess Emilia Plater
Bank of Poland - Bank Polski
Obverse: Portrait of Emilia Plater (1806 - 1831) participant of the Polish November Uprising 1830–1831, became a symbol of the true heroism of Polish women fighting for independence.
Reverse: Young peasant woman with four children - Allegory of the economy.
Watermark: Portrait of King Casimir III the Great, at the bottom - ZŁ 20 ZŁ
Signatures:
President of the Bank Polski - Wladyslaw Wroblewski
General Director - Władysław Mieczkowski
Treasurer - Stanislaw Orczykowski
Dimensions: 112 x 75 - 163 x 86 mm.
Author: Richard Kleczewski (1888 - 1966), engraved by Professor Eugene Gaspe.
Printer: PWPW - Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych S.A. (Polish Security Printing Works, Warsaw, Poland)
Date of issue: June 20, 1931.
In circulation: from December 30, 1931 to May 7, 1940
Poland banknotes - Poland paper money
1929 Issue: 10 Zloty 20 Zloty 50 Zloty
Countess Emilia Plater
Countess Emilia Plater (Broel-Plater, Lithuanian: Emilija Pliaterytė) (13 November 1806 – 23 December 1831) was a Polish noblewoman and revolutionary from the lands of the partitioned Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Raised in a patriotic Polish tradition, she fought in the November 1830 Uprising, during which she raised a small unit, participated in several engagements, and received the rank of captain in the Polish insurgent forces. Near the end of the Uprising, she fell ill and died.
Though she did not participate in any major engagement, her story became widely publicized and inspired a number of works of art and literature. She is a national heroine in Poland and Lithuania, all formerly parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She has been venerated by Polish artists and by the nation at large as a symbol of women fighting for the national cause.
Emilia Plater was born in Vilnius (Wilno) into a noble Polish–Lithuanian Plater family. Her family, of the Plater coat of arms, traced its roots to Westphalia, but was thoroughly Polonized. Much of the family relocated to Livonia during the 15th century and later to Lithuania, of which Vilnius is the capital. She is described as either Polish, Polish-Lithuanian or Lithuanian.
Her parents, Franciszek Ksawery Plater and Anna von der Mohl (Anna z Mohlów), divorced when she was nine years old, in 1815. She was brought up by distant relatives, Michał Plater-Zyberk and Izabela Helena Syberg zu Wischling, in their family's manor Līksna near Daugavpils (Dźwina), then Inflanty (now Latvia). Well-educated, Plater was brought up to appreciate the efforts of Tadeusz Kościuszko and the Prince Józef Poniatowski. She was fascinated by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, who she could read in the original German language. She was raised in an environment that valued the history of Poland, and her literary heroes included Princess Wanda and Adam Mickiewicz's Grażyna. She also admired Bouboulina, a woman who became one of the icons of the Greek uprising against the Ottomans, a Polish fighter Anna Dorota Chrzanowska, as well as Joan of Arc. These pursuits were accompanied by an early interest in equestrianism and marksmanship, quite uncommon for early 19th-century girls from aristocratic families. She was also deeply interested in the Ruthenian and Belarusian folk culture. She had contacts and friends in the Filaret Association.
Statement of 25 March 1831, by Emilia Plater on joining the November Uprising.
In 1823, one of her cousins was forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army as a punishment for celebrating the Constitution of 3 May; this incident is said to be one of the key events in her life, and one that galvanized her pro-Polish and anti-Russian attitude. In 1829, Plater began a grand tour throughout the historical Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, visiting Warsaw and Kraków, and the battlefield of Raszyn. Her mother died a year later; her father remarried and refused to even meet his daughter. After the outbreak of the November Uprising against Imperial Russia, she became a vocal supporter of the anti-Tsarist sentiments in the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She became one of a dozen or so females to join the Uprising, and the most famous of them all.
Polish November Uprising of 1830–1831
A document from 25 March contains her note that joining the uprising was her sole idea, and that she had hoped that such a moment would come her entire life. She cut her hair, prepared a uniform for herself and organized and equipped a group of volunteers, speaking passionately after a mass on 29 March. On 4 April she signed a declaratory document marking her access to the local uprising forces. Her unit was composed of roughly 280 infantry, 60 cavalry and several hundred peasants armed with war scythes.
From the area of Daugavpils she entered Lithuania, where in April 1831 her unit is rumored to have seized the town of Zarasai (Jeziorosy), although the historians are not sure this event really occurred. She planned to take Daugavpils, but after a reconnaissance mission discovered that the city was defended by a strong garrison and was impregnable to attack by such a small force as her own unit, that plan was abandoned. She then returned to Samogitia and headed for Panevėžys (Poniewież), where on 30 April she joined forces with the unit commanded by Karol Załuski. On May 4, she fought at the battle of Prastavoniai (Prestowiany); shortly afterwards, with Konstanty Parczewski, she fought at Maišiagala (Mejszagoła). On 5 May, she witnessed General Dezydery Chłapowski entering the area with a large force and taking command over all units fighting in the former Grand Duchy.
Chłapowski advised Plater to stand down and return home. She allegedly replied that she had no intention of taking off her uniform until her fatherland was fully liberated. Her decision was accepted and she was made a commanding officer of the 1st company of the Polish–Lithuanian 25th Infantry Regiment. She was promoted to the rank of captain, the highest rank awarded to a woman at that time. She spent some time in Kaunas (Kowno), before the insurgents were forced to retreat in late June.
After the Polish units were defeated by the Russians at Šiauliai (Szawle), Gen. Chłapowski decided to cross the border into Prussia and become interned there. Plater vocally criticized that decision, refused to follow orders and instead decided to try to break through to Warsaw and continue the struggle. However, soon after separating from the main force, accompanied by only two others, including her cousin (or uncle, sources vary), Cezary Plater, she became seriously ill. She never recovered, and she died in a manor of the Abłamowicz family in Justinavas (Justianowo) on 23 December 1831. She was buried in the small village of Kapčiamiestis (Kopciowo) near Lazdijai (Łoździeje). After the defeat of the uprising, her estate was confiscated by the Russian authorities.
Stefan Kieniewicz, in a more critical treatment in the Polish Biographical Dictionary, notes that a lot of her exploits are poorly documented, and it is not always possible to separate legend from facts. He notes it is not certain she ever commanded any unit, and that her role as the commander of the 25th Regiment was more honorary than real; he also notes that she is known to have fainted on the battlefield, distracting her comrades, and in at least one instance (at the battle of Šiauliai), she was purposefully held behind front lines, as her comrades tried to ensure she would not endanger herself.