# Aleksander Meysztowicz

Aleksander Meysztowicz (8 December 1864 – 14 February 1943), also known as Aleksander Eduardowicz Meysztowicz, was a Polish politician and landowner. He was the Minister of Justice of Poland from 1926 to 1928, the chairperson of the Provisional Governing Commission of Central Lithuania from 1921 to 1922, and a member of the State Council of the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1917.

## Biography

Aleksander Meysztowicz was born on 8 December 1864, in Pajuostis, near Panevėžys, then located within Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire, and now part of Lithuania. He came from Polish landed gentry family, which owned Pajuostis estate. He studied at the Vilnius Gymnasium, to which at the time also attended Józef Piłsudski, future Chief of State of Poland. Later, he graduated from the Jagiellonian University. Following his graduation, he was enlisted into the Imperial Russian Army and served in the 9th Yelysavethrad Dragoon Regiment. He was dismissed in 1891, with the rank of lieutenant, and settled in the Pajuostis estate which he inherited from his parents, and devoted himself to agriculture and social activities.
In 1900, at the founding of the Kaunas Society of Agriculture, Meysztowicz was elected its vice-chairperson, and in 1904, he was unanimously voted to receive the title of the honorary member. Under his leadership, the society handled issues of resettling villages and establishing retirement funds for agricultural workers. From his initiative were also founded the Kaunas Mutual Fire Insurance Society, of which he was also the chairperson, and a number of other agricultural unions that served to unite the activities of rural owners.
Because of his participation in the unveiling ceremony of the Monument of Catherine the Great in Vilnius, on 23 September 1904, he was disliked by Polish nationalists.
From 1909 to 1917, he was a member of the State Council of the Russian Empire based in Saint Petersburg, where he belonged to the Polish National Committee.
He was also the chairperson of the Vilnius Land Bank from 1918 to 1926, and from 1932 to 1939.
After returning to Lithuania in 1917, he became a prominent member of the Borderlands Bisons, a conservative group of Lithuanian Poles, who sought to unite Lithuania with Poland. From 1917 to 1918, he was also a prominent member of the National Conservative Party.
After Lithuania has declared independence from Russia in 1918, he fled to Polish-occupied Vilnius, and his estate was confiscated by the government. From 21 November 1921 to 6 April 1922, he was the chairperson of the Provisional Governing Commission of the Republic of Central Lithuania.
From 2 October 1926 to 22 December 1928, he was the Minister of Justice and the Chief Prosecutor of Poland. He supported Polish expansion to the east, and advocated for the polonization of ethnic minorities in eastern Poland.
From 1933, he was a secret Papal Chamberlain. In 1939, he moved to Rome, Italy where he died on 14 February 1943. He was buried in the cript of the Church of Saint Anne in Vatican City.

## Private life

He was married to Zofia Meysztowicz (née Korwin-Kossakowski), with whom he had a son, Walerian Meysztowicz, who was a Catholic priest.

## Orders and decorations

* Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2 May 1923)