Wacław Sieroszewski — badacz społeczności jakuckiej
Wacław Sieroszewski — researcher of the Yakut community

Summary/Abstract: The research on the Yakut community, which is the subject of my article on Wacław Sieroszewski (1858–1945), is closely related to his stay — as an exile — in Siberia in the 1880s and early 1890s. Polish literature of the 19th century was dominated by the image of Siberia as a land of suffering, a place of exile for thousands of Poles. Sieroszewski wanted to show his compatriots a different, unknown face of this land, especially its eastern part — Yakutia. This prompted him to successively acquaint himself with the Yakuts as well as their geographical, natural and socio-cultural living environment. Yakutia and the Yakuts became the subject of many-sided studies of the Polish exile — scientifically reliable, extremely suggestive and artistic, and at the same time unmarred by sentimentality or pathos. They resulted in literary works, scientific articles published in Russian magazines and a comprehensive, one-of-a-kind monograph on the Yakut community. The first print of Sieroszewski’s book in 1896 was a scientific event of world importance. The great scientific value and importance of the publication was evidenced, among other things, by the fact that the author was awarded the gold medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, and after some efforts he was allowed to return to his homeland.

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