Henryk Sienkiewicz – Tatar z pochodzenia?
Henryk Sienkiewicz – descendant of Tatars?

Summary/Abstract: Henryk Sienkiewicz, an epic writer, winner of the Noble Prize in Literature (1905), is widely celebrated for his masterly stories about some of the most turbulent events in Polish history. His biographers and literary scholars disagree over his family roots. Was he a scion of Tatars? The present article examines Sienkiewicz’s genealogy and Tatar threads in his novels. A. Korzińska claims that Hania i Selim [Hania and Selim] tells a story of assimilated Tatars, whereas Niewola Tatarska [Enslaved by Tatars] shows them as ruthless savages. Two major protagonists in Sienkiewicz’s famous Trilogy, Tuhaj-bej and Azja Tuhajbejowicz, are Tatars. Genetic research, conducted by the writer’s greatgrandson, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (Genographic Project), is an important contribution to the discussion on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s descent.

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