Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland after regaining independence, was assassinated by a far-right Polish nationalist on 16 December 1922, five days after taking office, aged 57.

[3] Narutowicz's forthcoming murder would be the culmination of an aggressive, right wing and anti-semitic propaganda campaign vilifying him; in the background of street protests he was described, by a hostile press, an atheist, a Freemason and a Jew.

[6] During his trial, Niewiadomski stated that he wanted to kill Józef Piłsudski originally, but assassinating his ally, Narutowicz, was "a step in the fight for Polishness and for the nation.

Nationalistic press and some historians kept portraying Niewiadomski in positive light, writing about his "heroic stand", "sacred convictions, "patriotic duty" and such.

[8] The murder of the first president of the Second Polish Republic and the angry canvassing against him revealed the fragility of democratic mechanisms in Poland at that time.