December 16, 2020 Just five days after being elected as Poland’s first president, Gabriel Narutowicz (R) was gunned down in cold blood by Eligiusz Niewiadomski (L) at the Zachęta art gallery in Warsaw. Public domain/CC BY-SA 3.0 On December 16th, 1922, the first President of Poland’s Second Republic was gunned down in cold blood during the opening of an art exhibition. During a serene moment at Warsaw’s Zachęta gallery observing Teodor Ziomek’s ‘Hoarfrost’, newly-appointed president Gabriel Narutowicz was approached by disgruntled painter and opposition supporter Eligiusz Niewiadomski. Narutowicz had won the December 9th election after multiple run-off votes decided a fractious and divisive campaign. Public domain