Edward Szczepanik

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Szczepanik (1986)

Edward Franciszek Szczepanik (born August 22, 1915 in Suwałki , † October 11, 2005 in Bricklehampton , Worcestershire ) was a Polish economist , politician and Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile .

Life

Studies and professional career

Warsaw University of Commerce

After attending school, he completed a degree in economics at the Warsaw School of Economics ( Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie ), which he completed in 1936 with a Master of Science (M. Sc.) In Political Economy . After his training as a reserve officer at the artillery officer's school and in the 29th light artillery regiment , he received a scholarship for postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science , where he was a student of Friedrich August von Hayek , among other things . After his return to Poland, he was assistant lecturer at the Warsaw School of Commerce from 1938 to 1939 .

Second World War

After the attack on Poland and the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939, he was interned in Lithuania before being captured by the Red Army between 1940 and 1942 in a gulag in Kozelsk and then in Kola .

Monte Cassino after the battle

After the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union on June 21, 1941 and the subsequent signing of the Sikorsky-Majski Agreement on June 30, 1941, he was released from prison. He then joined the 2nd Polish Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and was promoted to major in the course of the war . As an officer of the 5th Polish Artillery Regiment, he was a decorated participant in the Battle of Monte Cassino from January 17 to May 18, 1944. He was also one of the first allies to conquer Bologna from the Wehrmacht on April 21, 1945 . During the war he was also a liaison officer for the Polish Army with the Royal Artillery Training Team .

Professional activities in the post-war period

After the end of the Second World War, he worked from 1947 to 1953 as an assistant professor at the Polish University College of London . He also continued his studies at the London School of Economics, where he obtained a Master of Science in Economics (M. Sc. Econ.) In 1953 and a Philosophiae Doctor (Ph. D.) in 1956 .

Between 1953 and 1961 he was a senior lecturer at the University of Hong Kong before he was a member of the advisory team at Harvard University in Karachi ( Pakistan ) for two years . From 1978 to 1981 he was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sussex . In 1981 he was appointed Professor of Economics at the Polish University Abroad ( Polski Uniwersytet na Obczyźnie - PUNO ) in Hammersmith . 1995 he was by his alma mater , the Warsaw School of Economics, the honorary doctorate of Dr. Honoris causa for economics awarded.

In addition to his activities as a university lecturer, he worked as an economist for several international organizations . In 1954, he was initially an advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong . In the same year he became an advisor to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Hong Kong, before becoming an advisor to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in Bangkok two years later . After his return from Pakistan, he became a senior economist at the FAO headquarters in Rome in 1963 . He remained in this office until 1977 and as such was an advisor to the International Coffee Organization (ICO) in London in 1975 .

Polish government in exile in London

Szczepanik also worked for the Polish government- in- exile in London at an early stage . As early as 1951 he was the founder and for two years chairman of the Polish Institute for Research on National Affairs ( Instytut Badań Zagadnień Krajowych ). During his work as an economist in Rome from 1963 to 1977 he was also the representative of the government in exile at the Holy See , which was one of only three states to maintain its relations with the government in exile. In addition to his activities as Director of the Research Council of the Poles Abroad ( Rada Porozumiewawcza Badań nad Polonią ) and as President of the Society of Poles Abroad for Arts and Sciences ( Polskie Towarzystwo Naukowe na Obczyźnie - PTNO ) in London, he was again chairman of the Polish Institute from 1983 to 1986 Researching national affairs.

Last Prime Minister in Exile

In 1981 he was appointed Minister of the Interior of the government in exile by Kazimierz Sabbat .

On April 7, 1986, he succeeded Sabbat, who himself became the new President-in-Exile , and became Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile . After Sabbath's death on July 19, 1989, he was asked by his successor as President-in-Exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, to continue to hold the office of Prime Minister-in-Exile until the government-in-exile's mission, the dissolution of the People's Republic of Poland , was fulfilled .

After the establishment of the Third Polish Republic and the election of Lech Wałęsa as the first freely elected Polish President in December 1990, the institutions of the government-in-exile in London dissolved. On December 22, 1990, Kaczorowski presented the presidential insignia of the Second Republic to Wałęsa, kept by the government-in-exile, on Szczepanik's advice during a solemn ceremony at the Warsaw Royal Castle.

Awards

For his bravery during the Second World War he was awarded the Cross of Valor ( Krzyż Walecznych ) in 1945 and the Silver Cross of Merit with Swords ( Krzyż Zasługi z Mieczami ) the following year . In addition to other Polish and British awards, he also received the Military Cross of Merit of the King of Italy .

Furthermore, he was knighted by the Polish government-in-exile in 1981 as a Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta . During the time of the People's Republic of Poland, he was granted honorary citizenship of his hometown Suwałki in 1982 . In 1985, President-in-Exile Edward Raczyński awarded him the Commander's Cross. After the establishment of the Third Polish Republic, in 1996 he was awarded the Medal of Merit for Polish Culture.

Publications

In the course of his professional career, Szczepanik was an author and co-author and editor and co-editor of several publications, in particular on economic policy topics:

Web links

Commons : Edward Szczepanik  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Famous graduates of the SGH from 1914 to 1977  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sgh.com.pl  
personal data
SURNAME Szczepanik, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Szczepanik, Edward Franciszek (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish economist, politician and Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Suwałki
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 2005
Place of death Bricklehampton , Worcestershire