Florian Siwicki

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Florian Siwicki

Florian Siwicki (born January 10, 1925 in Lutsk , Poland , today Ukraine ; † March 11, 2013 in Warsaw ) was a Polish army general and politician of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), who was chief of the general staff of the armed forces of the People's Republic between 1973 and 1983 Poland and then Minister of Defense from 1983 to 1990. As commander of the specially created 2nd Polish Army (2 Armia Wojska Polskiego) , he took part in Operation Danube in 1968, called the crackdown on the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact troops . As Chief of the General Staff, after the imposition of martial law on December 13, 1981 by Wojciech Jaruzelski, he became a member of the Military Council of National Rescue WRON (Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego) and was a member of it until July 21, 1983.

Life

Origin and World War II

Siwicki was the son of Eugeniusz Siwicki, who served as an officer in the 24th Infantry Regiment and was arrested by the Soviet secret police NKVD in April 1940 after the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland . Florian Siwicki was then deported to Arkhangelsk in May 1940 together with his mother Elżbieta Siwicka .

In December 1942, Siwicki joined as a volunteer in the 105th independent sapper - battalion of the Red Army and served there until May 1, 1943. He then joined the in the Soviet Union Polish Armed Forces (Polskie Siły Zbrojne w ZSRR) and came to 1st Infantry Division Tadeusz Kościuszko . Siwicki was then from December 18, 1943 to September 1, 1944 in the training center for officer candidates and then from September 2, 1944 to November 2, 1945 at the officers' school for infantry and cavalry.

Officer of the Polish Armed Forces

After the end of the Second World War , Siwicki began his career as a professional soldier on May 22, 1945 and between 1945 and 1946 took part in the fight against the anti-communist resistance movement around Józef Kuraś . In the following years he was in various departments and in the meantime completed a course for battalion commanders at the infantry training center (Centrum Wyszkolenia Piechoty) from March 3 to November 30, 1947 .

After the founding of the People's Republic of Poland , on November 8, 1952, he became head of the infantry training department in the Armed Forces Training Headquarters and then attended a course at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces Kliment between November 30, 1954 and October 27, 1956 Yefremovich Voroshilov .

After his return to Poland he was a colonel on December 7, 1956 as the successor to Colonel Józef Dziadura commander of the 5th Infantry Division (5 Saska Dywizja Piechoty) and kept this post until the dissolution of this association on October 31, 1957. He was then on December 22, 1957 successor to Colonel Jan Wyderkowski as commander of the 3rd Pomeranian Infantry Division ( Romuald Traugutt ) and remained in this position until he was replaced on March 15, 1961 by Colonel Jan Piróg . In addition, Siwicki, who became a member of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) on May 5, 1948, was a member of the Political Committee of the Party Control Commission in the Warsaw Military District until March 1961.

Promotion to major general and crushing of the Prague Spring

Siwicki then served between April 15, 1961 and December 13, 1964 as a military attaché as well as air force and naval attaché at the embassy in the People's Republic of China and was promoted to brigadier general during this time in 1962 . After he returned to Poland, he succeeded Major General Wacław Czyżewski as commander of the 1st Warsaw Mechanized Division Tadeusz Kościuszko in 1964 and was replaced there in 1965 by Colonel Filip Majewski. In addition, he was from 1965 to 1967 president of the sports club WKS Śląsk Wrocław .

On January 13, 1966 he was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Silesian Military District (Śląski Okręg Wojskowy) , before he succeeded Major General Eugeniusz Molczyk as Commander of the Silesian Military District on April 11, 1968 . At the same time he was promoted to major general in 1968. On May 18, 1971, Major General Józef Kamiński was his successor as commander of the Silesian Military District. During his three years there, he acted in August and September 1968 during Operation Danube, called the crackdown on the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact troops, as commander of the 2nd Polish Army (2 Armia Wojska Polskiego), which was formed for this purpose only . On November 17, 1968 he became a candidate for the Central Committee (ZK) of the PZPR.

Siwicki, who from March 1 to September 30, 1970 completed a course in operations and strategy at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , became Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces on May 21, 1971. A few months later, on December 12, 1971, he also became a member of the ZK of the PZPR and was a member of it until January 1990.

Chief of the General Staff from 1973 to 1983 and martial law was imposed in 1981

Army General Florian Siwicki (right) during the commissioning of the ORP Iskra , the training ship of the Polish Navy, and the handover of the house flag (August 11, 1982)

Then Siwicki was on January 13, 1973 Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Minister of Defense and thus successor to Major General Bolesław Chocha , who in turn was commander of the General Staff Academy (Akademia Sztabu Generalnego) . He was responsible for the planning and top management of the armed forces and remained at this post until November 21, 1983 and his subsequent replacement by Lieutenant General Józef Użycki . In 1974 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In the period that followed, in addition to his military function, he increasingly took on political functions in the PZPR, which also increased his influence outside the armed forces. On March 21, 1976 he became a member of the Sejm and belonged to it from the seventh to the end of the ninth legislative period on June 3, 1989. In addition, he became a candidate for the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PZPR on October 28, 1981.

After the imposition of martial law on December 13, 1981 by Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski, he also became a member of the Military Council of the National Rescue WRON (Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego) and was a member of it until July 21, 1983.

Defense Minister 1983 to 1990

On November 22, 1983, Prime Minister Jaruzelski appointed him as his own successor as Minister of Defense . He also held this ministerial office in the subsequent governments of Prime Ministers Zbigniew Messner , Mieczysław Rakowski and Tadeusz Mazowiecki until he was replaced by the former Commander of the Navy , Vice Admiral Piotr Kołodziejczyk , on July 6, 1990. Furthermore, between 1985 and 1990 he was Vice- Chairman of the National Council of the Association of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy ZBoWiD (Związek Bojowników o Wolność i Demokrację) , the official state-controlled war veterans' association in the People's Republic of Poland.

On July 3, 1986 Siwicki, who was promoted to army general on September 27, 1984, finally also a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PZPR (Biuro Polityczne KC PZPR) and thus until January 29, 1990 the highest leadership body of the party.

In addition, from 1986 to 1989 he was a member of the National Committee of Grunwald (Ogólnopolski Komitet Grunwaldzki) , an organization founded in 1986 by the Patriotic Front for National Revival PRON ( Patriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego ) to promote Polish military tradition and the memory of the battle near Tannenberg on July 15, 1410 .

End of the People's Republic of Poland, charges against the Polish nation and death

Florian Siwicki's grave in the Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach cemetery in Warsaw

Because of the imposition of martial law, investigations were later carried out by a main commission set up by the Institute of National Remembrance IPN (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej) to investigate crimes against the Polish nation, which presented its final report in March 2006. He was then charged with actions against members of the opposition by the SB Security Service ( Służba Bezpieczeństwa ) called Aktion Herbst 82 (Jesień 82) , although the trial did not begin until 2012.

After his death on March 11, 2013, Siwicki was buried with military honors in the Warsaw Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach cemetery. Former Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz , the former commander of the Pomeranian Military District, Major General Zbigniew Blechman , Brigadier General Roman Harmoza and his successor as Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Józef Użycki, who issued a tribute to Siwickuzels von Wojciech, attended the funeral.

From his marriage to Krystyna Siwicka, who died in 2012, the sons Jerzy and Ryszard Siwicki emerged.

Orders and awards

During his long career, Siwicki has been honored several times with domestic and foreign orders and awards. The most important honors include the order Odrodzenia Polski , which he was awarded as a knight and as a grand officer . In addition, he received the Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland in gold.

At foreign medals he received from the Soviet Union the Order of Lenin , the Order of Friendship of Nations , the medal “Strengthening the Brotherhood in Arms” , the medal “20th. Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ” , the medal“ 30. Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ” , the medal“ 40. Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ” , the medal“ 60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ” , the medal“ 70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ” and the Scharnhorst Order of the GDR .

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personal data
SURNAME Siwicki, Florian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish army general and politician, member of the Sejm
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Lutsk , Poland
DATE OF DEATH 11th March 2013
Place of death Warsaw