Henryk Świątkowski

Henryk Świątkowski

Henryk Świątkowski (born April 2, 1896 in Dzierzążnia , Weichselland , Russian Empire ; † March 22, 1970 in Warsaw ) was a Polish lawyer , professor of law at the University of Warsaw and politician ( PPS , from 1948 PZPR ).

Świątkowski was from February 2 to April 14, 1945 voivode of the former Pomeranian Voivodeship . From 1945 to 1956 he was Minister of Justice under the Krajowa Rada Narodowa . He was also a member of the Sejm from 1952 to 1956 and chairman of the Polish-Soviet Friendship from 1945 to 1950 .

Life

Henryk Świątkowski was born in 1896 to Leokardia Świątkowska and an unknown father in the village of Dzierzążnia near Płońsk . From 1907 he attended a grammar school in Płońsk, where he also graduated. During middle school, Świątkowski participated in a secret self-study group and headed an illegal scout organization . From autumn 1915 Świątkowski studied law and political science at the University of Warsaw . In the meantime, Świątkowski was active in the Polish military organization and in the academic youth of the PSL “Wyzwolenie” peasant party .

Activities in the interwar period

After graduating, Świątkowski was an apprentice at the Warsaw District Court. After completing his judicial examination, Świątkowski first worked as a trainee lawyer in Warsaw and later in Zamość . Between 1925 and 1934 he finally worked as a lawyer in Zamość and until 1939 in Warsaw, focusing on the legal protection of smallholders and agricultural workers .

In 1923, Świątkowski defended 37 communists at the Zamość District Court who were accused of participating in the so-called Zamoyski uprising. In 1937 Świątkowski was a legal advisor during a trial against communist activists in Lublin .

In 1923 Świątkowski joined the Polish Socialist Party . Between 1931 and 1934 he was a member of the Supreme Council there. He was also a member of the General Committee of the Society of Workers' University . Świątkowski was an advocate of working with communists in the fight against fascism . In 1928 and 1930 Świątkowski was elected to the Sejm on the PPS list of the constituency Zamość - Biłgoraj - Tomaszów Lubelski . In July 1938, Świątkowski was in the city council elected by Warsaw.

Świątkowski was also considered an activist of free thinking . He is one of the co-founders of the “Association for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience in Poland” and the monthly magazine “Wolność Sumienia” (“Freedom of Knowledge”). Świątkowski was the author of numerous monographs on religious law that were published in various Polish magazines.

During the time of National Socialism

After the attack on Poland in September 1939, Świątkowski initially stayed in Warsaw and worked as a legal advisor . On July 12, 1940, he was arrested by the GeStaPo and first taken to Pawiak and then on August 15, 1940 to the Auschwitz concentration camp , from which he was released on October 8, 1941. At that time Świątkowski was suffering from tuberculosis . In 1943 and 1944 he taught religious law at the High School of the Methodist Church in the Generalgouvernement .

Then Świątkowski joined the RPPS . From May 1944 he was a member of the Supreme Council and a member of Krajowa Rada Narodowa . At that time Świątkowski fought as an education officer during the Warsaw Uprising in the ranks of the Polish People's Army in Śródmieście . After the fall of the uprising in October 1944, Świątkowski came to the Podhale region with some RPPS activists and worked in the partisan unit of the Polish People's Army on Turbacz .

Voivode in Pomerania

At the end of January 1945 Świątkowski was the head of a government group that was supposed to restore local government in Pomerania after the Second World War . On February 2, 1945, the group arrived in Toruń , the then capital of Pomerania. On the same day Świątkowski became voivode of Großpommerellen . On March 2, 1945, the capital of Pomerania was moved from Toruń to Bydgoszcz .

On February 11, 1945 Świątkowski proposed the establishment of the University of Toruń and was a member of the University's Organizing Committee from April 13 of the same year. On April 14, 1945 he was co-author of a resolution establishing the university. The aim of the new establishment was to compensate for the losses of the universities in Vilnius and Lemberg .

Time as Minister of Justice

In May 1945 Świątkowski became Minister of Justice in the Krajowa Rada Narodowa government and remained in this position until April 1956. In 1945 he was assigned to investigate the Katyn massacre .

During Świątkowski's time as Minister of Justice, the standardization of family law and civil status law was implemented. In addition, the codification of criminal and civil law was started. Świątkowski was also a member of committees for drafting a new constitution . At the same time, however, opposition activists were also suppressed by the judiciary during his tenure.

Scientific activities

On April 30, 1947 Świątkowski was appointed Professor of Religious Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Warsaw. Furthermore, Świątkowski was a member of the Slavic Committee in Poland. He then headed the Department of Agricultural Law and between 1958 and 1962 Świątkowski was Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Warsaw.

Despite his retirement in 1966, Świątkowski continued his academic activities. He worked with the Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and was a member of its Scientific Council. In addition, Świątkowski was a co-founder of the Association of Polish Lawyers and the Association of Atheists and Freethinkers .

Political activities in the PPS and PZPR

On February 25, 1945 Świątkowski was elected to the Supreme Council of the PPS. Until September 1946 he was also chairman of the party court . Between 1945 and 1948 Świątkowski sat continuously in the highest authorities of the PPS. From May to December 1948 he was chairman of the Central Committee of the PPS. Świątkowski was seen as a proponent of cooperation with the Polish Labor Party and advocated the removal of opponents of the united front .

At the unification congress of the Polish Workers 'Party and the PPS in December 1948, Świątkowski was elected to the central committee of the newly formed Polish United Workers' Party. He sat on this committee until March 1954. He was also a member of the Politburo of the PZPR. From 1945 to 1950 Świątkowski was chairman of the Main Committee of Polish-Soviet Friendship.

Henryk Świątkowski was married to Jadwiga Świątkowska from 1919 and had three daughters. He died on March 22, 1970 shortly before his 74th birthday in Warsaw . Świątkowski was in the military cemetery of Powazki Cemetery buried in Warsaw.

Honors

Henryk Świątkowski has received various awards in the course of his activities. In 1946 he was awarded the Order of the Rebirth of Poland, First and Second Degree. He also received the Warsaw Medal and the Gold Badge of Deserved Activist of the Polish Bar Association. A street in Warsaw is named after Świątkowski.

Works

• Ochrona pracy robotników rolnych , Warsaw 1937
• Wyznania religijne w Polsce te szczególnym uwzüdnieniem I stanu prawnego. Cz. I Wyznania i związki religijne , Warsaw 1937
• Z Praktyki sądów konsystorskich , Warsaw 1938
• Stan prawny Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego , Warsaw 1939
• Stosunek państwa do kościoła w różnych krajach , Warsaw 1952
• Wyznaniowe prawo państwowe. Problematyka prawa wolności sumienia w PRL , Warsaw 1962
• Prawo rolne , Warsaw 1966

Web links

Commons : Henryk Świątkowski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dominik Zamiatała, Towarzystwo Przyjaźni Polsko-Radzieckiej , In: Encyklopedia białych plam , Volume XVII, Radom 2006, p. 179.
2. ↑ Czy wujek Kaczyńskiego wydał Wyrok śmierci na Pileckiego. In: minakowski.pl. Retrieved December 28, 2017 (Polish).