Kazimierz Sosnkowski

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Kazimierz Sosnkowski in the 1930s

Kazimierz Sosnkowski (born November 19, 1885 in Warsaw , Congress Poland , † October 11, 1969 in Arundel , Québec ) was a Polish independence fighter, troop commander and politician.

Life

Sosnkowski came from an aristocratic family from Podlasie . He was born in Warsaw and first attended a grammar school in the capital of the Russian Vistula region . He passed his Abitur with distinction on the XII. High school in Saint Petersburg . This was followed by studying at the Warsaw Technical University , which was followed by a move to the Polytechnic in the Austro-Hungarian Lviv because of strikes in Warsaw .

Struggle for independence

From 1904 Sosnkowski was a member of the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (PPS). In 1906 he met Józef Piłsudski at the 7th Lviv Congress of the PPS , from whom he was fascinated. Following his suggestion, he joined the party's fighting organization, OBPPS (Organizacja Bojowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej) , founded in 1904 . After training in this organization, Piłsudski employed him as deputy leader of the Warsaw Department; from June 1906 he became head of the department. In this capacity he was involved in the so-called Bloody Wednesday ( Krwawa środa ) on August 15, 1906 . Because of the subsequent persecution by the Russian authorities , he moved to the OB group in Radom .

Sosnkowski later went on trips to the west, for example in 1907 in Italy and Switzerland. He then returned to Lviv, where he completed his studies. At that time Lemberg developed into a center of the Polish independence movement. During his studies he founded in 1908 - again guided by Piłsudski - with other students a conspiratorial combat association ( Związek Walki Czynnej , in German: Association of active combat), which he led. This organization was the nucleus of the legal Schützenbund (Związek Strzelecki) that was established in Lemberg in 1909 . The Schützenbund served - like other counterparts emerging in Galicia - to build up a cadre unit to fight for the independence of a democratic Poland.

Kazimierz Sosnkowski 1915
August 15, 1919: Sitting from left to right: Józef Piłsudski, the apostolic nuncio Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti (later Pope Pius XI ) and the future President of the USA, Herbert Hoover . Standing in the first row and a. Kazimierz Sosnkowski, General Józef Leśniewski (1867–1921) and Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Polish generals in exile (London 1944), from left to right: Marian Kukiel (Defense Minister of the Polish government in exile), Sosnkowski and Stanisław Kopański ( Chief of Staff )

First World War

From the beginning of the First World War until 1916 Sosnkowski served as chief of staff of the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions . During this time he was a close confidante of Piłsudski. In 1914, at the age of 28, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, the following year to colonel. After the staff activity he was head of the war department in the provisional Polish government until July 1917.

On July 22, 1917 he was - together with Piłsudski - taken into protective custody by the governor of the General Government of Warsaw, Hans von Beseler , for refusing to allow the legions to swear allegiance to the German Reich . He was brought to Germany and initially there interned in the Wesel Citadel and then in the Magdeburg Fortress . After their release from Magdeburg custody, the two returned to Warsaw on November 10, 1918, where they were received by Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski , the regent of the reign of Poland . On November 16, 1918, Sosnkowski was appointed Brigadier General.

After the proclamation of the Second Polish Republic , he was the commander of the Warsaw military district from November 16, 1918. From March 3, 1919 to May 24, 1920, he held the position of Vice Minister in the War Ministry . When the Red Army advanced on Warsaw in the summer of 1920 , Sosnkowski led the Polish reserve army. After the " miracle on the Vistula " he was appointed Minister of War and member of the Defense Council. He also received his second general star.

May coup and suicide attempt

In 1925 he took over command of an army corps in Poznan . When the dispute between Piłsudski and Stanisław Wojciechowski over economic policy and governance escalated on May 12, 1926 , Sosnkowski happened to be in Warsaw. He was not initiated by Piłsudski into the preparations for the coup. When he returned to his office in Poznan, his deputy (General Edmund Hauser) had already sent two regiments to Warsaw to support Piłsudski in the May coup . Sosnkowski then shot himself in the upper body with a revolver, but survived the suicide attempt . His relationship with Piłsudski cooled off after the coup, which he could not reconcile with his oath to the government.

After the protracted recovery, Ignacy Mościcki appointed him at the request of Piłsudski in March 1927 as an army inspector (Inspector Armii) based in Warsaw. He remained in this office until September 1939.

After Piłsudski's death in 1935, Edward Rydz-Śmigły was appointed Inspector General of the Armed Forces as his successor . Sosnkowski, favored by many, mistrusted the ruling Sanacja bloc and thus had no chance. In 1936 he received his third general star (Generał Broni) .

Biological weapons ban

Sosnkowski initiated the international ban on biological weapons of mass destruction . In 1925, as the permanent representative of Poland to the League of Nations, at the International Arms Trade Conference in Geneva , he submitted a corresponding application for regulation under international law , which was taken into account with the signing of the so-called " Geneva Protocol ": Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of Poisonous Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare .

The largely forgotten initiative of Sosnkowski was honored on November 4, 2000 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the conference in the Warsaw Field Cathedral of the Polish Army (Katedra Polowa Wojska Polskiego) . A plaque donated by the Polish Microbiological Society and the Military Health Service was unveiled during a festive ceremony.

In 1932 he also represented Poland as a delegate at the Geneva Disarmament Conference .

Second World War

At the beginning of the attack on Poland , Sosnkowski was nominated for the post of Minister of War Economics; he turned down this nomination, however, because he found the activity pointless at the time. Instead, he took over command of a Polish army encircled west of Lemberg. He managed to blow up the kettle, lead out the Polish units and use them to defend Lemberg. After the surrender , the general made his way through the Eastern Carpathians and Hungary to Paris , which he reached in October 1939. Here he was appointed by the Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile, Władysław Sikorski , Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Underground Forces , Związek Walki Zbrojnej (ZWZ - Association of Armed Struggle, from February 1942 referred to as the Polish Home Army ). On November 13, 1939, the Komitet Ministrów dla Spraw Kraju (KMSK, Committee of Ministers for State Affairs) was established , headed by Sosnkowski . As a result of disputes over the Sikorski-Maiski Agreement , Sosnkowski lost the leadership of underground military work and his function as commander-in-chief at the end of July 1941.

After Sikorski had a fatal accident in a plane crash near Gibraltar (1943) in July 1943 , Sosnkowski was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army by his successor as Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, Stanisław Mikołajczyk .

On September 1, 1944, a month after the Warsaw Uprising began and on the fifth anniversary of the start of the war , Sosnkowski directed clear criticism and a dramatic appeal to the British government, which he denied serious efforts to help the Polish people affected by the war:

“Five years ago, Poland began - strengthened by the British government and its commitment to support - an isolated struggle with German power ... The residents of Warsaw are abandoned on the war front with their (inadequate, note transl. ) Resources - a tragic and terrible one Condition that we cannot explain ourselves with regard to the technical possibilities of the Allies in the sixth year of the war ... Should the population of the (Polish, note transl. ) Capital die under the ruins of their houses because of the lack of help, they should because of be led to the slaughter by passivity, disinterest or other considerations - then the conscience of the world will be burdened with a terrible, historically unprecedented sin. "

- Kazimierz Sosnkowski : Order No. 19

In the course of his military career, Sosnkowski had various aliases: "Baca" (mountain shepherd), "Godziemba" ( Godziemba coat of arms , to which his family belonged), "Józef", "Ryszard" and "Szef".

post war period

In the autumn of 1944 Sosnkowski traveled to Canada to visit a son who was living there. The visit became permanent and Sosnkowski stayed in Canada until the end of his life. Since he did not receive any pension from England or Poland, despite his age he had to work as a farm worker and carpenter. He later went on lecture tours in Canada, the USA and England. On October 11, 1969, he died of a heart attack. He was buried in the Montmorency cemetery near Paris in a burial place of the Paris Historical-Literary Society (Towarzystwo Historyczno-Literackie) . According to his last will, after the political change in Poland , on September 12, 1992 , the remains were transferred to St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw .

His wife was Jadwiga Sosnkowska, b. Żukowska. The couple had five sons (Antoni Zygmunt, Mieczysław, Piotr, Aleksander and Jan).

Awards and honors (selection)

literature

  • Jerzy Mierzejewski: General Kazimierz Sosnkowski: The Creator of the First International Prohibition of Bacteriological Weapon Usage. In: Circular. Edition: July 2003, No. 54, Federation of European Microbiological Societies FEMS. P. 10f. (PDF; 329 kB).
  • Janusz Piekałkiewicz : Battle for Warsaw. Stalin's betrayal of the Polish Home Army in 1944. Herbig, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7766-1699-7 , p. 17.

Web links

Commons : Kazimierz Sosnkowski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Ania Klijanienko: Lemberg: The cultural center of Western Ukraine. Trescher Verlag, p. 37.
  2. ↑ Kazimierz Sosnkowski at Polskie Radio on October 11, 2012 (in Polish, accessed on May 1, 2013)
  3. ^ Andreas Lawaty, Wiesław Mincer, Anna Domańska: German-Polish relations in the past and present, bibliography. (= Publications of the German Poland Institute, part 1, volumes 3–4). Harrassowitz-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2000, p. 499, footnote 7066 .
  4. ^ Heinz Lemke: Alliance and Rivalry: d. Central Powers and Poland in World War I: (until the February Revolution). (= Sources and studies on the history of Eastern Europe. Volume 18). Böhlau, 1977, ISBN 3-205-00527-9 , p. 4.
  5. ^ A b Heidi Hein: The Piłsudski cult and its significance for the Polish state, 1926-1939. (= Materials and studies on East Central Europe research. Volume 9). Herder-Institut, Marburg 2002, ISBN 3-87969-289-0 , pp. 39 and 48. ( PDF file; 9.6 MB ( memento of the original from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.herder-institut.de
  6. ^ A b Norman Davies: In the Heart of Europe: History of Poland. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-46709-1 , p. 78.
  7. ↑ a b Neal Ascherson, Uta Haas (trans.): The dream of a free fatherland. Poland's history to date. vgs, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-8025-2176-5 , pp. 50 and 75.
  8. ↑ Sławomir Koper: Polskie Piekiełko. Obrazy z życia elit emigracyjnych 1939–1945 . Warszawa 2012, p. 114.
  9. ^ Archibald L. Patterson: Between Hiler and Stalin. The quick life and secret death of Edward Śmigły-Rydz Marshal of Poland. Dog Era, Indianapolis 2010, ISBN 978-1-60844-563-9 , p. 88.
  10. ↑ Hans Roos, Manfred Alexander (ed.): History of the Polish Nation 1818–1985: From the founding of the state in the First World War to the present. Kohlhammer, 1986, ISBN 3-17-007587-X .
  11. ^ The Journal of Military History. Volume 70, Issues 3-4, American Military Institute, 2006, pp. 784.
  12. ↑ Eric A. Croddy, James J. Wirtz: Weapons of Mass Destruction. An Encyclopedia of worldwide policy, technology, and history. ABC Clio, Santa Barbara 2005, ISBN 1-85109-490-3 , p. 142.
  13. ↑ Ernst Buder (Ed.): Possibilities and limits of the conversion of B-weapons facilities. Lit-Verlag, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-8258-4499-4 , p. 90.
  14. ↑ Eric Croddy, James Wirtz: Weapons of Mass Destruction, An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology and History .
  15. ↑ a b Jerzy Mierzejewski, FEMS, see LitVerz
  16. ↑ Promotion of an album on Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.canadainternational.gc.ca archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on a website of the Government of Canada (in English, accessed May 2, 2013)
  17. ↑ Jan M. Ciechanowski: The Warsaw Rising of 1944. Cambridge University Press, 1974-2002, ISBN 0-521-20203-5 , p. 81.
  18. ↑ Bernhard Chiari (ed.): The Polish Home Army: History and Myth of the Armia Krajowa since the Second World War. (= Series of publications by the Military History Research Office ). Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag , Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56715-2 , p. 125.
  19. ↑ according to Włodzimierz Borodziej, Barbara Harshav (transl.): The Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, ISBN 0-299-20730-7 , p. 93. (Rozkaz nr 19) , original text there: It has been five years since the day when Poland, encouraged by the British government and provided with its guarantee, entered into an isolated battle against the German power. ... the people of Warsaw are left to their own devices, abandoned on the front of the common fight against the Germans - a tragic and horrible riddle that we Poles cannot decipher on the background of the technical possibilities of the Allies at the beginning of the sixth year of the war ... If the population of the capital had to die under the rubble of its houses for lack of help, if they are to be delivered to the slaughter through passivity, indifference, or some other calculation - the conscience of the world will be burdened with a horrible, historically unprecedented sin.
personal data
SURNAME Sosnkowski, Kazimierz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Commander in Chief of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa)
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1969
Place of death Arundel , Quebec , Canada