Michał Rola-Żymierski

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Portrait shot of the Marshal of Poland
Żymierski at the Potsdam Conference on July 24, 1945
Visit of the Marshal around 1947 to the 1st Fighter Squadron "Warszawa" ( 1 Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego "Warszawa" ), probably at the airport in Modlin

Michał Żymierski , also Rola-Żymierski , actually: Michał Łyżwiński , (possibly also Artur Łyżwiński ) (born September 4, 1890 in Krakow ; † October 15, 1989 in Warsaw ) was a Polish politician ( KPP , PPR , PZPR ) and military.

Life

Michał Łyżwiński's educated parents were Wojciech and Maria Łyżwiński. In 1908 he passed his Abitur. From 1909 he was active in the Polish independence movement. He belonged to the youth organization Zarzewie ( Organizacja Młodzieży Niepodległościowej "Zarzewie" ) and later the Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie . From 1910 he studied law at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow . In 1911 and 1912 he received training as a reserve officer in the kuk land forces . After his brother, who worked as an intern in the Kraków branch of the Warsaw bookseller Gebethner i Wolff (founder: August Robert Wolff ), killed his superior, he changed his name to Żymierski in 1913.

First World War

When war broke out in 1914, Żymierski reported to the Polish legions and was involved as an officer in combat missions on the Austro-Hungarian Eastern Front . At first he served as the head of an infantry company. Later he commanded an infantry regiment of the 1st Brigade under Józef Piłsudski . In this function there was a dispute with Piłsudski and he was in the III. Regiment moved. In 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . In 1917 Żymierski took the oath required by the legionnaires on the Central Powers (see also: Eidkrise ), was subordinated to the Polish Auxiliary Corps of the Austro-Hungarian Army and in 1918 was deployed on the Eastern Front, where he was chief of staff.

At the end of 1918 he joined the newly formed Polish Land Forces and was used in the Polish-Soviet War . First he commanded the II Infantry Brigade ( II Brygada Piechoty Legionów ), later he was the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division ( 2 Dywizja Piechoty Legionów ). In 1922 and 1923 he studied in Paris at the École de guerre (now part of the École militaire ). On his return he was promoted to brigadier general in Poland . Żymierski then served in Warsaw in the rank of Deputy Defense Minister as head of administration of the Polish Army in the Ministry of Defense. Equipment procurement fell into his area of ​​responsibility.

During the May coup of Piłsudski in 1926, he sided with the defeated government troops. In 1927 he was sentenced to five years imprisonment before a court martial for bribery and embezzlement, demoted and released from the army. He was accused of having bought 100,000 gas masks at inflated prices during his time as procurement manager ; in return he should have received money and shares in the Ursus company . Other officials of the troops loyal to the government were also imprisoned at the time: Tadeusz Rozwadowski , Juliusz Malczewski and Włodzimierz Zagórski .

After his release from prison in 1931 Żymierski became a member of the underground Communist Party of Poland . As a result of the dissolution of the party, he emigrated to France in 1938.

Second World War

He returned to Poland around the outbreak of World War II . He was used as an agent of the Interior Ministry of the USSR (NKVD), also to cooperate with the Gestapo . In 1943 Żymierski was appointed deputy commander of Gwardia Ludowa , supported by the Soviet Union, on Soviet instructions ; from January 1, 1944 he was the commander of the successor organization Armia Ludowa . Here he used the pseudonym "Rola", which he later incorporated into his name. He had already regained his general rank (division general), on November 21, 1944 he was promoted to weapons general (comparable to the rank of lieutenant general). With the support of the Lublin Committee , he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Polish Armed Forces . He now laid claim to command of all armed Polish units.

People's Republic of Poland

After the end of the war, Żymierski was initially appointed Minister of Defense of the Provisional Government of Poland ( Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ). On May 3, 1945 he was promoted to Marshal of Poland on the instructions of Stalin . Important post-war positions were filled primarily with well-known, loyal representatives from the pre-war period, whose curriculum vitae was sometimes embellished. For example, Żymierski's previous conviction and imprisonment was no longer mentioned. From 1946 the marshal was also head of the Security Commission ( Państwowa Komisja Bezpieczeństwa ). As such, he was jointly responsible for the persecution of members of the former Home Army and the Polish Armed Forces in the West as well as the soldiers of the anti-communist resistance . Żymierski signed death sentences against former officers of the Polish Army and approved actions by the Central Information Office of the Polish People's Army .

In 1949 he was replaced as Defense Minister and Marshal of Poland by Konstantin Rokossowski . As a result of the Stalin purges under Bolesław Bierut , Żymierski was arrested in 1952. After three years in prison, he was released in 1955; he had not been convicted and was rehabilitated in 1956.

After the end of Stalinism , he worked in various state offices. From 1956 to 1967 he was the deputy director of the National Bank of Poland . After martial law was declared by Wojciech Jaruzelski , he was from 1981 to 1986 member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). He was also honorary chairman of the Association of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy . He was an honorary citizen of Krakow and Bydgoszcz .

Awards (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Piotr Kołakowski, NKVD i GRU na ziemiach polskich, 1939–1945. Kulisy Wywiadu i Kontrwywiadu , ISBN 978-83-11-09481-9 , Dom Wydawniczy Bellona, ​​2002, p. 55
  2. ↑ Kultura , Issue 1–3, Instytut Literacki (Paris), 1951, p. 112.
  3. ↑ Bohdan Urbankowski, Czerwona msza, czyli, Uśmiech Stalina , Volume 1, ISBN 978-83-7001-971-6 , Wydawn. ALFA, 1998, p. 359
  4. ↑ a b DNB entry
  5. ↑ Such an assumption can be drawn from Żymierski's curriculum vitae at IPN (see web links)
  6. ^ A b Norman Davies, Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present , Oxford University Press, 2001, Two Nations
  7. ↑ There are contradicting statements about the exact date
  8. ↑ a b Halik Kochanski, The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War , ISBN 978-0-674-06814-8 , Harvard University Press, 2012
  9. ^ The Pattern of Life in Poland , 1952
  10. ^ The Gwardia Ludowa (People's Guard) was renamed on January 1, 1944 from Krajowa Rada Narodowa (State National Council) to Armia Ludowa .

Web links

Commons : Michał Żymierski  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Rola-Żymierski, Michał
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Żymierski, Michał; Rola-Żymierski, Michał; Łyżwiński, Michał
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish military, Marshal of Poland
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1989
Place of death Warsaw