Piotr Kołodziejczyk

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Piotr Franciszek Kołodziejczyk (born June 8, 1939 in Poznan ; † September 2, 2019 ) was a Polish Vice Admiral and politician of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), who was Commander of the Navy of the People's Republic of Poland and twice Defense Minister between 1986 and 1989 .

Life

Naval officer

Kołodziejczyk, who grew up in Poniec in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , studied at the Naval Officer School (Oficerska Szkoła Marynarki Wojennej) in Gdynia from 1956 to 1960 and, after being promoted to lieutenant at sea, worked as a navigator on the ORP KT 183, a speedboat of the Komar class belonging to the 3rd speedboat brigade in Gdynia. He then served as an officer on the speed boats ORP KT 83 and ORP KT 87, before he was last in command of the speed boat ORP KT 88.

After training at the Naval Academy in Baku , he was assigned to Project 205 in 1962, which was involved in the construction of missile speedboats of the Osa class . Afterwards he was in command of the missile artillery department of the missile speedboat ORP Hel, before he was deputy commander and finally in command of the missile speedboat ORP Elbląg. After studying at the Naval Warfare Academy NG Kuznetsov in Leningrad in 1973, he was successively assistant to the department head, deputy department head and division manager in the reconnaissance department of the General Staff at the naval headquarters in Gdynia between 1973 and 1977. After serving as commander of the special forces of the troop contingent in Syria and then commander of the Polish contingent of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights .

In 1980 Kołodziejczyk, who had previously also studied at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces Kliment Yefremowitsch Voroshilov , succeeded Captain Marian Sucharzewski as the commodore of the 3rd Flotilla Bolesław Romanowski stationed in Gdynia and remained until he was replaced by the captain Lake Bogusław Gruchała 1983 on this post.

Navy Commander, MP and Secretary of Defense

1983 followed Captain Kołodziejczyk Rear Admiral Kazimierz Bossy as Chief of Staff of the Navy and held this position until he was replaced by Rear Admiral Romuald Waga in 1986. In 1984 he was also promoted to Rear Admiral.

As the successor to Admiral Ludwik Janczyszyn , he finally became Commander of the Navy on February 13, 1986 and remained in this post until he was replaced by Rear Admiral Waga on December 26, 1989. In 1989 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and last served in 1989 as head of the headquarters for armed forces training .

On June 4, 1989, he was elected as a representative of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) as a member of the Sejm and was a member of this until the end of the tenth legislative period on October 26, 1991.

On July 6, 1990 Kołodziejczyk was appointed Minister of Defense by Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and thus succeeded Army General Florian Siwicki . He also held this ministerial office in the subsequent government of Prime Minister Jan Bielecki on December 5, 1991. His successor as Minister of Defense, Jan Parys , appointed by Prime Minister Jan Olszewski on December 23, 1991 , ordered his dismissal from active military service, but he did not with President Lech Wałęsa , who had actually planned the appointment of Kołodziejczyk as inspector general of the armed forces. At the same time, Parys dismissed the head of the Military Information Service WSI ( Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne ) , Rear Admiral Czesław Wawrzyniak, without consulting the President .

Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak appointed him as the successor to Janusz Onyszkiewicz on October 26, 1993 again as Minister of Defense. Less than a year later, he was replaced by Jerzy Milewski in November 1994 after President Walesa dismissed him because of differences of opinion with Colonel General Tadeusz Wilecki , the Chief of the General Staff . This was preceded by a dinner by President Walesa and Chief of Staff Wilecki with officers of the General Staff in Drawsko Pomorskie , at which there was massive criticism of his office as defense minister. During his tenure as minister he was opposed to Poland joining NATO .

Kołodziejczyk, who joined the UW Freedom Union ( Unia Wolności ) founded in 1994 , ran unsuccessfully for this in 1998 for a mandate in the Council of the Pomeranian Voivodeship .

Orders and awards

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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Na wieczną wachtę odszedł Wiceadmirał Piotr Franciszek Kołodziejczyk. In: PORTAL STOCZNIOWY. September 3, 2019, accessed September 7, 2019 (Polish).
  2. ↑ Poland: Watch on the bow. Poland's army is only partially operational. The politicians are fighting over command. . In: Der Spiegel from April 20, 1992
  3. ↑ NATO EXPANSION: Bonn is speechless . In: Focus from December 6, 1993
personal data
SURNAME Kołodziejczyk, Piotr
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kołodziejczyk, Piotr Franciszek (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish Vice Admiral and politician, member of the Sejm
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Poses
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 2019