Ryszard Kaczorowski
Ryszard Kaczorowski (born November 26, 1919 in Białystok , † April 10, 2010 near Smolensk , Russia ) was a Polish politician. From June 19, 1989 to December 22, 1990 he was the last President of the Polish government- in- exile in London .
Life
Like his predecessor Kazimierz Sabbat , Kaczorowski came from the ranks of the Polish scout movement . During the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in September 1939, he became a contact between the underground organization of the scouts “ Gray Ranks ” and the AK underground army . In July 1940 he was arrested by the Soviet secret police and sentenced to death in February 1941. After 100 days on death row, the sentence was turned into 10 years of Gulag in Kolyma . In 1942 Kaczorowski, like most of the imprisoned Poles, was pardoned by Stalin , who approved the formation of a Polish army in the Soviet Union, and entered the 2nd Polish Corps under General Władysław Anders . He took part in the battles of the Anders Army in Italy, including the Battle of Monte Cassino .
After the war, Kaczorowski studied at a college for foreign trade in London and subsequently worked as an accountant in British industry until he retired in 1986. At the same time he took over the chairmanship of the Polish scout organization in exile.
On June 19, 1989, after the resignation of the sick Kazimierz Sabbat , Kaczorowski became president in exile . A few months after taking office in December 1990, Lech Wałęsa became the first freely elected Polish President after the Second World War. The institutions of the government- in- exile in London then dissolved. On December 22, 1990, Kaczorowski presented the presidential insignia of the Second Republic to Wałęsa during a ceremony in the Warsaw Royal Castle .
After 1990 he was made an honorary citizen of the cities of Białystok , Cracow , Warsaw and Gdynia and an honorary doctorate from the Universities of Wroclaw , Białystok and Opole . But he kept his residence in London.
On April 10, 2010, Kaczorowski was part of the Polish delegation headed by President Lech Kaczyński , who was to travel to the memorial in Russia on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre . In the plane crash of the delegation near the Smolensk-Nord military airfield , however, he was killed along with other high-ranking representatives of Poland. On April 19, 2010, Kaczorowski was buried in the crypt of the not yet completed Cathedral of Divine Providence in Warsaw. Analysis of the DNA samples, however, suggested that the body buried there had been mistakenly identified as Kaczorowski. The autopsy of the exhumed remains of Kaczorowski and one of the dead buried in the Powązki cemetery confirmed the incorrect assignment of the corpses. Kaczorowski's reburial took place on November 3, 2012.
Honors
- 1997: Grand Cross of the Papal Order of Pius
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ toch: Były prezydent Ryszard Kaczorowski nie spocznie na Wawelu. Pogrzeb w sobotę w Świątyni Opatrzności Bożej. In: Gazeta Wyborcza. October 31, 2012, Retrieved November 1, 2012 (Polish).
- ^ Jerzy S. Majewski: Ciało Ryszarda Kaczorowskiego złożono w Panteonie Wielkich Polaków. In: Gazeta Wyborcza. November 3, 2012, accessed November 5, 2012 (Polish).
- ↑ AAS 89 (1997), n.10, p. 742
Ignacy Mościcki (1926–1939) | Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski (1939) | Władysław Raczkiewicz (1939–1947) | August Zaleski (1947–1972) | Council of three (1954–1972) | Stanisław Ostrowski (1972–1979) | Edward Raczyński (1979–1986) | Kazimierz Sabbath (1986–1989) | Ryszard Kaczorowski (1989–1990)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kaczorowski, Ryszard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | last President of Poland in exile |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 26, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Białystok , Poland |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 10, 2010 |
| Place of death | Smolensk , Russia |