Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz

Władysław Raczkiewicz (born January 16, 1885 in Kutaisi , Russian Empire , today Georgia , † June 9, 1947 in Ruthin , Wales , United Kingdom ) was a Polish civil servant and politician ; from September 1939 until his death in June 1947 he was President of the Polish government in exile .

A lawyer by profession, he was one of the founders of the Polish Youth Association in Russia around 1910 . From 1914 to 1917 he served as an officer in the Russian army . After the October Revolution he was the creator of the Supreme Polish Military Committee , an organization that brought together officers and soldiers of Polish descent in the former tsarist army. 1918–1920 he served in the Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War. In 1921, 1925–1926 and 1935–1936 he was Minister of the Interior in various cabinets and 1935–1936 Senate Marshal . In various periods of time he was also voivode, most recently from 1936 to 1939 in Pommerellen ( Bromberg ). From 1934 he was also President of the World Congress of Poles Abroad .

In September 1939 he succeeded the outgoing President in exile Ignacy Mościcki , he held this position as President of the Polish government in exile until his death in 1947. He was made an honorary doctorate from Edinburgh University in 1941 and an honorary doctorate from Fordham University in New York in 1943.

Four years after the start of the war, on December 9, 1943, he received Jan Karski , a Polish courier and resistance fighter, who conveyed to him a secret request from the Bundestag chairman and Zionist leader in Warsaw. The Jews urged Raczkiewicz to be with Pope Pius XII. to intervene.

“Poland is a Catholic country, and some of those who are being killed are Christians of Jewish origin ... Many Germans are Catholics too; even Hitler is a baptized Christian "

- Wood / Jankowski

With moral persuasiveness - or, if necessary, with the threat of excommunication, the Pope must succeed in making some Nazis turn around. In his diary, the President made extensive notes on the political discussion with Karski. He did not mention the plight of the Jews. Raczkiewicz died in exile in Britain.

literature

E. Thomas Wood, Stanislaw M. Jankowski: Jan Karski - One against the Holocaust. As a courier on a secret mission , 2nd edition, Gerlingen 1997, Bleicher Verlag, ISBN 3-88350-042-9 .

Individual evidence

^ E. Thomas Wood, Stanislaw M. Jankowski: Jan Karski - One against the Holocaust. As a courier on a secret mission , 2nd edition, Gerlingen 1997, Bleicher Verlag, ISBN 3-88350-042-9 , p. 207.

personal data
SURNAME	Raczkiewicz, Wladyslaw
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish civil servant and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	January 16, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kutaisi , Russian Empire , today Georgia
DATE OF DEATH	June 9, 1947
Place of death	Ruthin , Wales

[1] E. Thomas Wood, Stanislaw M. Jankowski: Jan Karski - One against the Holocaust. As a courier on a secret mission , 2nd edition, Gerlingen 1997, Bleicher Verlag, ISBN 3-88350-042-9 , p. 207.