Ryszard Kaczorowski

Ryszard Kaczorowski
Born	(1919-11-26) 26 November 1919 Białystok, Poland
Died	10 April 2010(2010-04-10) (aged 90) Near Smolensk, Russia
Occupation	Politician
Years active	1986–1990 (President in exile)
Known for	Final President of Poland in exile

Ryszard Kaczorowski, GCMG ([ˈrɨʂart kat͡ʂɔˈrɔfskʲi]Template:IPA audio link; born 26 November 1919 – died 10 April 2010), was a prominent Polish political figure. He held the position of the final President of Poland in exile from 1989 until 1990, following the tenure of Kazimierz Sabbat. Kaczorowski stepped down after Poland restored its sovereignty from Soviet domination and after Lech Wałęsa was elected as the first freely chosen President since before World War II. On 10 April 2010, he perished in a tragic airplane accident near Smolensk, Russia, an event that also claimed the lives of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and numerous high-ranking officials.

Life and career

Ryszard Kaczorowski entered the world on 26 November 1919, in a wooden dwelling located at 7 Mazowiecka Street within the Piaski District of Białystok. This residence was situated at the junction of Mazowiecka Street and the now-defunct Argentyńska Street (present-day Bułgarska) in Białystok, Poland. His parents were Wacław Kaczorowski, who bore the Jelita Coat of Arms, and Jadwiga, née Sawicka. During the Polish-Soviet War in 1920, when Soviet forces occupied Białystok briefly, the city served as the headquarters for the Polish Revolutionary Committee led by Julian Marchlewski, which attempted to establish the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic. Subsequently, after the Battle of Białystok, the city was liberated by the 1st Legions Infantry Division along with the 5th Legions' Infantry Regiment. From their modest wooden home on Argentyńska Street, Kaczorowski’s family witnessed some of the intense consequences of this battle.

He completed his studies at a commercial school and also served as a scouting instructor for a local chapter of the Polish Scouting Association. After the Soviet invasion of Poland at World War II’s outset, he clandestinely revived the scouting movement—which had been banned by Soviet authorities—and led the Białystok unit of the Szare Szeregi (Grey Ranks).

In July 1940, Kaczorowski was apprehended by the NKVD and imprisoned in Minsk’s Pishchalauski Castle. On January 29, 1941, he was summoned to meet with the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Byelorussian SSR, where he inquired about a potential imminent Soviet-German conflict. Two days later, after a show trial on January 31, he was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a Polish counterrevolutionary group aiming to overthrow Soviet control in Western Belorussia by force. He endured approximately one hundred days on death row awaiting execution or sentence revision. Ultimately, his sentence was commuted by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union to ten years imprisonment, along with five years disenfranchisement and property confiscation. On the night between May 27 and 28, 1941, Kaczorowski was transported by rail through Khabarovsk and Vladivostok to a transit camp in Nakhodka before being shipped to Kolyma. There, he was assigned to work at the Duskanja gold mine—a place ominously named "The Valley of Death" in the local tongue. He later recalled an incident during his time on death row when prisoners defiantly sang around a bonfire despite guards’ protests.

Following his release under the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement in 1941, he enlisted in Anders' Army. After evacuation from Soviet territory, he joined the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division and completed its divisional secondary education program. He participated in many significant engagements involving the Polish 2nd Corps, notably including the Battle of Monte Cassino. After World War II concluded, Kaczorowski settled in the United Kingdom as a political émigré. Upon demobilization, he pursued studies in foreign trade at Polytechnic Regent Street (later known as University of Westminster). He worked professionally as an accountant until 1986. Between 1955 and 1967, he held leadership roles within the Polish Scouting Union (ZHP) abroad—first as Chief Scout and later as President—and led Poland’s delegation at the 1957 Jamboree.

Kaczorowski remained active within émigré political circles as a member of Poland’s National Council in exile. In 1986, he assumed responsibility as Minister for Home Affairs within this government-in-exile framework. According to Poland’s April Constitution of 1935—which permitted presidential succession should a vacancy occur before peace was restored—acting president Kazimierz Sabbat designated Kaczorowski as his successor in January 1988. Upon Sabbat’s sudden death on July 19, 1989, Kaczorowski automatically took over presidential duties. On December 22, 1990, he formally transferred presidential insignia from the Second Republic government-in-exile to Lech Wałęsa, symbolizing recognition of both legitimacy and continuity with Poland’s Third Republic.

Personal life

Kaczorowski and his spouse at the Senate in 2008

Ryszard Kaczorowski resided in London during his later years. Together with his wife Karolina, he had two daughters: Jadwiga Kaczorowska, who is mother to Zenek and Wanda Szulc, and Alicja Jankowska, who has three children named Ryszard, Marcin, and Krystyna Jankowska. Although living abroad, he frequently visited Poland and was accorded the privileges outlined in Polish legislation for former heads of state, including a presidential pension, protection by the Biuro Ochrony Rządu, and access to a chancellery. He held honorary chairman roles in multiple social and historical organizations and was granted honorary citizenship by nearly thirty Polish cities such as Warsaw, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Kielce, Kraków, Opole, Zielona Góra, as well as his birthplace, Białystok.

Following his retirement, Kaczorowski refrained from occupying any official roles. Nevertheless, reports indicate that in November 1994, Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak suggested to President Wałęsa that Kaczorowski be appointed Minister of Defence—a position appointed by the President under the constitution at that time, independent of the Prime Minister’s preference. Despite identifying himself as a follower of Józef Piłsudski (a Piłsudczyk), Kaczorowski deliberately avoided engaging in partisan politics or any overt political involvement during his retirement.

On 9 November 2004, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom honored Kaczorowski with an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in recognition of his outstanding service to the Polish émigré community and their descendants residing in the UK.

Death

Main article: Smolensk air disaster

The tomb of Kaczorowski located in the National Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw.

On 10 April 2010, Kaczorowski perished in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia, alongside the incumbent President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and 94 other passengers. At age 90, he was the eldest individual among those who lost their lives in the tragedy. On 19 April 2010, a funeral mass was held at St John's Cathedral before his remains were interred in a crypt within Warsaw’s National Temple of Divine Providence.

References

• Portions of this article are derived from the official website of the President of the Republic of Poland, which permits unrestricted use of its material; see [1].
• "Ryszard Kaczorowski". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
• "Ryszard Kaczorowski". The Telegraph. 12 April 2010.
• "Ryszard Kaczorowski". The Times.Template:Fix/category
• Olizar, Michał (14 April 2010). "Ryszard Kaczorowski obituary". The Guardian.
• "Poland buries last president-in-exile, 11 others". Monsters and Critics. 5 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012.
• "Radio Poland :: News from Poland". www.thenews.pl.

External links

• (in Polish) Unofficial website