Leon Kozłowski

Leon Kozłowski
Leon Kozłowski
25thPrime Minister of Poland
In office 15 May 1934 – 28 March 1935
President	Ignacy Mościcki
Preceded by	Janusz Jędrzejewicz
Succeeded by	Walery Sławek
Personal details
Born	Leon Tadeusz Kozłowski (1892-06-06)6 June 1892 Rembieszyce,Congress Poland
Died	11 May 1944(1944-05-11)(aged 51) Berlin,German Reich
Resting place	Powązki Cemetery
Political party	Non-partisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government
Profession	Archaeologist

Leon Tadeusz Kozłowski(Polish pronunciation:[ˈlɛɔnkɔˈzwɔfskʲi];6 June 1892 – 11 May 1944) was a Polish archaeologist,freemason,and politician who served asPrime Minister of Polandfrom 1934 to 1935.

Life

Leon Kozłowski was born in 1892 in the village ofRembieszycenearMałogoszcz.Prior to 1914 he moved with his family toLwówinGalicia(nowLviv,Ukraine), where he joined the local university. He also joined theRiflemen UnionandAssociation of Progressive Youth.After the outbreak of theGreat Warhe joinedJózef Piłsudski'sPolish Legions,where he served in the 1st Uhlans Regiment. After theOath Crisisof 1917 he joined thePolish Military Organizationand organized the cadres of the futurePolish Army.

When Poland regained her independence in 1918, Kozłowski volunteered for the Polish Army and served with distinction during thePolish-Bolshevik War.Afterwards he was demobilized and returned toLwów,where he completed his studies at theUniversity of Jan Kazimierz.In 1921 he became a professor there and the head of theFaculty of Pre-history.He held that post between 1921 and 1931 and then again between 1935 and 1939. He was also active in various social and political organizations, including theSociety for the Repair of theRepublic.As such, following amilitary coupin 1928 he got involved in theBBWRmovement and the same year he was elected to theSejm.He held the post of a Member of Parliament until 1935, when he was chosen to theSenate of Poland.

During his political career he held various posts in several governments led by theSanacjamovement. He was responsible for the establishment of the prison camp atBereza Kartuska.Between 1930 and 1935 he was the minister of agrarian reforms. At the same time, between 1932 and 1933 he was a sub-secretary of state in the Ministry of Treasury. Finally, on 15 May 1934, Kozłowski became thePrime Minister of Poland.He held that post until 28 March 1935, when he was replaced byWalery Sławek.On the insistence of Piłsudski, all of the ministers of Kozłowski's government were included in the new government. After death ofMarshal of PolandJózef Piłsudski,Kozłowski remained an active politician for some time. He was seen as a representative of the leftist part of theSanacjamovement and a supporter ofWalery Sławek.However, the latter lost the race to Piłsudski's heritage and Kozłowski returned to Lwów, where he reassumed his posts at the university. In 1937 he also briefly got involved in theObóz Zjednoczenia Narodowegomovement, but without much success.

After thePolish Defensive Warof 1939 and the outbreak of the World War II, Leon Kozłowski remained inLwów,where he was arrested by theNKVD.He spent almost two years in various Soviet prisons, and finally was sentenced to death for "anti-Soviet behaviour". However, after theSikorski–Mayski agreementof 1941 he was released and travelled toBuzuluk,where he tried joined up with the Polish Army formed there by generalWładysław Anders.Due to his political past, he was refused. He then left the military camp and started his 1000-mile long trip westwards, accompanied by one officer, intending to join the Germans. He crossed the Soviet-German frontline, for which he was sentenced to death by a Polish court.

German authorities sent him on to Berlin. Whilst there he took part in talks with the Nazi authorities, which saw him as a possible collaborationist, and an ally in winning the Poles over to the German cause. It is certain however, that in May 1943 he was sent to the site of theKatyn Massacreas one of the experts brought to the site by the German authorities. Though he had expressed doubts of the version of the events as presented by the Reich Ministry for Propaganda underJoseph Goebbels,he became convinced of the Soviet guilt after having seen the mass graves and conversed with the members of the expert commission of the Polish Red Cross under forensic doctorMarian WodzińskiThe pro-German Polish language dailyGoniec Krakowskicited Kozłowski as saying that he had recognized acquaintances among the dead bodies, among them professors from Lwów and ministerial officials from Warsaw.

Interned in Berlin (at the Hotel Alemannia), Leon Kozłowski found work at an ethnographic museum and could pursue scientific research. He was also awarded a considerable monthly pension. He was wounded in an Allied air raid on the German capital and died of his wounds on 11 May 1944.

See also

• List of Poles