USEFUL INFORMATION
GLOSSARY BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

A-H - J-K - M-R - S-Z

Anders, Władysław (1892–1970) was a Polish Army general. During the defensive war of September 1939, he was captured by the Soviet forces and jailed, then released after the German army invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. He was the main architect and commander of the Polish Armed Forces created in the Soviet Union (the so-called “Anders Army”).  In the summer of 1942, after they were transferred to Iran, he led the Polish Army, at that time renamed the Polish II Corps (Polish: II Korpus Polski). He commanded the Polish Army during the Italian campaign, including the Battle of Monte Cassino and the Battle of Ancona. From October 2, 1944 to May 5, 1945, he served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. After the war, he stayed in London, where he was politically active. Communist authorities deprived him of the rank of general and took away his Polish citizenship (reinstated posthumously in 1989). He died on May 12, 1970 on the anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, and was buried at the Polish Military Cemetery at Monte Cassino.

Anielewicz, Mordechaj (1919–1943), pseudonym Malachi, was a leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization (Polish: Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa) during WWII. He spent his youth in Warsaw, where he was a member of a Jewish scouting organization.  During the German occupation, he organized resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto. He became Commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization in December of 1942. In January of 1943, he was in charge of the first armed defensive action aimed at preventing the deportation of the Jews. On April 19, 1943, he became the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He died along with other members of the Jewish Fighting Organization in a mass suicide in a bunker surrounded by German soldiers.

Arciszewski, Tomasz (1877–1955), pseudonym Andrzej, was a Polish socialist politician, member of the Polish Socialist Party and a member of Polish Parliament. During  WWII, he was the leader of the secret Polish Socialist Party–Freedom, Equality and Independence (Polish: PPS-WRN). He was a member of the Council of National Unity. Just before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising 0f 1944, he was named successor to the President of the Republic of Poland and was secretly transported to London. He became Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile after Stanisław Mikołajczyk’s resignation.

Bartoszewski, Władysław (born 1922), pseudonym Teofil, is a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer and historian. In September of 1940 he was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. After a Red Cross intervention, he was released and joined the resistance as a Polish Home Army soldier. He worked at the Bureau of Information and Propaganda; he organized assistance to prisoners; he was involved in the Polish Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” he participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.  After the war, he was accused of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison. During the People’s Republic of Poland Communist rule, he was a resistance activist. After 1989, he served as the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is currently serving as Deputy for International Dialogue to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.

Churchill, Winston (1874–1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister during the WWII.

Ciechanowski, Jan (1887–1973) was a Polish diplomat. In 1919, he became adviser to the Embassy of the Polish Republic in London; in 1926, he became minister plenipotentiary and extraordinary envoy to the USA. During WWII, he served as Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish government-in-exile in London. From 1941 through 1944, he served as the Polish Republic Ambassador in Washington, D.C. After the war, he settled in the United States.

Feiner, Leon (1885–1945) was a Polish-Jewish lawyer, who lived in Warsaw during WWII. He was a member of the Jewish Labor Bund (Jewish socialist party) and represented Bund and the Jewish Fighting Organization on the so-called “Aryan side.” In January of 1943, he became Vice President and then President (November of 1944) of the Polish Council to Aid Jews “Żegota". Along with Menachem Kirszenbaum, he smuggled Jan Karski into the Warsaw Ghetto.

Fieldorf, August Emil (1895–1953), pseudonym Nil, was a Polish Army brigadier general. After the defeat in the defensive war of 1939 against the Germans, he fled to France where he joined the newly formed Polish Armed Forces. In September of 1940, he was transferred to Poland. In August of 1942, he became commander of Kedyw, a division of the Polish Home Army for special operations; he was one of the leaders of the Directorate Underground Resistance. In April of 1944, he was chosen to handle the operations of NIE , a division of the Polish Home Army aimed at preparing the organization for functioning under Soviet occupation. In October of 1944, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Home Army. He was arrested in March of 1945 under a false name and sent to a labor camp in Ural Mountains. After his return to Poland in 1947, he was arrested by the Communist government (November of 1950). He was accused of giving orders to eliminate Soviet insurgents and in a staged trial he was sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on February 24, 1953.

Frank, Hans (1900–1946) was a German lawyer and a chief jurist of Nazi Germany. In October of 1939, he became Governor of the General Government (see: Glossary). He was responsible for carrying out the extermination of the Polish nation and the Jews, for the systematic theft of Polish artifacts and for the destruction of industry and culture on the occupied territory. He was charged with war crimes at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and sentenced to death by hanging.

Giedroyć, Jerzy (1906–2000) was a Polish politician, journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the Polish monthly Culture (Polish: Kultura), which was published in Paris. Before the war, he studied law and history. After the outbreak of WWII, he became a diplomat. In 1941, he joined the Polish Armed Forces and took part in the armed operations in Africa together with the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade. After the war, he founded Literary Institute (Polish: Instytut Kulturalny) in Rome and then settled in France, where he published the monthly Culture magazine. This publication had a great impact on the Polish expatriate community and on people in Poland, where it was banned but available through underground channels.

Hoover, Herbert (1874–1964) was an American politician and 31st President of the United States, who organized help for European civilians during  WWI and WWII. He founded several organizations to provide assistance to rebuilding Eastern Europe after WWII. He founded the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, which combined the roles of a think tank, library and archive. He visited Poland in 1919 and 1946. In 1922, he received honorary citizenship of the Republic of Poland.