Stanisław Mackiewicz

Stanisław "Cat" Mackiewicz (18 December 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia – 18 February 1966 in Warsaw, Poland) was a conservative Polish writer, journalist and monarchist.

Stanisław Mackiewicz
Stanisław Mackiewicz
37th Prime Minister of Poland 7th Prime Minister of the Polish Republic in Exile
In office 8 June 1954 – 21 June 1955
Preceded by	Jerzy Hryniewski
Succeeded by	Hugon Hanke
Member of the Sejm
In office 1928–1935
Personal details
Born	18 December 1896 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died	18 February 1966 (aged 69) Warsaw, Poland
Resting place	Powązki Cemetery, Warsaw
Nationality	Polish
Political party	BBWR
Occupation	Politician, writer

Interwar journalist Adolf Maria Bocheński called him the foremost political journalist of the interbellum Second Polish Republic.[1]

Life

Mackiewicz was born into a Polish family that had historically used the Bożawola coat-of-arms.

Bożawola coat of arms

Mackiewicz joined the Polish Military Organisation in 1917 and served as a volunteer in the Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–21. He published and the editor-in-chief of the independent Wilno (Vilnius) periodical titled "Słowo," wholly financially supported by the noble families of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He actively promoted the idea of the so-called Jagellonian Poland, i.e., return to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth style of governance in Eastern Europe.

He supported Józef Piłsudski[2] and in 1928–35 served as a deputy to the Sejm (Poland's parliament), representing the Piłsudskiite Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government.

After Piłsudski's death in 1935, Mackiewicz criticized the ruling elite and in 1939 was imprisoned for 17 days at the Bereza Kartuska detention camp.

On 18 September 1939, a day after the Soviet attack on eastern Poland during the Soviet-German Invasion of Poland, he left Poland.

Following the Yalta Conference and subsequent occupation by Stalin of Poland and the later establishment of the Communist Poland, Mackiewicz, like so many other political exiles, remained abroad and was politically active in the Polish émigré community. He served as prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile in 1954–55.

In 1956, Mackiewicz returned to Poland, where he continued writing under the pseudonym of Gaston de Cerizay.[3] In 1964 he was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture.

He was the older brother of ardent enemy of the communist system, writer Józef Mackiewicz.

Works

• Historja Polski od 11 listopada 1918 r. do 17 września 1939 r. (The History of Poland from 11 November 1918 to 17 September 1939), 1941, 1958, 1989, 1990, 1992
• Stanisław August, 1953, 1978, 1991, 1999, 2009
• Muchy chodzą po mózgu (Flies Walk the Brain), 1957
• Zielone oczy (Green Eyes), 1958, 1959, 1987
• Europa in flagranti (Europe in flagranti), 1965, 1975, 2000
• Odeszli w zmierzch: wybór pism, 1916–1966 (They Have Passed into the Twilight: a Collection of Writings, 1916–1966), 1968
• Kto mnie wołał, czego chciał... (Who Called Me, What He Wanted...), Instytut Wydawniczy "Pax" ("Pax" Publishing Institute), 1972
• Był bal (There Was a Ball), 1973
• Herezje i prawdy (Heresies and Truths), 1975
• Klucz do Piłsudskiego (The Key to Piłsudski), 1986, 1992, 1996
• Lata nadziei: 17 września 1939 – 5 lipca 1945 (Years of Hope: 17 September 1939 – 5 July 1945), 1990
• Myśl w obcęgach: studia nad psychologią społeczeństw sowietów (Thinking in a Vise: Studies on the Psychology of Soviet Societies), 1998
• Polityka Becka (Beck's Policies), 2009
• Teraz jestem tutaj. Albo może raczej nigdzie = Now I'm here. Or perhaps, rather, nowhere, edited by Tomasz Wiech and Maciej Zakrzewski. Kraków: IPN, 2014. Photographs taken in London from 1945 to 1956.

See also

• List of Poles

Notes

1. Piotr Zychowicz: W obronie Stanisława Augusta at Rzeczpospolita, 22 January 2010.
2. Krzysztof Masłoń: Błazeńska czapka Cata-Mackiewicza Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Rzeczpospolita, 4 August 2010.
3. Neubauer, John (editor) 2009 The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co, Berlin ISBN 978-3-11-021773-5 (p. 177)